Accounting students from Niagara University's College of Business Administration provide free tax preparation assistance to members of the Niagara Falls community this tax season.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY — It's that time of year again. For the 36th straight year, accounting students from Niagara University's College of Business Administration are providing free tax preparation assistance to members of the Niagara Falls community this tax season.

In 2016, 86 student volunteers helped local residents file 891 tax returns, totaling more than $1.1 million in federal and state refunds.
Assistance will be provided from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Niagara University (St. Vincent's Hall, Room 205) on the following dates: March 23, 28 and 30, and April 4 and 6.

Dr. Ian Burt, a certified public accountant and accounting faculty member at the university, coordinates Niagara's program.

Sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service, the program, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, is in its 36th year at Niagara. NU students prepare and electronically file federal and state tax returns free of charge for elderly and low-income taxpayers in the community. Members of Beta Alpha Psi, the international honor society for accounting, and the college's Accounting Society coordinate the program.

Niagara University's VITA program has garnered national accolades from Beta Alpha Psi, an organization with more than 300,000 members in 300 chapters on college and university campuses around the world.

For more information, call 716-286-7328 or visit www.niagara.edu/vita.