UAH students help with free tax preparation for low-income families

Each spring, students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) donate their time to helping low-income families prepare their taxes as part of the Impact Alabama SaveFirst program. And this year was no different.

Almost 70 UAH students spent 900 hours at free tax preparation sites in Huntsville and Decatur. The result, according to SaveFirst, was more than 1,270 tax returns prepared for working families, saving them $380,000 in commercial tax preparation fees and leading to $2.5 million in tax refunds.

"The UAH College of Business Administration has partnered with SaveFirst since 2010," says Dr. Charles Hickman, clinical associate professor in the College of Business Administration. "Working together, we have been able to increase the number of families helped in the Huntsville area every year. The students learn a lot about the lives of working families and receive excellent tax preparation experience."

SaveFirst, the largest volunteer tax preparation program in the state, is one of three signature initiatives that fall under the Impact Alabama umbrella. In addition to UAH, fourteen other Alabama universities and colleges participate in the annual effort to assist working families eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

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