SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — While the holidays are occupying most peoples’ minds, tax season is just around the corner, but there are local resources for those who may need some help.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) is an IRS initiative designed to provide free tax preparation services for low-income people. The Center for Siouxland provides this service but are in need of more volunteers to serve Siouxland.

More than 50 volunteers helped at the Center for Siouxland during the previous tax season. Andrea Buckley was one of them.

“This will be my 6th year volunteering at vita. I volunteer as a tax preparer. I really enjoy doing it. I get to talk to clients directly and do their taxes and help them get good refunds,” said Buckley. 

Buckley is a tax attorney. She said helping others with tax returns felt like a perfect fit.

“We get the training and information that we need to be certified and even if you don’t want to do taxes, there’s still a place for you to help and so it’s a really great way to meet people in our community and help in the ways that we can,” said Buckley.

But the Center for Siouxland still needs a wide variety of volunteers.

“we look for tax preparers that prepare the tax returns and become irs certified and we also look for greeters who would be at the front of our office who greet clients when they come in for their tax appointments. They also help them fill out paperwork if they need help with that and then we also have our schedulers,” said VITA Program Coordinator Olivia Benjamin.

Benjamin said a little help goes a long way to helping low-income Siouxlanders.

“Volunteers are the heart of the VITA program. Without volunteers, this program would not be what it is, so the more volunteers that we have that can help us make a difference in this community makes a huge impact because if we don’t have the volunteers, we can’t help as many people as we would like to,” said Benjamin.

Benjamin said more than half of Siouxlanders are eligible for this program. Last year, they served more than 1,500 taxpayers.

For Siouxlanders that are interested in helping out, click here.