VITA Volunteer Opportunities

Provide free tax service for low to moderate income families to ease their financial stress of having to pay for tax preparation.

Program: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)

You are interested in personal income tax, and/or you are interested in helping people.

You are wanted!

Come join us - Ren Locus-Volunteer Income Tax Assistance at Vancouver.

You can help many low to moderate income families by providing free tax preparation, help them apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Washington Working Family Tax Credit. The money will ease some of their financial burden.

Each year, we help hundreds of low-income families apply for qualified tax credits and save hundreds of dollars in tax preparation fees for each family.

With your effort, you can provide them some relief from their anguish and financial stress.

We provide you with flexible hours and training. All you need to do is sign up!

Several different types of volunteers are needed for the 2026 tax season. Some opportunities require tax certification and some don’t. For details, see the position descriptions below.

We are especially interested in these areas:

Tax Preparers
Quality Reviewers
Assistant Site Coordinators
Multilingual skills (particularly Spanish, Russian, and Ukrainian.)

Program Description: in partnership with the IRS’s VITA program (IRS), we provide free tax return preparation for low to moderate income taxpayers, limited English speaking taxpayers and persons with disabilities.

Duration:

Tax season, January 29 through April 15, 2026

Year round - May 4 through October 26, 2026

Time Commitment: at least four hours per week (the more the merrier).

When: We provide services five days per week. There are three days 10 am-6pm and two days 1-9 pm (see below).

Locations : we provide service in a few different locations throughout Clark County.

Training: We will be providing training to supplement the IRS training resources.

Requirements: see position descriptions. Once your training is complete and you have passed the necessary tests, a Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs is also required. All volunteer opportunities have general requirements.

Volunteers Needed for each shift:

three to four tax preparers
two to three quality reviewers
one to two interpreters
one assistant site coordinator

Two people smiling while looking at papers (doint taxes).

Position Descriptions:

Duties: Provide free tax return preparation for qualified taxpayers.
Interview taxpayers using the intake/interview form.
Review documents, ask questions, and enter information in tax software.

Qualifications: take training and pass a test for
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct – Ethics Training
- Intake/Interview Training
- Complete training (basic or advanced) and successfully certify in tax law, including the use of electronic filing software.
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs
Duties: Review returns prepared by Volunteer Tax Preparers, by interviewing the taxpayer and giving feedback to the Tax Preparer. Review the tax return with the taxpayer.

Qualifications: take training and pass a test for
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct – Ethics Training
- Intake/Interview Training
- Complete training and successfully certify in tax law
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs
Duties: During the intake and interview process, provide language interpretation for taxpayers who speak languages other than English. Particularly Spanish, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Qualifications: take training and pass a test for
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct – Ethics Training
- Intake/Interview Training
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs

If you have multilingual skills, we encourage you to consider the Tax Preparer and Quality Review positions.
Duties: Assist the Site Coordinator manage the operations of the site.

Help with setup and take down of the room and equipment. Help greet and check in clients. Assist staff with administrative tasks and issues. Other duties as needed.

If you complete the tax training and successfully certify in tax law, you may also prepare tax returns and/or do quality review.
Qualifications: take training and pass a test for
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct – Ethics Training
- Intake/Interview Training
- Site Coordinator
- Complete training and successfully certify in tax law (optional)
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs

Woman greeting two other women and making notes.

Woman sitting at a desk showing two other people a pad of aper.

Interpreter talking to two people sitting at a table.

Volunteer Interest Form

More Information and Training Materials:

For training use the resources below. We will provide you with details about the process.

Once training is complete, certification tests are taken online on VITA/TCE Central and a Volunteer Agreement is generated and signed..

Links will be updated for tax season 2026 as they become available. Typically from mid-October through December.

More Information on the IRS website

IRS Tax Volunteers
Volunteer Training Resources
- Publication 4491, VITA/TCE Training Guide
- Publication 4012, Volunteer Resource Guide
  - training tool and reference guide
  - print copy available
- Publication 6744, Test/Retest ***
  - used for certification
  - *** Important Test Updates: Before starting and submitting your test on VITA/TCE Central, check for Volunteer Tax Alerts (VTA) 2026 to see if there have been any updates to the tests
  - VTA 2026-01, Changes to Form 6744, VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor’s Test/Retest
  - VTA 2026-02, Changes to Form 6744, VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor’s Test/Retest
- VITA/TCE Central
  - available mid- to late-November
  - online certification test
Link & Learn Taxes e-Learning
- training resources
- for Pub 4491 chapter workouts select “Click here to see the content of each course.”
Ren Locus - Tax Resources

Woman reading computer with charts in the background.

Training for All Volunteers

Volunteer Standards of Conduct – Ethics Training
- IRS Publication 4961, VITA/TCE - Volunteer Standards of Conduct

Training for Tax Preparers

Intake/Interview Training

Publication 5101, Intake/Interview and Quality Review Training
- delivers training that is designed to encourage all volunteers to follow a thorough and consistent Intake/interview and Quality Review process.
- Webinars
  - Intake/Interview and Quality Review Training
  - Form 13614-C Overview and Job Aid Training

Basic and Advanced Levels

Use Pub 4491 to study. Pub 4012 is also a good resource.

Publication 4491, VITA/TCE Training Guide
- to see what is included in the Advanced and Basic levels, open form 13614-C Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet, and go to parts III, IV, and V. Items labeled with a (B) are Basic and those labeled with a (A) are Advanced.
- Publication 4491-X, VITA/TCE Training Supplement (updated in January)
  - Updates to volunteer training materials. Normally updated in November/December.
Ren Locus - VITA Training
- In person training will be 10 am - 4 pm on:
  - Saturday, January 24, 2026
  - Saturday, January 31, 2026
  - Before the training volunteers should review the training guide and the test.
  - Training will use practice scenarios to cover the various tax topics.
  - Training is geared towards new volunteers but, returning volunteers are welcome to attend.
- Orientation
  - Mid-January
  - In person
- What’s New
  - Mid/late January
  - online
Link & Learn Taxes e-Learning
- Basic and Advanced Courses
- Link & Learn has “workouts” which review some of the examples and exercises in Pub 4491 and then provide additional exercises and sample test questions.

IRS Fact Sheets

Fact Sheet - Practice Lab
- The practice lab should be available mid- to late-November
Fact Sheet – Volunteer Training
Fact Sheet – Continuing Education Credits