Project Statement:

Current training requirements for all VITA volunteer tax preparers require them to certify at either the Basic or Advance level. Many, if not most, certify at the Advanced level. However, to see clients that have health savings accounts ), volunteers need to take an additional course relating to HSAs. Since HSA accounts are becoming increasingly more common, being certified in HSA is increasingly important for volunteer tax preparers. However, this certification requirement frequently leads to additional confusion in practice as the site coordinators need to keep careful track of which of their volunteers for that day can see clients with HSA accounts. This leads to overall slower return processing as the site coordinators try to determine who can see these clients.

Goal Statement:

To improve the efficiency of VITA to handle clients with HSA accounts and thereby process more returns quicker and more accurately.