With that goal in mind, Temple volunteers are preparing for the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which offers free tax preparation for those who qualify.

This year, volunteers will staff sites on both the university’s Main and Ambler campuses, and organizers said they expect high volume as taxpayers try to save whatever they can in a sluggish economy.

The VITA program offers free tax services to low- to moderate-income families — a household income of $50,000 or less or a personal income of $20,000 or less — or to people who cannot prepare their own tax returns.

Volunteers at Temple’s sites, like those across the country, receive training to help with customer service, to act as a “resource builder” — someone who helps clients locate and apply for public benefits — or to become a certified tax preparer. Almost all returns will be filed electronically, which means clients can expect to get their refunds twice as fast as those who file on paper.

Moy said the Main Campus site in the Ritter Hall Annex, which will be open three days a week from Jan. 26 to the April 15 tax deadline, has helped families receive more than $1 million in Earned Income Tax Credits.

The Main Campus location, one of 12 across the city operated in collaboration with the Campaign for Working Families, could process up to 1,000 returns by Tax Day.

Main Campus is also one of six locations to feature the Resource Builder program, in which clients can apply for public benefits or opt to have all or part of their tax returns deposited into a savings account or savings bond.

Elly Porter-Webb, volunteer and special projects coordinator for the Campaign for Working Families, said the VITA program gives families a chance to avoid expensive tax-preparation and check-cashing fees that can eat into refunds.

“Fast and free,” she said of the program. “Can’t beat that.”

Temple Ambler filed 211 returns last tax season and saved taxpayers nearly $268,000. Steven Balsam, a Fox School of Business accounting professor and Certified Public Accountant who coordinates the program, said he hopes to reach 400 returns this year.

“Given all of the goodies in the stimulus package and the changes in the tax code, the average refund that we claim could go up dramatically as well,” he said.

Balsam, adviser to the Ambler Accounting Professional Society and the honors organization Beta Alpha Psi, said the VITA program gives his students more than just hands-on experience in dealing with numbers.

“As I tell them, it’s one thing to learn about the tax code, but, more important, you’re going to learn to deal with people,” he said.

This year, Balsam said Temple Ambler might participate in an IRS initiative to help rural clients file returns remotely by using video conferencing software such as Skype. The Ambler location will be open Saturdays from Feb. 6 to April 10.