{"id":2138,"date":"2026-05-07T17:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/?p=2138"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:59:17","slug":"engage-upstate-spotlight-vita-tax-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/engage-upstate-spotlight-vita-tax-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Engage Upstate Spotlight: VITA Tax Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"953\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/VITA-Students-web.jpg\" alt=\"USC Upstate business students volunteering for the VITA program\" class=\"wp-image-2151 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Supplying our communities with the tools they need to prosper is important, and that why professor Michael Wooten is committed to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) project. Professor Wooten, senior instructor of accounting, and the students working in VITA have spent the past 14 years working to provide Spartanburg with tax resources and tools to help our communities thrive.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Over two dozen students per term work together to help give our community the information they need for taxes, and help them file their taxes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The students that manage the VITA program run out of USC Upstate&#8217;s George building in downtown Spartanburg. These students have worked under the loose supervision of Professor Wooten, with student leaders being elected to manage the program for the semester. These students are more than willing to take on this responsibility, though, with the majority doing this with the sole purpose of helping their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s that personal growth, you give someone a job to do and they do it. They have the pride and ownership of completion. &#8220;<\/p><cite>Michael Wooten<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 41%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Across the many locations throughout the Upstate, VITA has helped over three million members of our community, and every step of the way has been important for everyone involved. The community has continued to come for the help provided by VITA. Building this link between the campus and local community is important, and has allowed Upstate&#8217;s connection with the people it seeks to serve grow and flourish.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"370\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-content\/uploads\/George.jpg\" alt=\"Street view of the George Dean Johnson College of Business and Economics building in downtown Spartanburg\" class=\"wp-image-2152 size-full\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The service VITA provides to the community also enriches the sense of belonging among students and faculty in USC Upstate&#8217;s business program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;Until I did VITA, I didn&#8217;t feel like a part of this college.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Michael Wooten<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Students develop real-world experience  working with clients and problem-solving the kinds of issues that come up in real tax situations. Each student involved in this program completes training for VITA throughout January to be ready for tax season. Students sign up with Michael Wooten through the Johnson College of Business and Economics, and they can earn credit through a VITA service learning course available each spring. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supplying our communities with the tools they need to prosper is important, and that why professor Michael Wooten is committed to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) project. Professor Wooten, senior instructor of accounting, and the students working in VITA have spent the past 14 years working to provide Spartanburg with tax resources and tools [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sl-ce-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2138"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138\/revisions\/2153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/servicestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}