Helping with taxing times

April 15 is a deadline that many people dread, but Master of Accounting (MAC) students made tax filing a lot easier for some North Carolina taxpayers in 2025.

Margot Howard (PhD ’15), an accounting professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, created a MAC class in which students use what they learned in class to prepare and file federal and state returns for low- and middle-income taxpayers.

They worked in partnership with an Orange County site for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a nationwide IRS-managed program that provides free income tax assistance.

“Our students applied their classroom knowledge about taxes in a hands-on setting,” says Howard. “The experiential learning reinforces what they’ve learned, prepares them for the CPA exam, and develops their professional communication skills.”

In Howard’s class students learn about VITA’s stringent ethical and procedural guidelines. They were required to pass three certification tests administered by the IRS to become a VITA tax preparer. This certification process ensures that volunteers appreciate the high standards of conduct for interacting with taxpayers, who they treat as clients, and dealing with taxpayers’ confidential, sensitive information. It also ties to the students’ professional objectives, particularly for those preparing for the CPA exam.

A track record with VITA

Howard’s ties to VITA date to when she started volunteering as an undergrad at the University of Notre Dame. She’s continued to participate on and off ever since, including when she was a PhD student at UNC Kenan-Flagler. As a professor at William & Mary, she connected students with a local VITA group and volunteered as a tax return preparer alongside them.

Howard worked in tax consulting for Deloitte Tax LLP, engaging with clients all over the U.S., before she began her academic career. She has studied how tax policy relates to investment, financing and reporting decisions, and tax policy and ethics. In addition to the VITA course, she currently teaches courses in financial accounting in the Undergraduate Business Program and MAC Program.

Almost all of the students who took her new VITA course are entering careers in tax and those students who take the CPA exam will likely encounter questions on individual tax concepts covered in this course, she says.  “The course reinforces those concepts from a learning perspective and helps their professional objectives as well.”

Howard and her students examined specific tax issues that they were likely to encounter while working in the tax clinics. They discussed the basic framework of the U.S. individual income tax system, including economic and social objectives involved in the creation and application of federal income tax policy.

The final part of class took students out of the classroom into VITA tax clinics at a local senior center. There they interacted with a diverse group of North Carolina taxpayers, including senior citizens and part-time grad students.

“This learning approach takes students beyond memorization to focus on policy, the intention of a tax, and subjective aspects of tax and accounting,” says Howard. “These valuable life experiences help students connect tax policy to people’s experiences, making the material more relatable and understandable.”

In the process, they also developed a broader understanding of tax policy and its impact on different demographics. They learned a bit about the taxpayers’ lives and circumstances, such as their retirement decisions and stories behind them. The taxpayers enjoyed interacting with the students, asking them about their studies and career plans.

An important part of their learning is reflecting on their experiences, including the community impact and ethical issues inherent in the tax return preparation process.

“I got a lot of feedback from students that part of what they found so interesting was getting to see all these different life experiences which opened up their minds about how tax policy affects people in different circumstances,” says Howard.

Karen Chen (MAC ’25) was surprised how much she enjoyed learning about taxes and then applying her knowledge in real situations. “It was more than just making sure the numbers were right. It was an opportunity to get to know the taxpayers and hear their stories and achievements, like finally paying off their mortgage or retiring to a new country. Connecting the client to the return made it more meaningful.”

Madelyn Robertson (MAC ’25) noted that “the taxpayers expressed genuine gratitude and appreciation, which was both surprising and deeply touching. The appreciation they showed for our work was a powerful reminder of the value of community service – an experience I will always cherish.”

Students improved their communication skills by interviewing taxpayers and working with them to prepare and file their tax returns, which included analyzing, researching and resolving clients’ questions.

Getting experience on how to effectively communicate tax concepts will be invaluable to Robertson in her future role as a tax associate, she says. “Firsthand experience in client service increased my confidence about navigating similar interactions in a professional setting.”

She now views the U.S. tax system through a new lens. “What had once felt like a collection of confusing rules, suddenly became intentional policies designed to encourage, reward or discourage certain behaviors for the greater good of our nation,” she says. “Those ‘rules’ have meaning, purpose and direction. It was neat to experience this switch in my brain.”

All tax returns prepared under the VITA program have a second reviewer, and Howard volunteered to be one of the site’s quality reviewers, giving her the opportunity to work alongside her students in the clinics.

“This class is a great example of experiential learning in action” she says, “as well as the positive impact that our students and faculty can have beyond the classroom to benefit our wider community.”