I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2151 
To facilitate nationwide availability of volunteer income tax assistance for 
low-income and underserved populations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 13, 2011 
Mr. HONDA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To facilitate nationwide availability of volunteer income tax 
assistance for low-income and underserved populations, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Income Tax 
Assistance (VITA) Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Community Volunteer Income Tax Assist-
ance (VITA) programs offer tax preparation and re-
lated financial services, free of charge, to middle- 
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and low-income individuals and families. The major-
ity of individuals served by VITA programs have an-
nual household earnings below $40,000. 
(2) During the 2009 Federal income tax filing 
season, VITA programs filed 1,200,000 Federal in-
come tax returns and prepared more than 400,000 
returns for the earned income tax credit (EITC), 
helping program recipients claim $1,600,000,000 in 
Federal tax refunds. An estimated 25 percent of 
households eligible for the EITC do not claim the 
credit. 
(3) VITA programs assist underserved tax-
payers, including low-wage workers, persons with 
disabilities, the elderly, Native Americans, rural pop-
ulations, and taxpayers with limited English pro-
ficiency. 
(4) Volunteer tax preparation programs save 
the 
Internal 
Revenue 
Service 
an 
estimated 
$1,800,000 a year in return processing costs. In 
2009, clients of VITA programs electronically filed 
their tax returns at a much higher rate (92 percent) 
than the general population (68 percent). 
(5) Not only do electronic returns cost the In-
ternal Revenue Service considerably less to process 
($0.35 per return) than paper returns ($2.87 per re-
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turn), but electronic returns also generate a low 
error rate of 2.5 percent compared to a 25 percent 
error rate for paper returns. Low error rates reduce 
the need for the Internal Revenue Service to cor-
respond with taxpayers and for taxpayers to resub-
mit paperwork. 
(6) The use of technology in meeting the needs 
of taxpayers with physical, sensory, or cognitive dis-
abilities is essential to the success of the VITA pro-
gram, as demonstrated through the expanded use of 
innovative assistive technology and strategies in-
tended to expand free tax preparation for deaf and 
hearing impaired taxpayers. These innovative uses of 
assistive technologies should continue to be rep-
licated and tested to expand capacity of VITA pro-
grams in successfully meeting the needs of taxpayers 
with various disabilities. 
(7) An Internal Revenue Service survey has 
shown that very low-income taxpayers are twice as 
likely as the general population to visit a Taxpayer 
Assistance Center and half as likely to use the Inter-
nal Revenue Service Web site. Volunteer tax prepa-
ration programs serve as an accessible and cost-ef-
fective alternative to other Internal Revenue Service 
channels. 
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