This past weekend and week have been super busy. I’m home sick today, so trying to get a few things done before the tylenol kicks in again! So far, I’ve gotten my cover letter and resume off to the University of Texas. Hopefully they’ll get there before March 1st! Although apparently they’re still missing my transcript even though my university sent it last month.

Anyway, on to VITA!

This year I got moved from the easy table to the hardest table. Luckily, I was paired with a tax senior manager so I just sat there and listened to our clients speak while he did the taxes.

So my main takeaway from this year is-be prepared to hear some stories. People often like to tell their intimate troubles to strangers, because sometimes it’s easier to tell people private issues you have when you know you’ll probably never see them again.

I think that since we, as tax preparers, are already getting a whole lot of private information, that opens people up to share their private stories too. I just tries to listen attentively. Definitely, try not to be shocked when people share some gory details-after all, you can forget about them the next day too, the same way they will forget about you.

VITA is Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. You do all this training, and voila, you are certified to help people who meet certain criteria file their tax returns.

I planned to finish this training today, but I am only on slide 104 of 159. “But Kel!” you say, “That sounds like you’re nearly done!”

Ah yes, nearly done with the third topic. Of approximately a million topics. Or maybe more like 50. But still, not even close.

I would just take the test, and see if I pass, but I keep failing the mini-quizzes that come immediately after the topic I’m quizzed on. Nevertheless, I’m confident I can fill those taxes out correctly!

Update: I went ahead and just took the test and used IRS.gov to help me along. I magically passed! First try! I thought for sure I would fail because you have to calculate exact numbers for some, but it seems like I actually got those ones right, and got the parts I studied wrong. Go figure!

I participated in this program last year, and none of these topics came up. Although I am doing the “basic” certification, the issues are far more complex than any I was faced with last year. For example, they are teaching us about who gets to claim someone as a dependent if like 5 people all contributed to that person’s support during the year.

Last year my partner and I got all of the dependent children, so that was a snap. Oh, and a sweet old man who had only military income, and no dependents or anything. Dependents make taxes complicated!

I will be doing the VITA day next Saturday, so I’ll be sure to post about it!