Loyola’s volunteer tax assistance program recognized
Loyola University Maryland’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program — staffed by Loyola student volunteers to help taxpayers in Baltimore — was named an IRS VITA Superior Winner by the Beta Alpha Psi honor society. The designation recognizes university VITA programs for preparing a high number of tax returns and high student participation.
Loyola students prepared 1,035 tax returns earlier this year resulting in a total of $1,635,340 in tax refunds for Baltimore residents. The tax preparation services were provided free of charge, saving residents an estimated total of $400,000 in tax preparation fees.
“Participating in the Loyola VITA program is without a doubt the most rewarding experience of my now-close-to-50-year career,” said Michael W. Bender, executive in residence of accounting who helps coordinate Loyola’s VITA program. “Our students go above and beyond to serve the community and put in volunteer hours to make our program the success that it is.”
This year was the seventh year Loyola has hosted a site offering tax preparation services, bringing the total number of tax returns prepared to almost 3,000 and tax refunds attained to over $4 million. Before Loyola opened a site, Loyola students volunteered at other locations, facilitating hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional refunds.
“When I joined VITA, I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my career. The experience has familiarized me with a realm of accounting and showed me how much I like preparing taxes, a field I plan to enter after I graduate,” said Kacey Pupo, ’26, an accounting and information systems and data analytics double major who served as an apprentice VITA site director earlier this year. “Combining both career preparation and giving back to the Baltimore community has been rewarding. It’s also a great way to live Loyola’s Jesuit values of providing service.”
Loyola’s tax preparation services are offered at the Loyola Clinical Centers at Belvedere Square in Baltimore in partnership with the nonprofit Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope (CASH) Campaign of Maryland. Loyola honored CASH Campaign of Maryland last year with the University’s Milch Community Partnership Award for the organization’s service to low- to moderate-income people, mission of building hope, and partnership with the University.
Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management in Baltimore delivers an internationally recognized Jesuit business education. Recognized for its scholarship, ethical leadership, and tradition of excellence, the Sellinger School delivers a wide range of sought-after fields of study including nine undergraduate majors and 13 undergraduate minors as well as full-time, part-time, and fully online MBA and Master of Accounting programs.