Iona College Students “Learn Outside the Lines” and Prepare Over 100 Income Tax Returns with Local Assemblyman
N.Y. State Assemblyman Michael Benedetto ’69, ’72MS of the 82nd District (Bronx County), met with student members of the Accounting Department's Taxpayer Assistance Program to thank them for their service.
It was a busy semester for students in Iona College’s Taxpayer Assistance Program as they ventured to “Learn Outside the Lines” and prepare income tax returns for 120 Bronx residents.
In keeping with the mission, vision and values of Iona College, participation in this program offered students valuable experience beyond the classroom as they honed their professional skills while giving back in service to the community.
Volunteering four Saturdays during the 2022 tax filing season, accounting seniors provided these services in partnership with N.Y. State Assemblyman Michael Benedetto ’69, ’72MS of the 82nd District.
Sessions were held remotely from the state-of-the-art LaPenta School of Business and led by the following students: Jack Boles ’22, Chan Wei ’22, Michael Mitrione ’22, Vicky Casolo ’22, Marianne Lopez ’22, Kristin Lumaj ’22 and Raul Peralta ’22.
The LaPenta School of Business has partnered with Benedetto in this endeavor since 2014; the program is moderated and supervised by William A. Bottiglieri, JD, CPA, professor of accounting.
“I have been affiliated with Iona’s Taxpayer Assistance Program for many years since I worked as a volunteer in the late 1970s,” said Bottiglieri. “The challenging nature of preparing actual tax returns gave me the motivation to make tax a large part of my professional practice. As the current moderator of the program, I have seen the same ambition in our students. It is apparent that the students feel a great sense of pride for what they have accomplished.”
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2025 national list of “The Best 390 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.