Form 14310-A – VITA Partner Referral Guide and Checklist

A community center emails you on a Tuesday afternoon. They want to host free tax prep this season, they have rooms, Wi‑Fi, and a bilingual staffer ready to help. You are thrilled, then you pause. Which form kicks off an IRS referral for potential partners, and which one is for volunteers? Here is the clarity you need.

Form 14310-A is the IRS form titled Potential Partner Referral from a Home Territory. The latest revision is Oct 2025. It exists to capture the basics about an organization that may become a VITA or TCE partner so the IRS can route the lead to the right growth group or territory for follow up. The volunteer sign up is a different form, Form 14310, Partner and Volunteer Sign Up, also revised in Oct 2025. If you are recruiting organizations, think 14310-A. If you are recruiting individual volunteers, think 14310.

Quick rule of thumb: organizations use 14310-A to get on IRS radar as a potential partner, people use 14310 to raise their hand to volunteer.

Why this matters right now

Getting the form right saves weeks during peak recruiting. IRS pages confirm the distinction between partner referral and volunteer sign up, and both pages were reviewed or updated in 2025. That means coordinators, nonprofits, and city agencies should double check they are pulling the correct form version before they circulate it across teams.

Key takeaways

• Form 14310-A is for potential partner referrals across IRS territories. Latest revision is Oct 2025.
• Form 14310 is for volunteer and partner sign up inquiries from individuals or organizations, routed by the IRS for local follow up. Latest revision is Oct 2025.
• If your goal is to add a new hosting organization, use 14310-A. If your goal is to recruit preparers, greeters, reviewers, or instructors, use 14310.
• Expect the 14310-A basics to include items like referral date, organization name, primary contact, phone, email, and mailing address, which are common across public templates. Verify fields against the current IRS PDF before you submit.
• Always download or open the most recent IRS form, not an old copy in your share drive. The IRS forms index lists current titles and revision dates.

What Form 14310-A is and how it fits into VITA/TCE outreach

• What it is: a short referral form that lets an IRS home territory share a potential community partner with the IRS growth group or another territory. It does not replace the volunteer sign up or the grant application workflow.
• Who uses it: IRS territory staff and program partners who are passing along a qualified lead, usually a nonprofit, library, school, city office, or faith-based group willing to sponsor, host, or support a free tax prep site.
• When to use it: when an organization expresses interest in partnering and you need IRS routing to the correct geography, especially outside your immediate territory.
• What happens after: the growth group or receiving territory follows up, discusses capacity, training, and site setup, and may point the organization’s people to the volunteer and partner sign up form for individual contacts.

How Form 14310-A differs from Form 14310

Side by side, in words

• Form 14310-A, Potential Partner Referral from a Home Territory Purpose, move a partner lead to the right IRS territory. Primary data, organization details and a main contact. Audience, IRS program and outreach staff plus coordinators managing leads.
• Form 14310, Partner and Volunteer Sign Up Purpose, capture interest from prospective volunteers and organizations, then route for local follow up. Primary data, individual contact details, location, roles, languages, and related preferences. Audience, the general public and partners.

If you only need individuals to raise their hand, send Form 14310. If you discovered a new host site and need IRS to route the opportunity, complete 14310-A.

What you will typically gather for 14310-A

While the official IRS PDF should be your source of truth, public editors that mirror IRS forms show common fields such as the date of referral, the territory to which the lead is being referred, the potential partner’s organization name, the primary contact’s name, telephone, email, and mailing address. Use these as a working checklist, then confirm against the current IRS PDF before you submit or circulate internally.

• Organization legal name and DBA if different
• Primary contact full name and title
• Phone number, email, and mailing address
• City, state, and ZIP for the service area
• Brief note on interest, for example hosting, staffing, or outreach
• Any timing constraints, for example evenings only or weekends only

A quick reality check helps. If you are collecting information inside a document editor, lock in version control and add a short internal note that your team is using the Oct 2025 revision for both 14310-A and 14310. That single line prevents most “which form” headaches later.

How to complete Form 14310-A online, step by step

You can fill Form 14310-A with any modern PDF editor. Many coordinators use cloud editors to reduce email back and forth. If you choose a third‑party editor, confirm you are loading the current IRS PDF and not a vendor’s recreated version. When in doubt, grab the latest title and revision date from the IRS forms index first, then upload that file into your editor.

Before you start

• Confirm the form title reads Potential Partner Referral from a Home Territory and the revision shows Oct 2025.
• Gather the partner’s legal name, main contact, phone, email, and mailing address.
• Note which IRS territory should receive the referral. If you are unsure, your IRS SPEC relationship manager will advise.

Open, verify, and prepare

• Open your editor of choice and create a new file from the official IRS PDF.
• Verify the fields you see match the IRS version. If a web template shows extra fields you do not recognize, delete them or switch to the official PDF.
• Turn on autosave and keep the filename simple, for example IRS-Form-14310-A-Referral-2025-OrgName.pdf.

Complete the core fields

Based on widely used templates that mirror IRS form layouts, expect to enter the following items. Use this list as a guide, then check your PDF to confirm field names exactly as they appear.

Field you will see	What to enter, and tips
Date of referral	Use a clear format, for example 2025-11-03.
Referred to growth group or territory	Enter the receiving territory. If unknown, add a short note for SPEC to route.
Potential partner’s organization name	Use the legal name. Include DBA in parentheses if used publicly.
Primary contact	First and last name, plus title if helpful.
Telephone number	Include area code. Use digits only, for example 5551234567.
Email	Enter a monitored inbox, not a generic no‑reply address.
Mailing address	Street, city, state, ZIP. Use the location for official correspondence.

Pro tip, add a one‑line summary such as Interested in hosting two evenings per week, bilingual staff on site. It speeds the first call.

Save, share, and track

• Save a clean PDF and a working copy.
• Share securely with your IRS SPEC contact using your organization’s approved channel. If you are using a cloud editor that advertises e‑signing and link sharing, remember that 14310-A is a referral document, not a contract. Keep access tight and use expiring links when available.
• Keep a short internal log that lists the referral date, who received it, and when you expect a reply. IRS public guidance suggests follow up happens after you submit the volunteer and partner sign up for individuals, so plan outreach steps and onboarding conversations in parallel.

What if my use case is individual volunteer sign up?

If you are recruiting people rather than organizations, point them to Form 14310, Partner and Volunteer Sign Up. The IRS volunteer page links directly to the sign up and explains what happens next, including training and local coordinator contact. Using the proper form helps the IRS route your interest to the right sponsoring organization.

• Primary details to gather for individuals include name, email, phone, city, state, ZIP, roles of interest, and languages, all captured on the sign up.
• The IRS indicates that volunteers are routed to local programs and invited to a virtual orientation after submitting interest. Timelines vary by season.

Security and privacy basics you should not skip

• Always use the current IRS form and avoid storing personal details in old drafts. The IRS index is the most reliable place to confirm titles and revision dates.
• Limit access to the referral file to a small group until contact is established.
• Redact sensitive notes that are not needed by the receiving territory.
• Maintain a simple record of when and how you transmitted the referral for audit readiness.

At Accountably, we care a lot about controlled delivery systems and secure workflows. If you manage a tax or accounting operation alongside VITA or TCE volunteering, the same discipline applies here, keep version control tight, set clear owners, and track handoffs without flooding inboxes.

Common scenarios, which form to use, and what to do next

You discovered a new host site

• Scenario, a library branch manager offers space two nights per week from February to April.
• Use, Form 14310-A to share the lead with the correct IRS territory, then introduce the branch staff to the volunteer and partner sign up for individual contacts.

Your nonprofit wants to co‑sponsor and staff a site

• Scenario, a community nonprofit wants to provide volunteers and outreach but cannot host in their building.
• Use, Form 14310-A to refer the organization as a partner candidate, then share Form 14310 with individual volunteers to capture their roles and locations.

You are running volunteer recruitment only

• Scenario, your goal is 50 preparers and 15 greeters across three locations.
• Use, Form 14310 for all individual sign ups. Do not use 14310-A unless you are forwarding a partner organization lead between territories.

Checklist for clean, fast referrals

• Verify title and revision dates, 14310-A and 14310 are Oct 2025 revisions.
• Confirm the receiving territory. If in doubt, ask your IRS SPEC contact.
• Use official PDFs, then upload to your editor if needed.
• Fill core contact fields accurately. Avoid placeholder emails or shared inboxes that are not monitored.
• Save and share with version control and expiring links where possible.
• Track the referral date and expected follow up window in your intake log.

Training and next steps after referrals

Once the partner lead is routed, the receiving territory helps the organization understand training, certification, and site operations. The IRS points volunteers to Link & Learn Taxes for self‑paced training and certification paths, while site coordinators rely on the coordinator corner and volunteer resources. Share these resources early so partners know what will be expected.

• Link & Learn Taxes, self‑paced e‑learning and certification paths.
• IRS Tax Volunteers hub, program overview, recruiting cycle, and resource links.
• Partner resource center, background on roles, VITA grants, and SPEC contacts.

A small head start goes a long way. Share training links with your prospective partner while the referral is processing so they can line up internal champions and calendar time.

What not to do

• Do not reuse an outdated version from last year’s folder. Pull the Oct 2025 revision.
• Do not send individual volunteers to 14310-A. Use 14310 for people and keep 14310-A for partner referrals.
• Do not attach sensitive internal budget or donor data to the referral. Keep it lean, contact‑first.
• Do not assume the receiving territory knows local constraints. Add a one‑liner about space, hours, or language access to set expectations.

FAQs about Form 14310-A

What exactly is Form 14310-A used for?

It is the IRS Potential Partner Referral from a Home Territory form. It helps route an interested organization to the proper IRS growth group or territory for follow up about VITA or TCE partnership. It is not the volunteer sign up.

Which form do individuals use to volunteer?

Individuals use Form 14310, Partner and Volunteer Sign Up. That form collects personal details, roles, location, and language preferences and is routed for local follow up and training invitations.

Where do I find the most current versions?

Check the IRS Forms, Instructions and Publications index. It lists both Form 14310-A and Form 14310 with titles and the latest revision dates, currently Oct 2025. Use those dates to confirm you have the correct files.

What fields should I be ready to complete on 14310-A?

Public editors that mirror IRS forms show fields like date of referral, the territory being referred to, the organization’s legal name, and a primary contact’s name, phone, email, and mailing address. Always validate your working copy against the current IRS PDF.

Does 14310-A replace the VITA/TCE grant process?

No. It is a referral tool for potential partners. Grants are a separate program with its own timeline and application. You can review IRS updates about VITA and TCE grants on the IRS newsroom and program pages.

How quickly will someone follow up after we submit a referral?

Timelines vary by season and territory. The IRS indicates that, for individual volunteer sign ups, follow up often includes a virtual orientation invite within roughly two weeks. For partner referrals, your SPEC contact or receiving territory will set expectations during the first exchange.

Can I just send the partner to the volunteer sign up instead?

Send both when appropriate. Use 14310-A to route the organization lead to the correct territory and share Form 14310 with the organization’s staff who want to volunteer. That parallel path speeds training, site planning, and communications.

Who should I contact if I have questions while completing the form?

Use your IRS SPEC territory contact or the Partner resource page for direction. If you are unsure whom to ask, the partner page lists how to get started and how to connect with IRS outreach.

Final pointers for coordinators and partners

• Keep it simple. Accurate contact info and the correct territory are what matter most.
• Keep it current. Validate title and revision dates before you circulate any form.
• Keep momentum. Share training links with the partner while the referral is in flight so onboarding starts sooner.

If you run a tax or accounting team and care about disciplined delivery, you already know the value of clean intake and clear handoffs. That mindset is what turns a good partner lead into a productive VITA or TCE site. When you need operational discipline at scale for your firm’s day job, Accountably focuses on building controlled delivery systems that protect quality, security, and deadlines.