APSU’s College of Business offering free virtual tax prep through April 1
By: Ethan Steinquest February 26, 2025
Students in Dr. Jennifer Thayer’s tax practicum class are providing free virtual tax preparation services through April 1. | Photo by Sean McCully
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - When Raul Villasenor, a sophomore accounting student at Austin Peay State University (APSU), headed to his advisor’s office last semester, he expected a difficult conversation about wanting to change his major.
Instead, he discovered the APSU College of Business’s partnership with the Volunteer Tax Assistance (VITA) program and is now using his skillset to provide free tax preparation services through Dr. Jennifer Thayer’s tax practicum class.
“I want to go into a field where I can help people, and before VITA I felt like I was just working behind the scenes,” Villasenor said. “I feel like I can really make a difference through this program, and now I want to stay in accounting to keep helping people with their taxes. Wherever I go, that’s something there’s always an opportunity for.”
VITA is open to households that made less than $70,000 in 2024. APSU’s volunteers began preparing returns in the first week of February and will continue through April 1, while the program itself will end on April 15.
“Taxpayers just go online to getyourrefund.org, create an account, and upload their documentation,” Thayer said. “Then we receive their information and students will call, go over everything with them, and prepare their tax return. The return goes through a quality review process - that’s what [graduate assistant Brianna Jeffries] and I do - and then they get everything done virtually. They don’t have to make an appointment or go anywhere.”
Dr. Jennifer Thayer, associate professor of accounting, works with students in her ACCT 4311 - Tax Practicum class. | Photo by Sean McCully
Students completed a program called Link & Learn Taxes over winter break to prepare for tax season and earn their IRS certifications. The process covered ethics training, simulated tax returns, and quality assurance training.
“I can be a bit of a perfectionist, and it’s hard for me to make mistakes and learn from them,” senior agriculture major Carolina Hudson said. “Having people behind me providing quality assurance helps a lot with my anxiety, and I know when I get into the workforce I’m going to be more confident and prepared because I had this experience.”
Hudson plans to go to law school after her graduation to become an estate planner and wanted to learn more about filing taxes to diversify her skillset.
“Learning how to handle people is what I’m taking away from this the most,” she said. “You need to have customer service skills because it can be difficult to call someone who doesn’t know what I’m asking them for when I need specific forms. Being able to interact well with people in those situations is very important.”
Thayer said soft communication skills are a core component of the class, and her son Cambridge is among the students benefiting from the experience.
“I’ve been homeschooled my whole life, and talking to people isn’t really my strong suit,” said Cambridge, a dual enrollment student who plans to attend APSU in the fall. “Sometimes talking to my own family on the phone is hard, so being able to make all these phone calls is helping me a lot.”
Helping people with their taxes comes more naturally to Cambridge after spending years in Thayer’s office and seeing her at work. He plans to attend APSU in the fall as a double major in accounting and finance and is already gaining valuable knowledge through VITA.
“Back in 2021, taxpayers were able to get stimulus payments [for COVID-19], and [I talked to someone who] was entitled to one because she had a child during that year,” he said. “She was very good to work with, and it was nice to be able to help someone with a new child who can get a lot of assistance from that payment.”
Those kinds of stories have kept Brianna Jeffries coming back to the class for three years: first as a student, then as an intern, and now as a graduate assistant.
“I’ve learned so much from working on tax returns, and I’ve been able to take that and really put it into practice,” said Jeffries, who is currently earning her Master of Business Administration. “Most of what I’ve been doing this semester is reviewing the tax returns with clients after they’ve been prepared so they can understand what they’re looking at.”
Jeffries also works closely with the undergraduate students to provide quality assurance for prepared tax returns and said they have shown remarkable growth and dedication.
“I’ll never forget the first day I was in the students’ shoes and walked into the class,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I left in tears, but two weeks later I had developed so much confidence.”
Dr. Jennifer Thayer’s ACCT 4311 - Tax Practicum class. | Photo by Sean McCully
Although the students have gained valuable skills and experiences through the class, Villasenor said the greatest impact can be felt within the community.
“People are always excited to learn how much of a refund they’re going to get, and whenever I ask them if they’d recommend this program to somebody else, they always say yes,” he said. “I’ve worked with people who have told me they’ve used this program for years, and I can see that it’s made a difference in their lives.”
Students interested in signing up for ACCT 4311 - Tax Practicum can speak with their academic advisor and contact Thayer at thayerj@apsu.edu. The course is offered every spring semester.