April 27, 2010
St. John’s University’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
program has aided thousands of lower-income New Yorkers in two
boroughs by completing over 3,500 Federal and NYS income tax
returns generating nearly $3 million in refunds this year.
For the third-straight year, 85 upper-class undergraduates and
graduate students of the Peter J. Tobin College of Business,
Department of Accounting and Taxation at St. John’s University
assisted the low-income New Yorkers at St. Mark’s AME Church in
Jackson Heights, Queens and at St. John’s Bread and Life in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The St. John’s students
assisted in filing 883 returns at the Bread and Life location,
which is sponsored by St. John’s University, and over 2,600 returns
in Jackson Heights.
Nina T.
Dorata, Assistant Professor, Peter J. Tobin College of Business,
coordinated the VITA efforts for St. John’s University and saw a
sizable increase in refunds being returned to New York City
residents.
“Our students generated nearly $3 million in income tax refunds
which is approximately triple the amount of refunds St. John’s
students generated during the 2009 tax season,” said Professor
Dorata. “These income tax refunds represent monies returned to the
community and we are indebted to our student tax preparers and
student-supervisors. In addition, the VITA program was responsible
for nearly 3,200 taxpayers agreeing to provide income tax data to
St. John’s University for research purposes.”
The undergraduate and graduate students of The Peter J. Tobin
College of Business who were involved in the VITA Tax Assistant
Program were honored by NY1 as “People of the Week” for their
outstanding service in the community. This year’s group of students
aided thousands of lower-income New Yorkers in two boroughs by
completing over 3,500 Federal and NYS income tax returns generating
nearly $3 million in refunds this year.
Please watch the exclusive interview that took place between a
NY1 reporter and tax preparers at the St. John’s Bread and Life
location in Brooklyn.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited St. John’s Bread
and Life in early April to remind New Yorkers about the City’s free
tax assistance and to urge lower-income New Yorkers to file, as
they likely had considerable amount of refunds owed to them.
Roughly one million New Yorkers qualified for the Earned Income Tax
Credit, which averages over $2700.
The St. John’s students were trained by professionals from the
FoodBank for NYC who partner with Department of Accounting and
Taxation to deliver the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
program in Brooklyn and in Jackson Heights.
For more information on the VITA program contact Professor Nina
Dorata by calling at (718) 990-7329 or e-mail inquiries to doratan@stjohns.edu.
Media inquiries can be directed to Dominic Scianna, Assistant Vice
President for Media Relations at St. John’s University via
telephone at (718) 990-6185, or via electronic mail at sciannad@stjohns.edu.