September 2020 Filing Season 2021: VITA/TCE Training and ...

October 2022

Filing Season 2023: VITA/TCE Training and Site Materials

for SPEC Partners and Employees

This document provides information about volunteer training and site materials for tax year 2022 (filing season 2023).

Background

The IRS is committed to offering timely, relevant and technically accurate electronic and printed products for internal and external use. These products help ensure quality tax return preparation for our free tax preparation programs.

Scope of Services

Our current guidelines require that volunteers only prepare returns for which they are certified (Basic, Advanced, etc.) and that are within the tax law scope of the VITA/TCE program. See Scope of Service Chart in Publication 4012, VITA/TCE Resource Guide.

General Information about Training Products and Site Materials

Form 13615, Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement-VITA/TCE Programs, revisions include:

Changes to the professional status section of the form to include California Tax Education Council (CTEC) Registered Tax Return Preparer (CRTP). CTEC is responsible for registering non-credentialed tax preparers for the state of California and registrants who volunteer in the VITA/TCE program so they can receive CE credits. See Publication 5362, Fact Sheet: Continuing Education Credits for VITA/TCE Partners and Volunteers, for more information on CE credits.

Removal of Qualified Experienced Volunteer (QEV) certification.

Removal of the Site Coordinator training checkbox.

Publication 5683, VITA/TCE Handbook for Partners and Site Coordinators, is a new comprehensive product that includes all partner resources, site coordinator job aids and instructions in one guide.

Publication 5683 will be available by early-November.

Publication 1084, Volunteer Site Coordinator Handbook, and Publication 4396-A, Partner Resource Guide, are now obsolete.

Publication 5450, VITA/TCE Site Operations, revisions include a clarification to the definition of a drop-off site. A site is not considered a drop-off site if the taxpayer does not leave the site

Publication 5358 (Rev. 10-2022) Catalog Number 72991C Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service

Fact Sheet: Filing Season 2023: VITA/TCE Training and Site Materials for SPEC Partners and Employees

property. See "Traditional In-Person Volunteer Return Preparation Model" and "Drop Off Site" in Publication 5450 for more information.

Publication 4299, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Civil Rights - A Public Trust, revisions include information on using secure texting software as a virtual channel of communication. See the section on Sharing information through Virtual Channels for more information.

Filing Season Readiness (FSR) Forms Workbook is the alternative process that streamlines the filing season readiness form requirements, reduces administrative burden and strengthens adherence to quality and security. The alternative process using the FSR Forms Workbook eliminates software compatibility issues, prevents piece-by-piece form collection, provides a built-in form completion review process and consolidates all records pertaining to the partner in one file. The FSR Forms Workbook includes:

Form 13533, VITA/TCE Partner Sponsor Agreement

Form 13533-A, FSA Remote Sponsor Agreement

Form 13715, Volunteer Site Information Sheet

Form 14099, SPEC Partner/Site Financial Education & Asset Building Assessment

Form 14446, Virtual VITA/TCE Site Model Taxpayer Consent

Form 15272, VITA/TCE Security Plan

Some of the updates to the FSR Forms Workbook for the upcoming filing season include:

Revisions to instructions and forms, if applicable.

Duplication feature added to eliminate the need for partners to re-type all the information for Forms 15272 and 14446.

Enhancement to the print scale feature so forms print on the entire page.

Informational and demonstration sessions are October 3 - 14 for SPEC employees and October 17 - 28 for partners. Informational and demonstration sessions are optional, but highly recommended.

Form 13614-C, Intake/Interview & Quality Review Sheet, is printed on yellow paper. The Spanish version, Form 13614-C (SP) is printed on green paper. Form 13614-NR is printed on white paper. Additional languages are available on .

NOTE: AARP Foundation Tax-Aide (Tax Aide) sites should not order Intake/Interview & Quality Review Sheets. Tax-Aide uses their own SPEC-approved Intake Sheet Booklet.

Publication 730, Important Tax Records Envelope (EN-SP), revisions include voter registration information.

NOTE: Partners must continue using their remaining stock of Publication 730 from last year until there is no more remaining.

VITA/TCE electronic training materials include formatting and style enhancements to improve the learning experience. Enhancements include increased font size and color added to emphasize specific information, such as headings and icons.

The electronic version of VITA/TCE training materials will be available by mid-October.

Updates and corrections to training materials will be available electronically in

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Fact Sheet: Filing Season 2023: VITA/TCE Training and Site Materials for SPEC Partners and Employees

Publication 4491-X, VITA/TCE Training Supplement, by mid-January 2023.

VITA/TCE training materials available in print are:

Form 6744, VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor's Test/Retest

Publication 4011, VITA/TCE Foreign Student and Scholar Volunteer Resource Guide

Publication 4012, VITA/TCE Resource Guide

Publication 4695 (PR), VITA/TCE Puerto Rico Volunteer Test

Publication 4696 (PR), VITA/TCE Puerto Rico Resource Guide

Publication 4836 (EN-SP), VITA/TCE Free Tax Programs, is only available electronically. Therefore, Publication 4012 packaging will not include Publication 4836. Partners can continue to use their Publication 4836 from last year or download the document from . Sites are required to post Publication 4836 for in-person service.

Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals), is only available electronically for tax year 2022. Partners must have Publication 17 available for reference at the site. Publication 17 updates will be available by late-December.

Several VITA/TCE products will be available electronically in Spanish to increase the number of Spanish speaking volunteers. The following products will be available by mid-January:

Form 6744 (SP), VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor's Test/Retest (Spanish version)

Form 13615 (SP), Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs (Spanish version)

Form 14534 (SP), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Certificate (Spanish version)

Publication 4012 (SP), VITA/TCE Volunteer Resource Guide (Spanish version)

Publication 4491 (SP), VITA/TCE Training Guide (Spanish version)

Publication 4696 (PR) (SP), VITA/TCE Puerto Rico Resource Guide (Spanish version)

Publication 5101 (SP), Intake/Interview & Quality Review Training (Spanish version)

Tax year 2022 updates to Link & Learn Taxes e-Learning, Link & Learn Taxes certifications and the Practice Lab should be available by mid-November.

NOTE: Beginning FS 2023, all volunteers must register and certify via Link & Learn Taxes certifications. Online testing is fast and efficient; it provides test results immediately. Volunteers who do not pass the test the first time may review the course material and try again. Volunteers who prefer to take the certification tests on paper utilizing Form 6744, VITA/TCE Volunteer Assistor's Test/Retest, may complete the test using the paper method but must enter their answers to the test in Link & Learn Taxes. Volunteers must also update their My Account Page in Link & Learn Taxes to include their current name and address.

NOTE: The Qualified Experience Volunteer certification is retired. Returning volunteers are no longer able to substitute the Qualified Experienced Volunteer test for the Advanced test.

Updates are pending for the Understanding Taxes training system. Please encourage educators and students who want current tax law information to use Link & Learn Taxes.

SPEC will issue Product Alerts to share critical product changes, when necessary. Product Alerts

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Fact Sheet: Filing Season 2023: VITA/TCE Training and Site Materials for SPEC Partners and Employees

are available on the Site Coordinator Corner.

Key Ordering Information and Dates

The Computer Assisted Publishing System (CAPS) will become available October 15 to order VITA/TCE training products. The CAPS system emails the filing season 2022 version of Form 2333-V (dated 9/2022) to all active accounts with a valid email address. Partners should contact their SPEC relationship manager if they do not receive the electronic order form.

CAUTION: Change your computer and web browser settings to open PDF files using Adobe Acrobat Pro or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Do not open Form 2333-V in the web browser or another program, it will corrupt the form. Save the completed form to your computer.

CAUTION: Never share the electronic Form 2333-V. The form encodes the account number on the PDF file, and the address information will update the embedded account number.

Review and update contact information, if needed, and enter order quantities on the order form or pre-populated spreadsheet.

Do not use cut-and-paste options for data when completing the order form and only use the following characters:

Upper- or lower-case alphabets: A-Z, a-z

Numbers: 0-9

Special characters: |\{}??:";`~!@#$%?&*()_+-=

Attach the saved Form 2333-V to an email. On the `Subject' line, type "VITA Program Order" or, "VITA Program Reorder" and send to pdf.orders@eforms.enterprise..

NOTE: Contact VITA.Administrator@ if you do not receive an email message within an hour acknowledging receipt of your Form 2333-V. Type "Non-receipt of Order Acknowledgement" and your VITA account number on the email subject line. Do not resubmit the order form unless instructed.

A pre-populated spreadsheet is available for those regional coordinators ordering for a large population of volunteers. You may order any of the products listed on the spreadsheet. You can customize the spreadsheet by deleting unnecessary accounts. Your relationship manger can send you the pre-populated spreadsheet and instructions.

CAUTION: Do not add or delete columns. If you need to add new accounts to the pre-populated spreadsheet, add the account information after the pre-populated information.

Please review orders thoroughly. Ensure the shipping information is accurate and volunteers and/or sites will be available to receive shipments. This will help avoid unnecessary return shipments.

Large orders often deliver in multiple shipments over the course of several days.

Orders approved by SPEC in CAPS by 7:00 p.m. ET on October 21 will ship first and should arrive before Thanksgiving.

Relationship managers must approve orders in CAPS by 7:00 p.m. ET on December 16 for partners/volunteers to receive printed products before the filing season begins.

NOTE: SPEC will not process emergency orders for printed products. Retrieve the needed information from the electronic products available on .

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Printed Electronic

eBook Updated

Fact Sheet: Filing Season 2023: VITA/TCE Training and Site Materials for SPEC Partners and Employees

Contact your relationship manager if:

You do not receive your shipment. Do not input a duplicate order unless instructed.

You close your site(s) and placed an order for products that you have not received yet.

Filing Season 2022 VITA/TCE Training & Site Materials List

The following list of materials is not all-inclusive. We expect all current training and site products to be available electronically on by mid-October.

Training Product or Site Material

Available Format

Additional Information

Publication or Form Number

Product

Doc 13123

Volunteer ID Holder

X

Form 13206 Form 13357 Form 13446 Form 13533 Form 13533-A

Volunteer Assistance Summary Report

Community Service Leadership Certificate Appreciation

Internal Customer Certificate of Appreciation VITA/TCE SPEC Partner Sponsor Agreement

FSA Remote Sponsor Agreement

X X

X X X

Form 13614-C (EN)

Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet

X X

Form 13614-C (SP)

Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet Spanish Version

X X

Form 13614-NR

Nonresident Alien Intake and Interview Sheet

X

X

Volunteer Standards of

Form 13615

Conduct Agreement ?

X

VITA/TCE Programs

Form 13715

SPEC Volunteer Site Information Sheet

X

Virtual VITA/TCE Site

Form 14446

Model Taxpayer

X

Consent

Comments

Required at site

This product is in limited supply. Returning volunteers should keep their ID holder to use each year. Partners should contact their relationship manager to order this product.

X

Printed on yellow paper. Not available for AARP Tax Aide. Printed on green paper. Not available for AARP Tax-Aide. Printed on white paper. Not available for AARP Tax-Aide.

Available in multiple languages.

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

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