Until Tax Day, students can get their taxes prepared for free in the Wood Center on Saturdays.

Great Alaskan Accounting People (GAAP) has a volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) table weekly from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help students prepare their taxes.

Neither Andy Gerard, VITA officer, nor Crystal McGill, GAAP president, could remember how long GAAP has been providing the service, but estimated close to 20 years.

This year, they started on Feb. 17, and said that their second weekend was oddly busy.

"Last weekend was a madhouse," Gerard said. "It gets a lot busier the closer to April it gets."

Last year, they had around 115 students get their taxes prepared by VITA, another club member estimated.

The student club kicked off the first weekend by getting certified. The IRS sends Gerard a PowerPoint presentation, and she presents the relevant slides to the volunteers. They then have to take an online test and print off the certification of completion and show Gerard before they can assist with taxes.

One of the things that confuses students the most is the 1098-T form, which the university provides. The form shows students how much they have paid for tuition and how much scholarship or grant money they have received.

The big confusion, Gerard said, is figuring out who can claim a deduction.

The difference is dependency.

If you're a student and your parents can claim you as a dependent (meaning you don't pay for more than 50 percent of your living expenses), they claim a tuition deduction, regardless of whether or not you are paying your tuition.

Other options are the Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits. The Hope Credit is available only to freshmen and sophomores, but the Lifetime Learning Credit is available to others.

Gerard said that they usually try to weigh what will get the student a bigger return, a tuition deduction or one of the credits.

A benefit that a lot of people don't know about, she said, is the telephone excise tax refund.

If you've paid for long distance phone service between certain dates, even if you don't have to file a tax return, check out the booth to see if you qualify for the $30 refund.

Income taxes are due in to the IRS by April 17. GAAP will have tables until then.