Many residents in our LOU community don’t have the money to get their taxes prepared by an outside source.

Thanks to VITA, or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, which is a partnership with the University of Mississippi, people earning under $54,000 can now get the help they need.

Law students from the University of Mississippi will be be available at the Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 until 6:30 p.m. from Feb. 2 through April 7 excluding the dates of March 14-18 to offer their assistance.

These volunteer law students are made up of second and third-year law students who have been tax certified by the IRS and are currently under the management of someone in the law school faculty.

Last year, volunteers through VITA helped Lafayette County taxpayers receive 272 refunds, totaling more than $200,000. Most of these residents didn’t have the means to get their taxes done and getting these refunds in the hands of residents of our community is a boost to our economy.

Most of the dialogue between the student volunteers and a person interested in getting his or her taxes done is much more one-on-one than you would receive at other tax preparation businesses. It is a way to interact with the person and then make the proper deductions in order for the person to receive the proper refund.

Thanks to VITA for helping residents of our community in a time of need.