Asset building grants available
With support from the Ford and Citigroup Foundations, the Center for Economic Progress is pleased to announce an RFP to assess asset building connections at community-based tax sites.
Up to three grants of $7,000 will be awarded to programs that connect evaluate building services at tax sites, collect detailed information about clients utilizing asset building services, and have the capacity to recruit clients for participation in focus groups.
For a copy of the RFP or questions about eligibility, contact Mike Davis, Project Manager, at mdavis@centerforprogress.org or at (312) 252-0280 Ext. 256.
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Tax season Training
The Coalition will provide training by conference call and webinar over the next few months. Here are several events in preparation. We will email details to the Tax Roundtable listserv.
December 6: 2007 Tax Season Briefing National Conference Call
Time by zone: 2:00 – 3:00pm (Eastern); 1:00 – 2:00pm (Central); 12:00 – 1:00pm (Mountain); 11:00am – 12:00pm (Pacific)
Speaker: David Williams, EITC Director, Internal Revenue Service
Overview: On December 6, 2006, the National Community Tax Coalition will host a conference call with David Williams, the EITC Director at the Internal Revenue Service. Those that joined us during our 5th annual conference Building Prosperity for Working Families in October 2006, had an opportunity to hear from David Williams on the major role that the EITC Director is playing regarding the rollout of the Telephone Excise Tax Refund as well as the development of a National EITC Day. This conference call is an opportunity to provide the field with new and exciting news about the Telephone Excise Tax Refund and the National EITC Day.
To register for this call please complete the survey . We will send out a reminder to all registrants that will reiterate the date, time, conference call number and access code on December 5, 2006. Please keep an eye open for this information next week.
December 12: Learn the use of Practitioner Personal Identification Numbers
Time by zone: 2:00 - 3:00pm (Eastern); 1:00 – 2:00pm (Central); 12:00 - 1:00pm (Mountain); 11:00am - 12:00pm (Pacific)
Overview: This interactive class will provide set up and site use procedures for Practitioner Personal Identification Numbers (PINs). It will include guidelines for determining what sites can use the PINs effectively and accurately. You will be provided with a set of worksheets on how to set up and manage the use of PINs. You will also be provided with criteria worksheets to determine sites that can and cannot benefit from this use of the method for E-Filing.
Speakers: Larry Garner, Assistant Director, Tax Counseling Project at the Center for Economic Progress
Mode: Conference Call
Fee: FREE for Affiliates; $25.00 Non-affiliates. To register for this call please complete the survey. We will send out a reminder to all registrants that will reiterate the date, time, conference call number and access code.
December 13: Tax Preparation and the Hispanic Immigrant
Time by zone: 2:00 - 3:00pm (Eastern); 1:00- 2:00pm (Central); 12:00 - 1:00pm (Mountain); 11:00am - 12:00pm (Pacific)
Speaker: Blaire Borthayre is a Mexican American consultant in the field of Hispanic marketing. She is the author of four books including Marketing to the Hispanic Community: A Comprehensive Guide for Tax Preparation Offices and A Tax Preparer¡¦s Guide: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About ITINS. Blaire has conducted trainings for thousands of tax preparers across the country and has been quoted in many publications including Accountants World, CPA Web, NATP Tax Pro Journal and Practical Accountant.
Overiew: An estimated twenty million Hispanic immigrants in the United States are not eligible to obtain a social security number. However, many of these same individuals pay taxes on income and are obligated to file tax returns. Sound confusing? You’re not alone. Tax preparers have been caught off guard by the surge in the immigrant Hispanic population and the issues that accompany serving this client segment. See more details.
Fee: Paid affiliates are free; non-affiliates pay $25.00. To register for the webcast, please complete the survey.
December 14: New Tax Law
Time by zone: 12:00 - 1:30pm (Eastern); 11:00 - 12:30 (Central); 10:00 - 11:30 (Mountain); 9:00 - 10:30 (Pacific)
Speakers: Barbara DelBene, Senior Training Specialist, Center for Economic Progress and Catherine Harvey, Senior Tax Analyst, Internal Revenue Service
Overview: This seminar will cover the changes to tax law that affect preparation of tax returns for low-income families. Topics include: updates on EITC, expired provisions, such as the tuition and fees deduction, Telephone Excise Tax Refund (TETR), and a review of the Uniform Definition of Child. The workshop will provide practical insight regarding the effects of the 2006 changes, particularly TETR tax forms and strategies to effectively and efficiently encourage application for the Telephone Excise Tax Refund by everyone who is eligible.
Fee: Paid affiliates are free; non-affiliates pay $25.00. To register for the webcast, please complete the survey .
January 4, 2007 TaxWise Setup
Details to come
January (date to come), 2007 Tax Season Kickoff
Details to come
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Successful tax program innovations
Our National Program Survey for 2006 asked tax programs about unique and interesting approaches they tried. Here is a sample.
- Offering internet access to credit reports along with opportunity to meet with financial professional to review the report—C.A.S.H., United Way of Greater Rochester
- Added Children's Defense Fund benefits screening (www.coveringallfamilies.org) as well as credit counseling and finance account opening services to our free tax preparation—Community Action Duluth
- Most of our coalitions tried using the new web-based TaxWise. A few challenges there!! —VA Community Action Partnership
- Sandwich board sign on the sidewalk brought in quite a few people—IFCA
- We offered a informational meeting for Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Kansas City area—KC CASH
- For the second straight year, FoodChange provided tax, bookkeeping, and Microsoft Office training through its Tax Academy. This past tax season, FoodChange employed 40 graduates of the Tax Academy as tax preparers, with an additional 5 as intake/administrative assistant personnel—FoodChange
- One of our sites had great success working in partnership with a local business to deliver tax preparation services at the local business to their employees—Eastern Kentucky Asset Building Collaboration - HPCCM
- Moving single filers from February to to March through our appointment service—Community Action Project, Tulsa
- Service learning class with the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.130 volunteers from the class served 60 hours each. Prepared returns for Katrina/Rita hurricane evacuees and trained volunteers how to do casualty loss calculations —Foundation Communities
- We worked with the childcare resource centers to conduct outreach to at-home childcare providers. It expanded our work into small businesses—Baltimore CASH Campaign
- With the assistance of a City Councilor and staff from the city's cable TV station, we produced a short commercial publicizing EITC and the free tax preparation services—Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee, Inc.
- We partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Trenton to provide free tax preparation on site to low-income working families. This approach eliminated the need for parents to find child care, expanded outreach to eligible families and provided financial literacy education in the community—City of Trenton
- We held a Super Saturday tax prep event for our Kick-off at the Dayton Urban League's new corporate offices. We provided free tax preparation, a financial services fair, free credit score reports, activities for taxpayers' children, and refreshments. WDAO radio did a live remote broadcast throughout the day. We had approximately 100 taxpayers participate in the event, and we received very positive feedback about the event—City of Dayton
- Implemented an Express Refund Loan and Savings Account program—AccountAbility Minnesota
- Three prosperity ambassadors were hired with the mission of conveying the EITC message to the community and passing out creative post cards in very specific zip codes where we thought clients were underserved—Haitian Neighborhood Center, Sant La Inc.
Programs reported other successes
- One tax payer filed married filing separately because her husband was in prison. We did an amendment filing jointly so she could receive EIC. She went to prison to get her husband's signature on the amendment and received an additional $600. We then amended her 2004 return and she received an additional $900. This person came to us just for her state return after completing her own federal return to get help with the rental deduction because she was falling behind in rent. Her landlord referred her to us and we were able to get her additional money for her rent—Lafayette Urban Ministry
- With our HR Block partnership we were able to save our residents an additional $830,000+. This partnership also generated 328 new IRAs (savings) and 191 debit plus accounts totaling over $639,000 in new savings—City of Miami
- Successfully advocated for $150,000 in FY07 city government funding allocated for EITC outreach and free tax prep—DC EITC Campaign
- We are also engaged in corporate outreach directly to CEOs, through our local Chamber of Commerce. We make a business case to the CEO based on tax site and other IRS statistics that show how that company's employee participation in our program can contribute to the well being of that company's bottom line. Once the CEO buys in, he or she really promotes the program from within, netting more volunteers and more clients—RealSense Prosperity Campaign
- The number of returns prepared increasd 116% over the previous year—New York City Financial Network Action Consortium (NYCfNAC)
- Indianapolis Asset Building Campaign was recognized for Most Improved Quality Review by the Anne E Casey Foundation—Indianapolis Asset Building Campaign
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