OGDEN, Utah — Tax Day is right around the corner, and students at Weber State University are using what they learned in the classroom to help their neighbors. Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program through the IRS, Weber State students can help “any Utah resident with an annual income of $75,000 or less, with no rental income or cryptocurrency transactions,” for free, officials with the university said.
And it's not just at Weber State — you can find a site near you to help prepare your taxes for free HERE.
"I'm a math person, I do well with numbers, so for me it makes sense, it just clicks in my head,” said Cooper Pugmire, a finance major with a minor in accounting at Weber State. On Monday evenings, he's helping people file their taxes. "The whole first month, we're doing classes to get certified for the VITA program, so this counts as our individual taxation class, part of our degree."
Ella Sanders is a Weber State student and came to get help with her taxes.
"It really gives you a lot of peace of mind because you know they are filed correctly and it just is done, rather than getting online and trying to figure it out and worrying about all the different forms and everything else, knowing professors are in charge of it and they know what they’re doing,” she said.
People who qualify for this help can make an appointment online, fill out an intake form, and then have an undergrad student — like Pugmire — prepare their taxes. Then either a master's student or professor does a final review and helps file all the forms.
Jennifer Garn is one of those master’s students.
"Because taxes can feel so overwhelming and scary, it’s so important,” she said. “If you have someone to talk to, your income all gathered up, and you have someone that can walk you through it, it's really not as painful as it can seem.”
Pugmire said a part he loves is getting to help people get some money back.
"It’s rewarding. I would prefer that to when people have to owe,” he said. “Good to see when for people sometimes the return is a really big deal and helps them out, especially in those moments to see the relief kind of wash over them."
