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Tennessee State University Business Students, Faculty Offer Free Tax Service in Partnership with IRS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – For more than 16 years, Sonya Nicole Martin used private accounting firms to prepare her IRS tax return for a fee.

But the last two years, Martin got a break and is now getting her returns done for free by certified IRS tax preparers, thanks to a program in the College of Business at Tennessee State University.

“This is a big help,” says Martin. “It is saving me a lot and I am able to give back to my family and spend that extra money that I am saving on other items.”

A few years ago, TSU partnered with the United Way of Metro Nashville to administer VITA, or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, an IRS initiative to offer free tax preparation services for low to middle-income individuals making $66,000 or less per year. Accounting students and other business majors in the COB, who have been certified by the IRS, along with their professors, administer the program.

The free tax service is available every Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on the Avon Williams Campus. It will continue to the end of the IRS tax-filing deadline.

“The College of Business is very pleased to offer this free service to the community,” says Dr. Millicent Lownes-Jackson, dean of the college. “This is also an ideal service-learning initiative of the college where our accounting majors are able to get practical hands-on experience while helping others.”

According to officials, between 30-40 returns are prepared each Saturday, and this filing season it is projected that 400-500 returns will be prepared. That’s up from 300 last season. Sixteen undergraduate and four graduate students are helping this year as part of their class work.

Professor John R. Powers, who coordinates the VITA program at TSU, right, works with senior accounting major Kathy Grant. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

To participate in the program, volunteer students must take and pass Tax-1, Individual Income Tax, a required course and be certified by the IRS. Students get three hours of college credit as an accounting elective.

John R. Powers, a CPA and adjunct professor of accounting and business law, is the coordinator of the campus VITA program. He is responsible for the final quality of returns and files the completed returns electronically.

“Although this is a free service, we try to maximize the refund of any client, and that’s where I come in with my years of experience,” says Powers, majority owner of a Nashville accounting firm, who has been in the business for more than 30 years.

For the students, Power says, this is life experience whether they want to go into the tax field or not, it prepares them from a professional development standpoint.

Kathy Grant has met all requirements to participate in the VITA program and is helping for the first time this year. The senior accounting major says she is enjoying the “double” benefit the program offers.

“I am doing something to give back to the community, and I am also learning in the process,” says Grant, of Nashville, who wants to become a CPA “This is not just class, it is a business because I can use this education as I step out into the workforce.”

For Mariam Sadat, a senior, human resources major from Cairo, she is encouraged by the satisfaction people get from the services she and her fellow students provide.

“They are just too happy to know that they have avoided all the potential headaches with the free service,” says Sadat. “This is also a good practice for me to get this experience.”

Dr. Stephen Shanklin, CPA and interim chair of the Department of Accounting, who supervises the VITA program, says great emphasis is put on the quality of students selected for the program.

“Students with As and Bs are the ones we are looking for,” he says. “They can be from any discipline whatsoever in the college, but they have to have at least completed that course and have a desire to be tax preparers. And even at that they are not eligible until they interview with Prof. Powers.”

“In essence, we are preparing these students for the workplace,” adds Powers. “It is very important helping the community because we realize that the tax refund, no matter what amount, they are truly needed by the people who come here. So we prepare our students to do everything in accordance with the IRS code.”

For more information on the TSU VITA program and the free tax service, go to http://www.tnstate.edu/business/contact_us.aspx

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 8,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 25 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

Alumni, EVENTS, FACULTY, FEATURED, NEWS, SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

TSU expert urges taxpayers to study tax overhaul bill

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Taxpayers should learn as much as they can about the tax overhaul bill lawmakers have sent to President Trump for his signature, a TSU expert says.

Dr. Stephen Shanklin

Dr. Stephen Shanklin is a professor in TSU’s College of Business, as well as a certified public accountant and chartered global management accountant. He says people can get information about the bill through their tax preparer, council member, or contacting the office of their congressional representative.

“You need to be aware as much as you can of how the law has changed and affects you, because the rules are different,” Shanklin explains. “What worked last year, is not going to work next year.”

Most provisions of the bill lawmakers passed on Wednesday won’t take effect until the 2018 tax year, adds Shanklin.

The $1.5 trillion tax bill is the biggest rewrite in 30 years. It reduces rates on individuals, cuts the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, and overhauls the taxation of both small and large businesses.

However, all individual tax reductions will expire by 2025, but corporate benefits are permanent, according to the bill. The average taxpayer could see a benefit of $1,600 when they file next year.

Tax preparer Corey Jenkins says he began receiving calls about the bill when lawmakers were debating it, and agrees taxpayers should learn as much as they can about it.

“There’s a lot in the bill,” says Jenkins, who’s been preparing taxes for nearly 20 years. “It’s going to affect them greatly, especially over the next several years.”

Shanklin says one of the biggest misconceptions of the bill is that “lawmakers say it’s fair for everybody; that it will benefit the middle class.”

“I think it actually benefits those with upper incomes, with greater levels of wealth, and business investments,” he says.

Most provisions of the bill won’t take effect until the 2018 tax year, adds Shanklin.

The latest polls show the bill is unpopular. In an NBC-Wall Street Journal survey, 24 percent of Americans think the tax bill is a good idea versus 41 percent who believe it’s a bad one.

Opposition to the bill has jumped to 10 points in CNN’s polling since last month, with 55 percent now against it. Only 21 percent say they’ll be better off if the bill becomes law, and 37 percent say that their family will be worse off.

Shanklin believes one reason for the bill’s unpopularity is partly due to lawmakers’ rapid pace in passing it, and their lack of transparency. He noted that before former President Ronald Reagan signed his tax bill in 1986, there had been more than 350 days of discussion to craft a bipartisan proposal.

“This one was done in less than 45 days, with fewer than 10 percent in Congress ever seeing it,” Shanklin contends.

To learn more about the tax bill, visit https://www.congress.gov. It should also be accessible at a local library that has access to government documents.

 

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 8,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 25 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.