History of Our Program
The Ron E. Smith Academy of Business and Finance
A.J. Moore Academy began the Academy of Finance in the fall of 2001. Established in 1982 by the National Academy of Foundation. The Academy of Business and Finance introduces students to the broad career opportunities in the financial services industry and, in the process, equips them to make sound choices for the future. Former A.J. Moore Academy principal Angela Reiher and Ron Smith founded the school’s tax preparation program. Saddly, Mr. Smith died July 28, 2010 after a battle with cancer. The academy is now named in his honor.
Our Program
In 2004, A.J. Moore applied and received designation as an Internal Revenue Service Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site. Our teachers and students, who are all certified through the IRS, assist taxpayers by helping them to understand and meet their tax responsibilities and our goal is to save them money by offering them free tax services from January through April.
The University High School Tax Service (formally A.J. Moore Academy) VITA Program has successfully served the Waco community for the past 14 years. In that time our teachers and students have prepared and filed over 23,000 income tax returns resulting in over fourty-one million dollars in refunds for the Waco Community. We do not charge for any of the services that we offer at our VITA site.
In providing free tax services to our community, not only do our students gain real world experience from this program, but they have also gained the satisfaction of helping and giving back to our community. Throughout the years we have continued to see our clients come back due to the outstanding service that our students provide.
We want to thank you for your continued support of all of the programs that our students provide.