For more than a decade, volunteers from the Lundquist College's accounting fraternity Beta Alpha Psi have been making tax time a little easier for Eugene-area residents, by providing free preparation of simple federal and state tax returns through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, an initiative of the Internal Revenue Service. To volunteer, students must attend at least one basic training session and pass an online exam administered by the Internal Revenue Service. All the training pays off--the IRS has accepted an impressive 99 percent of the returns the group has prepared this year. (Rejected applications are simply returned for VITA volunteers to fix and resubmit, with no penalties for the taxpayer.) This year, VITA boasts fifty-one certified volunteers who have completed around 115 returns so far. It expects to complete about 135 more during the next two sessions (scheduled for Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 15). "The program benefits us, the volunteers, by helping us develop an idea of what tax preparation is really like," said Amanda Boss, the master's of accounting candidate who has directed the program for the past two years. "I especially like the program because--while gardening is fun and makes things look nice--VITA lets you sit right next to a person and see how your time and knowledge can directly help someone in the community."