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February 3rd 2006 • Printer version  UO LAW AND BUSINESS STUDENTS
OFFER FREE TAX HELP
Its February time to pull out that shoebox full of tax documents!
Are you puzzled by tax law or which credits and deductions to take?
Need help preparing your return? You dont have to do it alone.
WHO: University of Oregon Pro Bono Program law students, Lundquist College of
Business students, and members of Beta Alpha Psi
WHEN: Saturday drop in sessions beginning February 11: ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS
The law school's Pro Bono Committee has
sponsored a volunteer tax help program through VITA for more than five
years. It was started in 1999 by Valerie Sasaki '01, now with the Portland office of KPMG LLP, the tax, audit, and advisory firm. This year's tax program coordinator Rebecca Fritch, a second year UO law student and Pro Bono program participant, is a strong believer in the importance of VITA and law student volunteer energy. She said, I actually look forward to tax season I like helping people complete what can often be a daunting task. I enjoy putting the client interviewing skills I learn in the classroom into practice in the real world.
Vicki Rees, a 2004 graduate of the law school who now works as a
business attorney with Hershner Hunter in Eugene, managed the UO
program when she was a student. She remembers telling clients that, due to
child care or earned income refundable credits, they could expect money
back. Most sighed with relief, many laughed out of nervousness and
some cried. The program makes a critical difference in the lives of
people who are on the edge financially, Rees said. Far beyond Eugene, law students working with the VITA program has made a difference
in the lives of low and moderate
income people all over the country. Law professor Barbara Aldave, who
directs the law schools Law and Entrepreneurship Center, first worked
with the VITA program in El Cenizo, Texas, when she was dean of St.
Marys University School of Law. Law student volunteers wanted to make
sure that the Spanish-speaking citizens of the small border town got the
earned income credit they were entitled to.
Aldave remembers a couple
in their 50s, who worked as independent contractors on farms and
ranches in the area. They earned less than $10,000 between them, and
lived with their daughter and grandchildren in a house with a dirt
floor. The womans dream was to put in a concrete floor.
Aldave and the law students reviewed the couples tax documents and
finished the return. I informed them they could expect a payment from
the U.S. treasury of well over $3,000. The woman began to cry. When she
composed herself, she said, thank you, thank you. I think we will have
enough money to put in a window, too. |
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