Federal Tax Return Help is Available

Completing a federal income tax return can be daunting, especially for students trying to figure out whether scholarship and grant money is taxable or tax-free, or whether a tuition and fee expense is a deduction or credit.

For financial aid recipients, errors on your tax return may lead to delays in receiving financial aid assistance. Help is available to accurately complete your federal income tax return. Start with these excellent resources:

• Free tax help at the Bellingham Public Library co-sponsored by AARP. For a list of times showing when help is available see the Bellingham Public Library Program and Events calendar. Search on keyword "tax". 


• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) -- the VITA program is staffed by students from Western Washington University, Whatcom Community College, and other members of the community and is a free resource.

  Locations and hours for VITA assistance are:

WWU Parks Hall 336 (starting February 6th)

• Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays: 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.
• Saturdays: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• (Free parking in WWU “C” lots ONLY after 4:30 p.m. weekdays and on weekends)

Whatcom Community College's Heiner Library (starting Feb. 13)

• Mondays: 5 to 8 p.m.
• Fridays: 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Full text of the announcement is available on Western Today, 02/03/2012.



•  IRS Publication 970 - Tax Benefits for Education. Consult this publication on the IRS website to view all the rules and details regarding the tax treatment of educational scholarships and grants.