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17 • Volunteer Coordinators/Administrators must ensure that all IRS-tax law certified volunteer assistors/ preparers and quality reviewers are assigned tax returns within their certification and within scope of the VITA/TCE Programs. Volunteers preparing tax returns above their level of certification may not be protected from personal liability for their work under federal law. • Volunteer Coordinators/Administrators must also review and discuss Volunteer Tax Alerts (VTA), Quality Site Requirement Alerts (QSRA), and technical updates with all volunteers during the filing season. As a practice a daily briefing should be held to share information impacting site operations with volunteers working at the site. As a grant recipient, you are responsible for recruiting, developing, and managing a network of volunteers to accomplish your program objectives and goals. At a minimum, volunteers must be trained to serve as site coordinators, screeners (those that answer tax law questions), and tax return preparers and to conduct quality reviews of returns prepared by volunteer return preparers. The IRS SPEC Territory Manager is the point of contact for specific information and training support. Their contact information will be provided to you when your organization is accepted into the TCE Program. The IRS will provide train-the-trainer sessions for the TCE grant recipients. The grant recipients will then be responsible for training the volunteers participating in the program. 2. Volunteer Training, Testing, and Certification All volunteers (coordinators, IRS tax law-certified volunteer preparers, designated or peer-to-peer quality reviewers, greeters, client facilitators, interpreters, etc.) are required to annually complete and pass the Volunteer Standards of Conduct (VSC) certification test. In addition, volunteers must certify adherence to the VSC by signing and dating Form 13615, Volunteer Standards of Conduct Agreement - VITA/TCE Programs, prior to working at a site. By signing and dating Form 13615, all volunteers are agreeing to the requirement to follow the Volunteer Standards of Conduct. Volunteers who assign tax returns to preparers or quality reviewers, answer tax law questions, instruct tax law classes, prepare or correct tax returns or conduct quality reviews of completed tax returns must be certified in tax law and Intake/Interview and Quality Review. All VITA/TCE instructors must be certified at the Advanced level or higher (based on the level of tax topics they teach). All Quality Reviewers must be certified at the Basic level or higher (including the specialty levels) based on the complexity of the tax returns they review. SPEC encourages the Quality Reviewer to be the most experienced person in tax law application. Site Coordinators must certify annually by taking Site Coordinator training, and passing the Site Coordinator Test. The passing score is 80% or higher. Tax law certification is required for site coordinators who prepare returns, correct rejects, conduct quality review or provide tax law assistance. Certification level is based on the complexity of the return prepared. Volunteer training and certification is a critical component of the program. During the training process volunteers learn screening and interviewing techniques, gain an understanding of tax law and how it applies in each taxpayer’s situation and the ability to use the tools available to prepare and file accurate tax returns. All volunteers must register and certify via Link & Learn Taxes. Link & Learn Taxes is self-paced e-learning for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE) program. This training will instruct volunteers in the VITA/TCE return preparation process and tax law covered in the VITA/TCE program. VITA/TCE Courses and Specialty Certifications Each course is summarized below. • Volunteer Standards of Conduct: All new volunteers must complete the Volunteer Standards of Conduct (VSC) Training. Returning volunteers are encouraged to review the VSC Training as a refresher. All VITA/TCE volunteers must pass the VSC certification test. • Intake/Interview and Quality Review: All new and returning volunteer instructors, preparers, coordinators and quality reviewers are required to take Publication 5101, VITA/TCE Intake/Interview and Quality Review Training, and pass the certification test. Volunteer greeters, screeners and client Management of Volunteers