Impact

Volunteer Tax Preparation - 2023 Filing Season

The Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program assisted 266 people in procuring tax refunds for the 2023 calendar year totaling $318,584 (a total of $218,436 in federal refunds, and $100,148 in state refunds). Law school vounteers prepared tax returns for families including 43 children and 15 other dependents (generally elderly or disabled family members). We assisted these families in securing an average Child Tax Credit of $2,288 for each family, as well as an average Earned Income Credit of $2,407. The taxpayers we assisted also included 37 Social Security recipients (elderly taxpayers and taxpayers receiving disability payments). We also assisted 29 University of South Carolina employees, who had an average income of  $29,688 for the year.

Tax Clinic
In the first four months the clinic was open in 2024, we accepted and began representation of 33 clients in disputes with the IRS, and filed one petition to the U.S. Tax Court (case currently pending) As of the midway point of 2024, we have assisted 10 clients in favorably resolving their cases, resulting in reduced or corrected tax liabilities totaling $99,749.