Connect with your community as a United Way VITA volunteer!
Are you looking for a high-impact way to put your life and professional experience to work, or build new skills through hands-on experience? Volunteer with United Way of King County!
Join us to break down tax assistance paywalls and help your neighbors maximize their refunds, giving them the money they need for food, rent, childcare, and other essentials.
Every year, each individual volunteer generates an average of $30,500 in refunds. That’s over $400 back into the community for each hour volunteered for our neighbors!
Four Ways to Volunteer
Tax Preparer
Talk with community members and help prepare their taxes. No tax experience required—we’ll train you!
Learn more Role details- No tax experience necessary!
- Volunteers are able to grow their tax preparation skills while ensuring clients get an accurate return. All tax returns are thoroughly reviewed by a second person through a process called “Quality Review.”
- Alongside the Quality Review process, volunteers will use tools such as the VITA Volunteer Resource Guide (PUB 4012) and the volunteer wiki to answer questions that may come up during tax preparation. Tax Site Managers will also be available to answer questions.
- This role includes about 16 hours of training for the required IRS tax preparation certifications. (An additional 8 hours of training is optional.)
Intake Volunteer
Welcome clients to the tax site, answer basic questions, and be an integral part of keeping the tax site running smoothly.
Learn more Role details- Intake volunteers are critical to site operation! You will often be the first person that our clients interact with and you will help folks feel welcomed.
- No tax experience? No problem! This role does not involve tax preparation.
- This role includes about 8 hours of training, including getting the required IRS ethics certifications.
Interpreter
New this year!
Use your multi-lingual skills to sit with tax clients who need interpretation help to file their taxes.
- Accompany a client who needs language help for the duration of the tax preparation process, ensuring that both the client and tax preparers are able to communicate effectively and accurately.
- No tax experience? No problem! This role does not involve tax preparation.
- This role can be trained for online, using UWKC-provided materials. Training should only take a few hours of your time.
Virtual Volunteer
Assist with either tax preparation or intake through tools like Slack, Zoom, email, and our client portal.
Learn more Role details- Due to the added complexity of the online tax site, virtual tax preparers are required to be prior-year volunteers with the Free Tax Preparation Campaign or another VITA program, or have a tax background.
- Virtual intake volunteers are not required to have tax experience. We suggest that new volunteers who are interested in the online tax site start out as intake volunteers.
Time Commitment
- Our volunteer program runs during tax season: January 19 to April 17, 2027.
- Volunteers are asked to commit to 1 shift per week (3.5-4 hours) for the duration of tax season, which is roughly 13 shifts over 13 weeks.
- Training is offered on weekends in December and January, before the start of tax season. Training length varies by role.
Have questions? Contact us at freetax@uwkc.org.
“I’m a tax volunteer because…
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