Serving the community in Springfield

Southwest Missouri State University has made free tax preparation for low-income people part of the learning experience for the past 30 years.

But five years ago, student interest in the volunteer program was waning. To participate in the volunteer program, students had to pay $150 for the tax preparation course. But the course was an elective; it didn't count toward an accounting degree.

"Tuition has gone up," says accounting professor Sandra Byrd. "It's hard to get students to pay money for volunteer work."

But Byrd volunteered to take over the program and reached out to professional societies, the IRS, senior citizens groups, the area Jobs Council and others for volunteers and to get the word out to potential EITC recipients.

Now, her phone doesn't stop ringing from early January through tax season. "The demand has been unbelievable," says Byrd. "The IRS funding was cut back, but everybody wants more."

Byrd enlisted Beta Alpha Psi, the national business fraternity, to tap into professionals in the area who might want to volunteer. She started teaching a computer software program so students could do returns by computer. She got a grant from the IRS to provide a low-income tax clinic. She reached out to residents for whom English is a second language to let them know about the program. The IRS and SMSU each provided laptop computers to make the effort easier and more mobile.

She also joined forces with the Ozark Area Community Action Council (OACAC), the Southwest Missouri Office on Aging (SWMOA), Great Southern Bank and the Missouri Department of Revenue to form Across the Life Span, or ATLS, a group devoted to free tax preparation and assets development in the region.

Now, about 30 students work with about 100 volunteers from SWMOA and OACAC to prepare taxes from January through April 15 at 100 sites around the Springfield area. Some of the students have been involved for three years, Byrd says. Graduate students help with more complex tax work, as they have had the coursework needed to do that.

Byrd is working to get scholarship money to pay for the course required for the free tax preparation effort. And she's promoting the project to students as a way to enhance their resumes. Three graduate assistants from last semester who had volunteered to prepare taxes were hired immediately in the tax departments of a large regional accounting firm, she says.

"The kids get a lot out of it," Byrd says. "They're learning how to interact with people."

The students hear talks about sensitivity in dealing with older adults and people for whom English is a second language.

And if you're working with Byrd, you're never too old to learn new tricks. Working with the Office of Aging, Byrd trained 80 older adults in January on preparing taxes on a computer. One of her students was the former managing partner of a big 15 accounting firm. He had avoided learning how to use a computer, but finally took her class. Last time she saw him, he was toting his own laptop. "In his 80s, he's learned to use a laptop," Byrd says.

The tax preparation sites are in community libraries and senior centers in a 10 county area, as well as sites on campus. Some of the sites are a two-hour drive away, so the commitment for volunteers is not a small one, Byrd says. Students take tax preparation classes over four Saturdays.

Last year, Southwest Missouri State, the Ozark Regional Economic Partnership and ATLS hosted an EITC conference for area accountants and employers to enlist volunteers and business support for the effort.

For the 2002 tax year, the Springfield area group filed 2,469 federal returns, with 1,649 EITC filings. The total EITC money was $525,000, but Byrd says the IRS says there's still $1 million in unclaimed EITC money in that area.

There's always more to be done. Next, Byrd hopes to help the Jobs Council, which is seeking her tax preparers to help people just returning to the workforce.