VITA seeks volunteers

Tom Dewey, the VITA program manager, left, and Ronald Fulton, center, a United Way tax preparation volunteer for 11 years, look over an income tax return form with Yamila Acosta, right, executive director of the Marion County Literacy Council, at the VITA program office at the council building in Ocala on Oct. 30, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.

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Posted November 4, 2025 | By Susan Smiley-Height, [email protected]

For many people, preparing a tax return can be a scary endeavor. But there is a local program that can help with that task — and even better, it’s a free service.

It’s the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program. It is sponsored by United Way of Marion County and funded by an Internal Revenue Service grant. The program director is Tom Dewey. The preparation of federal tax returns is done by volunteers and interns.

Dewey is looking for more volunteers for the program in hopes of expanding hours and possibly adding another office.

To learn more, we did an email Q&A with Dewey.

What is the gist of the program?

Our main purpose is to assist low-to-moderate income families and those with disabilities in Marion County to prepare their federal tax returns. All preparation is provided free of charge, and we electronically file their returns to help speed up getting their refunds, most within two weeks. We are one of 9,500 VITA programs throughout the U.S.

We are a local United Way sponsored program and funded by an IRS grant. The Marion County program has successfully been in existence for over 15 years. All our tax preparers are volunteers and all are IRS certified. Each year, every volunteer preparer must get re-certified by the IRS. We provide all training and materials free of charge and all training is provided in our main office in Ocala.

During the last tax season, we helped almost 2,100 Marion County families receive $1.9 million in refunds and $1 million in tax credits. We accomplished this with an accuracy rate of 98.6%, exceeding the US average of 96.8%.

Who can benefit from this program?

Tax preparation can be very scarry and intimidating for people. Basically, we provide clients with valuable monetary services; we saved clients over $682,000 in tax prep fees last year. Although there are many resources available for clients to prepare their own taxes, many low-income families and clients with disabilities still do not have access to computers or they fear filing incorrect returns. We offer face-to-face interviews and consultation with our trained volunteers to provide clients with the comfort knowing that their return is completed accurately and timely.

How is it organized locally?

Our main location is in downtown Ocala in the Marion County Literacy Council building. In addition, we also have offices in Belleview, Marion Oaks and Dunnellon. We operate from mid-January through April 15. We also occasionally provide on-site tax prep for clients working at local nonprofit groups and who cannot leave during work hours. Last year we assisted many clients during two sessions at the Wear Gloves nonprofit.

We are well known in the community. Appointment scheduling begins in mid-November and can be made online through the United Way website. Our services are in high demand; we usually fill all appointments by mid-February. Hence the need to increase our volunteer base to meet the demand.

We also recently teamed up with the Marion County Veterans Helping Veterans USA group to enlist volunteers from retired veterans in Marion County.

What is your role?

I’m the VITA program manager. I’ve been with the program for over 10 years, starting as a volunteer and then becoming the assistant program manager. Three years ago, I took over as program manager. My role includes program planning and management; volunteer recruitment and training; client services; quality control, compliance and reporting; community outreach and promotion; IRS budget and grant preparation and administration. Besides myself, I have an assistant program manager and program assistant.

What is the commitment from volunteers?

We ask our volunteers to become IRS certified using online and in person training methods. Testing is very simple and open booked. We provide hands-on guidance throughout the training sessions to ensure successful outcomes. We normally have a 100% success rate. New volunteers are monitored by experienced volunteers to provide a comfort level for clients and the volunteers. We are trained to ensure each client receives the tax credits they deserve.

All returns, including those prepared by experienced volunteers, are required to be reviewed by a second volunteer to ensure accuracy.

Volunteers are asked to provide us with 5-10 hours of service each week. We work around the volunteer’s availability and are very flexible. We have no evening hours, but we do have Saturday morning appointments at our main location. However, providing we have a sufficient volunteer base, we will extend into longer hours to meet the demand.

Each year we utilize several accounting major interns from the College of Central Florida. This helps them fulfill their intern requirements and provides VITA with highly trained, motivated and new volunteers. CF has always been very cooperative in providing volunteers for us.

How many volunteers do you have and how many are needed?

Last season we had 31 volunteers, but this varies year-to-year. We have a high retention rate; however, we always have a certain dropout rate (mostly due to personal schedule changes). We already have five new volunteers this year (including two interns) but would like to increase by another 10 volunteers to be able to extend our hours and possibly open another office. As previously indicated, our service is in high demand.

To learn more, call (352) 355-1225 or email Dewey at [email protected] or Brenda Kirkland at [email protected] and go to uwmc.org/vita