VITA Volunteers

Training & Certification Process

Step 1 - Virtual Training

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program provides virtual classroom and self-study training options using IRS prepared training material. The training and material are free. New tax preparers are strongly urged to take basic virtual classroom training if they have not taken a federal taxation course. If you are a returning volunteer or have taken a college Federal Taxation for Individuals course, access the online training modules.

You'll need the following training materials available electronically:

• Publication 4012 - Volunteer Resource Guide: Offers tax preparation aids and directions on how to navigate our online TaxSlayer software.
• Practice Lab: Helps you with TaxSlayer scenarios.
• Publication 4961 - Volunteer Standards of Conduct (Ethics) Training: Must be taken online before you take your exam. The training can also be found in Form 6744 - VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor’s Test/Retest. Volunteers who will be greeters and not certifying in tax law may refer to Publication 4961- Standards of Conduct (Ethics) Training for this training.

Step 2 - Certification Process

Volunteers must pass the advanced certification test with a score of 80% or higher. Upon completion of certification tests, sign, date and submit Form 13615 to your VITA instructor.

• Form 6744 - VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor’s Test/Retest. Take the test to certify as a volunteer preparer on Link & Learn, but the actual test questions are a combination of these Test/Retest questions. We recommend you use this form to work out the test questions ahead of time before certifying online. The actual certification exam is open book. Pay close attention when taking the online test as the test questions come from the test OR the retest in the booklet – so be sure you’ve answered the correct question!