Auburn students save low-income families hundreds of dollars on tax returns

As the tax deadline quickly approaches, some low-income families in Alabama have received help filing their taxes from Auburn students, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars.

This semester, 87 students in the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business have spent over 1,000 hours helping families file their 2015 tax returns. In order to participate, the students had to go through eight hours of training and earn IRS certification.

This service is part of Impact Alabama’s SaveFirst program, which is designed to address community needs and offer public services. The students, all majoring in accounting and finance, enjoyed the experience.

“I had fun,” said Erika Goodwin, a junior in accounting. “It sounds nerdy, but I want to do taxes when I become an accountant and this is probably the first chance at hands-on experience with what I want to do. I’d done a couple of internships before, but they haven’t been specifically related to taxes. Besides that, you just feel good when you walk out of it. You’re like, ‘I helped some people. I got some experience. I made some friends.’

“Knowing that we are there to help these people save money and then we are there providing a service that saves them even more money. Honestly, I met a lot of nice people too. It was great chatting with them. You get to benefit on a personal and expertise level.”

The program was mutually beneficial for everyone involved. Low-income families saved money by using the students’ services, and the students benefited from experience directly related to many of their career goals.

“A lot of the professionals perceive it as accounting experience,” said Kerry Inger, assistant professor in the School of Accountancy. “It looks really good on their resume. It’s a client-service environment. We’ve received really positive feedback from professionals and recruiters about that experience. The students get an IRS certification. They can put that certification on their resume and that looks good too.”

SaveFirst helps low-income families in particular because the students’ service was offered for free. Not having to go to a professional tax business, which can sometimes take advantage of taxpayers, could potentially save families hundreds of dollars, Inger said.

“Think about somebody who is earning $18,000 a year,” Inger said. “The Earned Income Credit refund is going to be significant to them. But if they go somewhere and pay $400 to have their tax return done, that’s a huge loss. By having SaveFirst, they can keep all of that money and use it for their kids, or whatever it might be.”