An accounting professor is helping students and faculty complete their tax forms for free this spring.

Accounting professor Mike Gavin replaced Reb Beatty, a business administration professor who used to run the tax program.

Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, students, staff, faculty and community members who earn $55,000 or less can have their taxes filled out for free through early April.

VITA is a federal government program that uses IRS-certified volunteers to review clients’ tax situations and prepare returns.

“People have anxiety about taxes and we try to relieve that anxiety,” Gavin, who is in his first year as a full-time professor, said.

AACC has 26 certified volunteers, 22 students and four faculty members who work alongside Gavin to prepare, review and electronically file federal and state taxes.

“He noticed that I picked up accounting pretty easily,” Kristin Kohout, a second-year business administration student and tax volunteer, said. “He knew that I could do this.”

“[Volunteers] are the most important part of the program,” Gavin said. “They have taken training and passed certification tests administered by the IRS, very hard tests.”

Students, faculty, staff and community members interested in the service can make an appointment by going to AACC’s official website and searching “VITA.”