Cal State Northridge has received $64,000 from the U.S. Treasury Department to support the activities of CSUNs Bookstein Tax Clinic and the clinics service in the community.
The Bookstein Tax Clinic provides free federal tax controversy, or tax dispute, services to low-income taxpayers residing in the Los Angeles area. The clinic opened in 2008 as a component of CSUNs Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation in Northridges College of Business and Economics.
With the increased financial distress of many in our community over the past year, we have witnessed a tremendous increase in the demand for the services the Bookstein Tax Clinic offers to the public, said Rafi Efrat, director of the clinic and professor of taxation in CSUNs Department of Accounting and Information Systems. I was delighted to learn that the Bookstein Tax Clinic has been chosen by the Treasury Department to receive this grant. It will allow us to increase the level of services we offer the public at this time of need.
Under the supervision of an experience tax professional, student cliniciansundergraduate and graduate studentsserve low-income taxpayers who find themselves in a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. In 2009 alone, Northridge students helped more than 110 low-income clients work out tax controversy resolutions with the IRS.
The Bookstein Tax Clinic also provides tax education to taxpayers not proficient in the English language by participating in numerous community-outreach programs on a wide array of tax issues. Over the past year, students also facilitated more than 35 seminars and workshops to self-employed taxpayers and low-income individuals throughout the Los Angeles area, primarily on federal payroll tax issues. As part of their community service efforts, the students also have authored several short articles on tax issues affecting low-income taxpayers. Several of these articles, including some in Spanish, have appeared in local newspapers.
The student clinicians receive instruction on the intricacies of tax law and tax practice and procedure. The students are given an opportunity to handle various aspects of controversies with the Internal Revenue Service, including interviewing clients, preparing cases for appeals conferences and appearing at the conferences, preparing offers-in-compromise and negotiating settlements with the IRS.
For more information about the Bookstein Tax Clinic, call (818) 677-3600 or visit CSUNs Department of Accounting and Information Systems Web site at http://csun.edu/acctis/.