As many people prepare for the upcoming tax season, Cal Poly’s senior accounting students are hard at work helping low income residents in the on-campus Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC).
According to their website, the LITC began in 2010 as a way to help connect low income residents in San Luis Obispo County and the surrounding Central Coast to future accountants studying at Cal Poly. Accounting students are able to inform members of the community about their taxpayer rights and help them resolve controversies with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). All of the services offered in the clinic are free of charge.
The Cal Poly accounting department runs the LITC through a senior project class, taught by Lisa Sperow. Sperow works as the executive director of the clinic while also working as a professor at Cal Poly for a variety of the legal classes within the accounting department and MBA program.
“Cal Poly’s very unique because most of the LITCs are at law schools, or they are part of legal aid societies,” Sperow said. “There are only a couple other ones that are actually in a business school that have business students instead of law students doing the work.”
Sperow obtained her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law where she went on to start her career as a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch and Corporate Finance Section. There she worked on various bankruptcy cases, health care fraud and contract disputes.
Outside of her current role as the executive director of the LITC and a professor for Cal Poly, Sperow sits as a Judge Pro Tem for the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. She also serves as a legal advisor for the Cal Poly Small Business Development Center and Center for Entrepreneurship.
Business accounting senior Elizabeth Kaiser is one of 15 people enrolled in the class for Cal Poly’s 2024 winter quarter. Each week, student volunteers spend six hours working on different client cases. To be enrolled in BUS 463, Kaiser had to reach out to Sperow a year in advance to secure her spot in what she described as a more niche senior project.
“It’s an interesting program because it really connects Cal Poly students and what they’re learning to the community and you don’t see that in every major and every senior project,” Kaiser said. “Not only is it a good experience with what I’m studying, it also is kind of social work in a sense, where it feels like I can use the skills and teachings at Cal Poly to better the community.”
In order for an individual to qualify to receive assistance at the LITC, their income must be below 250% of the poverty guidelines published annually by the Department of Health and Human Services, according to eligibility requirements posted on the website. This translates to about $75,000 gross income for a family of four. Taxpayers must be involved in a federal controversy activity with the amount being below $50,000. However, to receive a consultation, there is no income limit.
“It’s a wonderful learning experience for accounting students to get to use their skills to help people in very difficult situations,” Sperow said. “We call it an experiential learning experience because students come in and they help real people solve real problems.”
The LITC also provides students with an interest in the legal profession with practical, first-hand learning opportunities.
“It’s one of the few programs on campus where you actually get hands-on legal experience to work closely with a lawyer and go to court,” Sperow said.
While Sperow is the only member of the LITC who can appear in court on behalf of a client, students are able to assist in representing, researching and drafting documents.
“The students serve in a paralegal-type role. They can be right there with me, interviewing the clients, meeting with the IRS attorneys, watching what happens with the judge and the open courtroom,” Sperow said.
Members of the clinic also assist with the Calendar Call Program, which is run out of a courthouse in Fresno. The program enables individuals without legal representation, who have scheduled trials, to connect with a representative from the LITC and access free legal aid.
“For the students it teaches a lot of different skills,” Sperow said. “There are legal and tax research skills, there are writing skills. I also tell them they are a little bit of a private investigator, a little bit of a social worker, a little bit of a lawyer, a little bit of an accountant all put into one.”
Cal Poly also offers free tax help to taxpayers with a gross income of $67,000 or less on Saturdays from Feb. 3 to March 16 through the Volunteer Assistance Tax Program. This program is through appointments only and is located on the third floor of the Business Building (Bldg 03).
Prospective students interested in the LITC senior project class BUS 463 are encouraged to reach out to Sperow at esperow@calpoly.edu with their desired quarter and various skill sets.