Community Tax Centers, Austin, Texas

July, 2005

On April 15, 2005 , the Community Tax Centers (CTC) program emerged as an outgrowth of the IRS-led Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program. Coordinated by Foundation Communities, Austin’s leading nonprofit provider of affordable housing since 1989, the event signaled the first time a community-based organization administered such a program in Austin , Texas .

Volunteers pile fakemoneybags at the speakers’ podium prior to the April 15 th press conference at City Hall in downtown Austin.Tthe moneybags symbolized the 9.5 million dollars in tax refunds the Community Tax Centers brought into the Austin economy. Courtesy-Community Tax Centers, Austin.

Under the leadership of the Foundation Communities staff working in conjunction with local SPEC partners, the Community Tax Centers operated five Super Sites staffed by 248 volunteers who contributed their skills toward volunteer training, tax preparation, site administration, and program supervision. Volunteers were recruited from university Business Schools , local IRS employee associations, and the pool of those who had worked previously at VITA sites.

While the 15 VITA sites collectively prepared 2,700 returns in 2004, these five Super Sites nearly tripled the number of income tax returns this year, preparing 7,413. Collectively, the Community Tax Centers brought back to Austin over $9.5 million in income tax refunds, with $3.5 million in Earned Income Tax Credit refunds.

Among the key factors contributing to such success were the extended hours in which the Super Sites operated–our largest Super Sites operated as much as 62 hours a week, six days/week–the location of the Super Sites (within high-traffic areas), the support and expertise of IRS SPEC partners, and the collaborative partnerships with area nonprofits to enhance CTC’s services. For example, WorkSource (which provides free job search assistance to the general public) made available the space for a Super Site, supplied top-notch technical assistance and enabled CTC to operate beyond the center’s usual hours.

“High traffic” factors included downtown location, being easily accessible by public transit and close to parking, proximity to a deaf school or to a resource center for unemployed people, or being in Spanish speaking neighborhoods.

Foundation Communities secured major underwriting from the Silverton Foundation, site sponsorships from Bank One and Washington Mutual, and promotional partnerships with these and other financial institutions (e.g., Frost Bank, Velocity Credit Union, and Laredo National Bank) to offer free checking accounts. Over 100 visitors to the Community Tax Centers were able to get their refund checks cashed at local Frost Bank branches for free.

Through its partnership with Central Texas’s 2-1-1 information services hotline (run by United Way), over 5,000 inquiries about free tax preparation assistance were fielded, resulting in over 3,000 taxpayer appointments for the Community Tax Centers. The 2-1-1 service scheduled appointments in 30-minute intervals, told the clients what documents to bring, and referred them to the Claim + Save website for more information. Alpha Baldé, an AmeriCorps* VISTA volunteer, said that the biggest challenge was getting people to commit to their appointment. Next year, they plan to make more reminder calls.

Working with the Travis County Services for the Deaf, the Community Tax Centers secured 16 hours of ASL interpreter services for hearing-impaired clients per week. Financial literacy classes were administered in English and Spanish, through a partnership with the Financial Literacy Coalition of Central Texas. Additionally, the Community Tax Centers partnered with Austin Community College to provide free assistance with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Baldé says they learned a lot from this experience working with the deaf. “There were communication issues, even with an ASL interpreter; information was being lost in translation. We learned that providing service to hearing-impaired people is slower and takes more time. We need an educational component: lots of them were young, had little understanding of taxes, and did not know about credits they may have been eligible for. People did not understand personal exemptions and how they impact their tax liability or refund. In the future, we hope to work with volunteer tax preparers who are also ASL interpreters.”

Next year, the program will concentrate on increasing the number of taxpayers served because there are still plenty of eligible people who do not benefit. Many of them go to paid preparers to get Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs). CTC plans to expand to seven sites, including a mobile site which will go to employers and prepare returns on site. Their target is 12,000 returns next year, almost double this year’s. They would also like to offer stored value cards.

For Baldé personally, it was “an eye-opening experience. Servicing the Spanish speaking community, I saw the victimization, people being exploited by employers not providing W-2 forms, by paid preparers providing bad advice on their filing status. It raised ethical issues: people are trying to follow the law but being penalized for it–paying a huge percentage of their income in taxes. It was the first time I had participated in an effort like this, and I started right at the beginning of the tax season.

“The work activated skills I haven’t used for a while, like the Spanish language. I could see the relaxation in Spanish-speaking taxpayers when they could speak to a preparer in their own language. Lots of the volunteer preparers who are tax professionals ran into the language barrier.”

Maria Mondragon, a Volunteer Preparer/Intern assists a taxpayer in reviewing her income tax return prior to signing. Courtesy-Community Tax Centers, Austin (2005)

The Community Tax Centers is proud of its success at providing free income tax assistance to individuals and families, and expanding its partnerships to better equip low-income taxpayers with the skills and resources needed to move up the economic ladder.

Baldé finishes his VISTA year before next tax season starts, but he intends to prepare taxes again anyway.

Written by Alpha A. Baldé, AmeriCorps* VISTA , and Don Wedd