The deadline for filing taxes is a month away but students can take advantage of a free service to help them navigate the sometimes tricky process.

The University’s College of Family & Consumer Sciences and the Georgia Federal Credit Union have teamed up to create the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program to offer free tax assistance to the public.

“VITA offers a real-life setting for the student volunteers,” said Paul Annis, graduate student in Financial Planning and volunteer at VITA. “It gives us experience with the tax client individual.” All volunteers are students from FACS and are IRS certified.

The service is being offered next Tuesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m at the Georgia Federal Credit Union and at the University’s Visual Arts Building. The service will also be available on Saturdays until March 7 at the Clarke County Community Federal Credit Union.

To receive assistance you must bring pictured identification, a Social Security card, all W-2 forms from the year 2008 and any other miscellaneous earnings that would be considered a 1099 form. Students wanting their tax return to be a direct deposit need to bring their bank routing numbers and account numbers.

A retired University professor advises students to take advantage of the program and file early.

“People usually put off the annoyance and then just forget or the W-2 [forms] might get lost,” said Tom Cochran, retired University professor who initiated the student volunteer program with VITA. VITA reaches out to the community to help them comply with the law.”