The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.North Carolina Establishes VITA Grant Programs and Appropriates $2.37 Million for Tax Assistance
Last action · April 3, 2025: Ref to the Com on Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (House action)Sponsors: Sarah Crawford and 27 others
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Would Do
North Carolina creates a grant program at community colleges and provides funds to the United Way of North Carolina to expand free tax preparation services for low- and moderate-income residents, effective July 1, 2025.
Allocates nearly $2.4 million in state funds to expand free tax preparation services, student work-based learning, and taxpayer assistance networks across North Carolina.
- The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is a national IRS initiative that offers free tax help to eligible individuals. context
- The North Carolina General Assembly operates on a biennial budget cycle, with the 2025 session addressing state appropriations for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
North Carolina Community Colleges
Participating campuses may apply for grants to offer tax preparation courses, provide paid work-based learning opportunities, and facilitate VITA services for students and community members.
United Way of North Carolina
Receives a directed grant to expand its VITA program locations, provide dedicated staff, secure software and office supplies, and improve marketing and educational materials.
Department of Revenue
Receives appropriations to provide training and technical assistance to community college campus personnel and participating students, with authority to contract with a third-party vendor.
Key Facts
- Appropriates $1,380,000 in nonrecurring funds and $610,000 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to the Community Colleges System Office to implement the VITA grant program.
- Appropriates $50,000 in nonrecurring funds and $100,000 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to the Department of Revenue for training and technical assistance.
- Appropriates $840,000 in nonrecurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to the Office of State Budget and Management to be allocated as a directed grant to the United Way of North Carolina.
- Requires participating community colleges to offer a fall curriculum course teaching basic tax accounting and training students on federal and North Carolina tax returns leading to IRS Link and Learn certification.
Show all 10 facts
- Requires participating community colleges to offer a spring work-based learning course where students commit 15 hours per week from January through April 15 to prepare taxes.
- Requires participating community colleges to designate a faculty champion and provide VITA services to all students and community members.
- Permits the System Office to use up to $50,000 of recurring funds annually for administrative costs associated with the grant program.
- Specifies that up to $590,000 of nonrecurring funds appropriated to the Community Colleges System Office shall remain available until the end of the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
- Specifies that the United Way grant funds shall remain available until the end of the 2026-2027 fiscal year without reverting at the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
- Sets the effective date of the act as July 1, 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary goal of the grant program established at North Carolina community colleges?
How much funding is appropriated to the United Way of North Carolina under this act?
Who is eligible to receive free tax help through the VITA program mentioned in the bill?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
3 actions- Apr 3, 2025HouseRef to the Com on Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
- Apr 3, 2025HousePassed 1st Reading
- Apr 1, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 23 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Multisagency Appropriation Structure
Funding is distributed across three separate state entities (Community Colleges System Office, Department of Revenue, and Office of State Budget and Management) to cover curriculum development, training, and direct community grants.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.ncleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools