By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO–The deadline to file your taxes is quickly approaching, and those in need of assistance still have the opportunity to get help from the University of Montevallo.

UM certified students and faculty are ready to help by providing a free tax return filing by the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

This is the fourth year UM has offered the program, and each year the program has gained more people who have taken advantage of the free program.

When the program was introduced in 2012, the UM VITA Program served a total of 30 clients. In 2014, the program served 71 clients and the goal for 2015 is to serve 100 or more clients.

Bill Hamer, director of center of professional practice, has helped facilitate the program and said he believes it gives students the chance to gain valuable experience while at the same time helping people file their taxes.

“This year, we have expanded our program, one of our top accounting professors, Dr. Doug Smith, teaches tax and has done the recruiting and we have eight students who are going to participate working with us this year,” said Hamer. “We have a team captain, Stacy Burke, who is a paid intern and therefore we have a lot more resources.”

Hamer said that as of March 24, UM students and faculty had already helped more than 90 clients file their tax returns for this year with three more opportunities left for clients to get help.

The dates remaining for clients to attend are March 28 and April 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesday, April 8, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This year, the filing will be done on the UM campus in Morgan Hall, Room 202.

The documents needed to receive assistance are a photo ID, Social Security number for each family member and working adult, W-2s and other income forms, childcare provider name, address, tax ID and bank routing and account numbers for checking and savings account.