Volunteer Income Tax Assistance at WWU
We offer free income tax assistance to Whatcom County and Bellingham City eligible residents in English and with limited Spanish support.
What is VITA?
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is an IRS-sponsored service operated by community partners and staffed by trained volunteers who provide free, reliable tax preparation to the public. All volunteers complete IRS-approved training and certification to ensure accurate and high-quality service.
Am I Eligible for VITA service?
We provides free tax preparation for tax returns within the IRS VITA scope of service. You may qualify if your tax situation does not include the following situations (not a complete list):
• Rental property income (Schedule E)
• Farm or fishing income (Schedule F)
• Foreign income or foreign asset reporting, or foreign tax issues (international student/scholar tax is typically within the VITA service scope).
• Military income
• Cryptocurrency or digital asset trading
• Married filing separately
• A business with inventory, cost of goods sold, employees, or depreciation expenses
• A business with loss (Schedule C loss)
• Complex Stock trading (wash sales, options trading)
• S corporation (Schedule K-1 )
• Complex Stock trading (wash sales, options trading)
• Some energy credits reporting
• Some complex situations about IRA, HSA accounts.
We are certified to prepare within scope federal returns and Washington state returns only. If you need to file another state return, you are welcome to use the self-preparation option, however, we will not be able to support that the other state part of your tax return.
See more detailed information about who is eligible for VITA services here:
VITA at WWU will operate from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM on the following dates, weather permitting. Walk-ins are welcome — we typically have a few open spots each evening due to appointment cancellations. The best time to walk in is around 5:00 PM.
February: 11, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25
March: 2, 3, 4, 10, 11
April: 1, 6, 7, 8