AICPA partners with IRS to provide free tax assistance to hurricane victims.

As part of its many efforts to assist the victims of last year's hurricanes, the AICPA is one of two professional organizations that entered into an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to assist taxpayers impacted by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

Volunteers at IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites are now able to refer hurricane-affected taxpayers needing help with relatively complex tax issues to participating AICPA members or the American Association of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants (AAA-CPA) for free return-preparation assistance.

VITA and TCE volunteers are generally not trained to compute Casualty Loss deductions or to complete amended returns for prior years. The volunteers can now refer low to moderate-income ($38,000 or less) taxpayers needing such assistance to the AICPA or AAA-CPA for free assistance. Previously, these and other tax professional associations provided such free assistance only at official FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers. A number of tax professional organizations continue to provide such assistance at the FEMA sites.

Assistance from participating CPAs may be via telephone, mail, e-mail or in some cases, face-to-face. Taxpayers wishing to take advantage of this free assistance need to first visit a VITA or TCE site. Convenient locations in communities across the country can be found by calling the IRS at 800/829-1040 or by calling AARP (the nation's largest TCE sponsor) at 888/AARP-NOW (888/227-7669).