The City of Surprise is looking for volunteers to be trained in tax preparation and become part of its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

The volunteers provide free tax return preparation for low-to-moderate income individuals and families through the VITA program. No previous tax preparation experience is needed to become a volunteer.

Volunteers also are needed to be greeters/screeners, tax return closers and interpreters. Volunteers are asked for a minimum of 25 hours during tax season to work at a VITA site from late January through April 17. 

Tax preparers will prepare basic 1040 tax returns and related schedules and help to answer tax law questions. Greeters welcome clients to the tax preparation center and perform a screening process. Tax return closers meet with clients to finish the process of printing and signing the returns. Interpreters will provide bilingual assistance for Spanish-speaking clients who need tax preparation services. 

The city will hold IRS Certification/Tax Law training classes beginning this month and going through January. There are typically 24 hours of courses with an online certification test at the end of the training. 

Anyone interested in volunteering should visit turnanewleaf.org/servcies/vita.html for more information or to sign up as a volunteer.