Baruch VITA Manager Policies

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Baruch VITAManager Policies Procedures

• Yeah, Im still awake
• Boy, someone had fun writing the Post-Test

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Overview

• Manager Site Selection
• Manager Responsibilities
• Attendance Policy Tracking
• Quality Review

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You are our eyes ears

• There are two VITA coordinators five VITA sites
  and 300 volunteers
• We rely on you to
• make sure the sites run
• maintain good relationship with our partners
• inform us about any problems on the sites
• build Baruch VITA reputation as free reliable
  tax preparation service

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Manager Site Selection

• Check www.baruch.cuny.edu/vita for link to submit
  site preference
• Each manager can select up to five site/time
  slots that they would like to volunteer
• Manager commitment is minimum 4 hours/wk
• We will assign you based on your preferences and
  our needs
• Students who wish to volunteer in Chinatown must
  be conversational in Mandarin or Cantonese
• Deadline Sunday, January 20th 1159PM

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Volunteer Locations for 2008
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Location Spotlight Baruch

• Client policy First come, first serve
• Languages All
• Client characteristics
• Baruch students
• Baruch international students (Thursdays ONLY)
• Clients of all ages and income, directed by IRS
  42nd Street office
• Client Intake Sheets First page by client,
  second page by YOU
• Statistics Sheet Complete and staple to Intake
  Sheet, place in appropriate envelope (with
  todays date on it) at the Sign In Desk.
  Envelopes (including attendance and client sign
  in) are picked up every night.
• Advertising Distribute flyers in various Baruch
  locations
• Forms Laid out on tables in back of lobby, to be
  stored in boxes underneath the tables overnight.
  Extra forms must be requested from Lily, who can
  bring them from our clubroom office
• Resources Research can be done in Library on 2nd
  floor

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Location Spotlight Chinatown

• Client policy By appointment only, appointments
  made by CCBA
• Clients receive post-its of different colors when
  making appointment
• Always take the person with the lowest number
  that you can converse with
• Post-its must be given to volunteer at Sign In
  desk or CCBA staff and counted at the end of each
  day by manager
• Languages Mandarin and Cantonese
• Client characteristics Clients of all ages and
  income, many elderly need to file only NYC-210
  and/or IT-214
• Client Intake Sheets Not used due to client
  language barrier
• Statistics Sheet Complete and place in
  appropriate envelope (with todays date on it).
  Envelopes are picked up every Sunday.
• Advertising Distribute flyers on street
• Forms Laid out on tables in whichever room is
  being used. Copies of forms can be made on
  available copiers, please use your discretion.
• Resources Computer available for research.
  Return must be copied on provided copiers and
  given to the client.

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Location Spotlight Flushing

• Client policy By appointment walk-in,
  appointments made by community center
• This is a new site, exact procedure will be
  announced on the site
• Languages All (especially Mandarin and
  Cantonese)
• Client characteristics Clients of all ages and
  income, many elderly need to file only NYC-210
  and/or IT-214
• Client Intake Sheets Not used due to client
  language barrier
• Statistics Sheet Complete and place in
  appropriate envelope (with todays date on it).
  Envelopes are picked up every Sunday.
• Advertising Distribute flyers on street
• Forms Laid out on tables in whichever room is
  being used.
• Resources TBA

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Location Spotlight Hamilton

• Client policy First come, first serve
• Languages Spanish and English
• Client characteristics
• Majority of clients are the elderly (a lot of
  NYC-210's)
• Low-income families (Child Tax Credit, EITC and
  Child Dependent Care) from the surrounding
  public housing developments.
• 15 of clients qualify for the Real Property Tax
  Credit
• Client Intake Sheets First page by client,
  second page by YOU
• Statistics Sheet Complete and staple to Intake
  Sheet, place in appropriate envelope (with
  todays date on it) at Sign In desk. Envelopes
  are picked up every week by Site Manager.
• Advertising Distribute flyers in various
  locations, per request of shift/site manager
• Forms Laid out on tables in whichever room is
  being used
• Resources TBA

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Location Spotlight Kingsbay

• Client policy First come, first serve
• Languages English and Russian
• Client characteristics
• Clients of all ages and income
• Many elderly need to file only NYC-210 and/or
  IT-214
• Need to know pensions, IRAs and dividends
• Need to know Social Security Worksheet very well
• Client Intake Sheets First page by client,
  second page by YOU
• Statistics Sheet Complete and give to manager to
  place in appropriate envelope (with todays date
  on it). Envelopes are picked up every night
• Advertising Distribute flyers on street
• Forms Laid out on tables in whichever room is
  being used
• Resources TBA

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Manager Responsibilities
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Managers vs. Volunteers
Volunteers
Managers

• Review, not prepare returns
• Greet screen the clients or delegate to a
  volunteer if busy
• Sign in/out volunteers using the dual attendance
  system
• Look over and sign the Statistics Sheet and
  retain with consent of taxpayer
• Manage forms availability and display
• Enforce volunteer rule of conduct

• Prepare returns
• Interview the client and check Client Intake
  Sheet
• Submit returns for quality review
• Explain return results to taxpayer
• Instruct taxpayer where to mail and provide with
  pre-addressed envelopes or mailing addresses
• Obey volunteer rule of conduct

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Daily Manager Duties

• Help any students if they have questions
• Quality review all returns
• Greet screen the clients
• Make sure all clients are properly serviced
• Delegate tasks to volunteers
• Duly complete all attendance statistics sheets

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General Manager Duties

• Promote the site in the community
• Make sure the site has enough tax forms
• Make sure the site is neat clean
• Enforce volunteer rules of conduct
• Communicate any issues to coordinators
• Maintain good relationship with sponsors

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Manager Recognition

• IRS Certificates
• Baruch VITA Certificates
• Profile on Baruch VITA websites
• Personalized recommendation letters

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Attendance Policy Attendance Tracking
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Attendance Policy

• VITA is a commitment
• Volunteer minimum 3 hours/wk
• Manager minimum 4 hours/wk
• If you cant make it, you must notify one of the
  Coordinators find a replacement
• Never leave sites without supervision

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Making up Time

• Volunteers must notify you in advance if they
  will not be able to come in
• Schedule make up time volunteers cannot randomly
  come in when they desire
• Volunteers cannot make up more than 3 hours on a
  given day

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So many sheets

• Site Attendance Sheet
• Volunteer Attendance/Client Service Record
• Client Sign in Sheet
• Client Intake Sheet
• Statistics Sheet

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Dual Attendance Tracking

• Dual attendance tracking
• Each location will have daily logs
• Each volunteer will have a personal attendance
  sheet
• Each volunteer must complete a minimum of
• 30 hours AND
• 15 returns in order to get IRS certification

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Site Attendance Sheet

• New sheet each day
• Manager verifies sign in/out times
• Manager verifies of returns prepared
• Must be emailed weekly in Excel to
  BaruchVITA.Managers_at_gmail.com
• Return hard copies to sites put in daily
  envelopes

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Volunteer Attendance Sheet

• Each volunteer has one
• One sheet for the entire season
• One side to track time, another to track number
  of returns prepared
• Manager verifies sign in/out times number of
  return prepared
• Must be returned to you on the last day of the
  season
• Volunteer should keep a copy

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Client Sign-In Sheet

• New sheet each day
• Purpose
• To manage waiting time
• To get the number of clients serviced each day
• Cross out if the client was sent away
• Put in an envelope with Statistics Client
  Intake Sheets at the end of the day

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Client Intake Sheet

• 1st page must be completed by client
• 2nd page must be completed by volunteer
• Ask for client permission to keep it
• If kept, make sure to white out all Social
  Security Numbers
• Keep with Statistics Sheets in daily envelopes

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Statistics Sheet (1)

• Gathers basic statistical information about our
  clients
• Dont take statistics if the client does not
  agree
• Even blank sheets must be signed by
• Student(s) who prepared the return
• Manager who reviewed the return

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Statistics Sheet (2)

• Complete for every single return prepared
• Will be the basis to count number of returns
  prepared/reviewed by each person
• Staple Statistics Sheet to the Client Intake
  Sheet
• Put both of them into an envelope with todays
  date

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So where to put them all?

• Site Attendance Sheet emailed in Excel hard
  copies in daily envelopes
• Volunteer Attendance Sheet kept by volunteers
  collected on the last day
• Client Sign-In Sheet in daily envelopes
• Client Intake Sheets in daily envelopes
• Statistics Sheets in daily envelopes

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Communication

• Each manager who is designated as a Site Manager
  must email an electronic version of site
  attendance sheet weekly to BaruchVITA.Managers_at_gma
  il.com
• If there are any volunteer behavior issues, forms
  issues, tax questions, etc. it is your
  responsibility to communicate the issues to VITA
  Coordinators

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Quality Review

• Absolutely NO exceptions!

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3 Step Quality Review

• Mandatory after volunteers finish federal return
• Mandatory after volunteers finish NYS return
• All forms and Client Intake Sheet must be
  presented to you
• Review all forms, not just the main form
• Volunteer must correct any mistakes
• Use a checklist / summary sheet
• Review the return again as it is ready to be
  explained/presented to client

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SIDN how necessary?

• It affects our funding from the IRS
• We also receive a spreadsheet categorizing
  volunteer mistakes so we can continue to improve
  training year after year
• Please pre-print SIDNs on all forms during
  periods of downtime or first few weeks
• In Chinatown make sure that photocopied forms
  still have a legible SIDN

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SIDNs for 2008
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Recordkeeping

• If the client agrees, VITA keeps only
• Client Intake Sheet
• Statistics Sheet
• Everything else is returned to the client
• Make sure there are no SSN and bank account
  numbers floating around
• Make sure the client knows to make a copy of the
  return before mailing it

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Your first few weeks

• may be stressful, but we are here to help you
  every step of the way

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What to do during downtime?

• Promote FREE TAX PREPARATION SERVICES using the
  fliers/other materials provided by Coordinators
• Provide tutoring/case studies to volunteers
• Baruch College Education Credits
• Chinatown/Flushing C-EZ, NYC-210/IT-214
• Kingsbay Social Security, pensions/annuities

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Help! Nervous volunteer

• Volunteers are allowed to prepare return in a
  pair for the first 3-4 weeks
• Each volunteer will get ½ credit on Statistics
  and Site Attendance Sheet
• Let volunteers know that it is OK to step away
  from the client to speak with a more experienced
  person

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Help! Lazy volunteer

• Volunteers are NOT allowed to study, eat, chat,
  talk on cell phone, etc. if there are clients
  waiting
• Please talk with volunteers
• Inform the Coordinators if disrespectful
  volunteer behavior is a serious problem
• You have the power to kick the student out of the
  program

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Client Service Before Interview

• Make sure all clients are greeted
• Sign them in, tell to complete the Client Intake
  Sheet
• Make sure every client is screened for items
  outside the scope of VITA
• Answer any questions and concerns

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Client Service After Interview

• Instruct how to make a payment
• Instruct to sign the return
• Instruct to make a copy of the return before
  mailing it
• Provide pre-printed envelopes
• Answer any questions and concerns

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Client Contact

• Give them our website address
• www.baruch.cuny.edu/
• Give them our email for clients
• BaruchVITA.Service_at_gmail.com

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Problem Clients

• Do not do what you are not trained to do
• Do not do what is against the rules
• You have the right to refuse to serve a client if
  they are unreasonable
• Ask for help if they are causing trouble

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Thank You!

• For helping us provide
• FREE RELIABLE TAX PREPARATION SERVICES
• to the public