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				National Community Tax Coalition 29 E. Madison, Suite 910 Chicago, IL 60602 (312) 252-0280 (phone) (312) 252-0285 (fax) www.tax-coalition.org a program of the Center for Economic Progress

June 6, 2006			The Newsletter of the National Community Tax Coalition
In this issue:	Save the Date for National Conference Win a T-Shirt and Influence Congress Discounts at IRS Tax Forums IRS announces split refund option Affiliates in the news Program Profile: Human Services Coalition Advocacy updates New resources Job openings Calendar
Community Tax News
	Save the Date for National Conference The Building Prosperity for Working Families 2006 National Conference will be held in Los Angeles from Wednesday, October 11 through Friday, October 13. Mark your calendar now! Join us and participate in core workshops in the Advocacy and Tax Policy, as well as the Community-Based Tax Preparation areas. This year’s conference will provide a special focus in Asset Building and Leadership. To appeal to all learners, workshops are designed at basic, intermediate, and advanced level. Join community tax practitioners, academic professionals, government officials and others. Attendees from across the country will gather to explore the growing fields of asset-building and community-tax preparation. Become a Coalition affiliate now and save $100 on your registration fee. Registration opens in July. Visit our website for up-to-date information. Win a T-Shirt and influence Congress Want to grow the field of free tax preparation AND get a free T-shirt? The season's over, many of you are heading to the beach or the lake, and you deserve it! But where is your season’s data? Has it been added to the National Community Tax Coalition’s National Program Survey? Why is this important? Because when we aggregate the data from hundreds of program like yours, we find that the Coalition is the fourth-largest provider of income tax services in the country (by market share). That gives us leverage when we seek funding and other resources like scholarships. Just as importantly, it gives us weight when we lobby Congress on behalf of low-income taxpayers. Thinking that your program’s data doesn’t make much difference? Think again! When we go to Washington, D.C., we take a customized printout of data to each Congressman or Senator we meet, and on it is the tax season data for each site in the politician’s District or State. They look very closely at that! If virtue as its own reward is not enough motivation, consider this: every tenth survey completed wins a free Coalition T-shirt. Wear that on your vacation! Fill out the survey now. VITA Partners are eligible to receive discounts at the Tax Forums By using registration code VITA0706, VITA partners can attend the Tax Forums at a reduced rate of $129 dollars. See the Calendar for dates of upcoming forums in CA, GA, NY, IL, FL, NV. IRS expands taxpayers’ options for direct deposit of refunds Hoping to encourage higher savings and more banking, the Internal Revenue Service announced May 31 that it will create a new program to allow taxpayers who use direct deposit to divide their refunds in up to three financial accounts. The IRS will create a new form, Form 8888, which will give taxpayers greater control over their refunds. Form 8888 will give taxpayers a choice of selecting one, two, or three accounts such as checking, savings and retirement accounts. Taxpayers who want all their refund deposited directly into one account can still use the appropriate line on the Form 1040 series. Several Coalition affiliates have been involved in piloting split refunds over the past 3 years, and the Coalition hosted a conference call on the subject recently. The IRS invites comments, suggestions, and ideas be submitted to splitrefundcomments@irs.gov back to top
Affiliates in the News
	Free tax service in Marion completed more than $1 million in refunds Tax season has passed and because of a working agreement between Marion's Man-Tra-Con office and the Center for Economic Progress in Chicago, almost 1,200 Marion families were able to file federal and state income tax returns free of charge. "Bringing more than $1 million in tax refunds to working Marion families is an accomplishment we're proud of," said David Marzahl, executive director of the Center for Economic Progress. "We had a great group of 12 volunteers who helped families claim all the tax refunds owed to them without having to incur any additional costs or fees." Story in Marion Daily Republican, May 8, 2006 Tax preparers help low-income workers get back $600,000 Now that April 15 is past and the dust has settled, Community Action Duluth has done some calculating to see how well it did at helping low-income taxpayers. The nonprofit's free tax-preparation services helped low-income people recover $628,325 in refunds this year, with an average federal income tax refund of $852. Read the full story in the Duluth News Tribune, May 4. back to top
Program Profile
	Bundling Services HSC ‘s Prosperity Campaign connects low-wage workers to existing economic benefits programs available to them such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit, Food Stamps, and low-cost health insurance. It also provides individuals and families with individualized financial literacy programs that will help them open a savings account, buy a house, a car, or put themselves or their kids through college. Read the full story. back to top
New Resources
	Review of San Francisco Working Families Credit The Brookings Institution recently co-published with SFWorks a report reviewing the first year of the San Francisco Working Families Credit, a local version of the federal EITC for residents of that city/county. The report discusses how the credit was enacted, designed, and implemented, and includes a review of its performance in the first year and some lessons for other jurisdictions that may be interested in pursuing a similar initiative. Getting Connected: Employer Engagement in Work Supports The EITC has the most appeal for employers of low-wage worker interested in linking access to multiple public benefits at or through the workplace, according to a recent report from the Center for Law and Public Policy. Employers are interested in financial education and some basic asset products for their employees. State and Local Support for EITC Campaign [DOC, 70 KB, posted 5/25/06] A description of several campaigns that have received public funding. Useful for coalitions or campaigns advocating for new public funding. Provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. back to top
Job Openings
	The Center for Economic Progress is seeking to fill the position of Director of Tax Services. The Director will oversee both the Tax Counseling Project and the Midwest Tax Clinic, as well as share a leadership role in providing technical assistance and capacity-building services nationally, through the National Community Tax Coalition. For more information, email info@tax-coalition.org. The Center for Economic Progress seeks a dynamic, professional individual to engage and mobilize affiliates in, and assist with developing, advocacy and policy initiatives of the Center and of the National Community Tax Coalition. These initiatives seek to dramatically increase access of low-income workers to tax credits and benefits. For more information about this Advocacy Associate/Organizer position, email info@tax-coalition.org back to top
Calendar
	June Tuesday June 27-Thursday 29, IRS Tax Forum in Anaheim, CA. July Tuesday July 11-Thursday 13, IRS Tax Forum in Chicago, IL Wednesday July 19--Thursday 20, Asset Building and Financial Education Training Institute hosted by Cal/Neva CASH in San Francisco, Calif. Asset building, policy, advocacy, financial education. For additional information, www.cal-neva.org/eitc or contact Zenae Scott 916/443-1721 x 17. Tuesday July 25-Thursday 27, IRS Tax Forum in Atlanta, GA August Tuesday August 1—Thursday 3, Expanding Native Opportunity: Native IDA Initiative presented by First Nations Development Institute, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, and CFED, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Applications accepted until June 16, 2006. Download an application from www.cfed.org/go/nida. Tuesday, August 1—Thursday 3, IRS Tax Forum in Orlando, FL Tuesday August 22-Thursday 24, IRS Tax Forum in Las Vegas, NV Tuesday August 29-Thursday 31, IRS Tax Forum in New York, NY September Tuesday, September 19-Thursday 21, CFED will host the 2006 Assets Learning Conference in Phoeniz, Ariz. Go to www.assetsconference.org for more information and to register. October Wednesday 11 – Friday 13 Building Prosperity for Working Families conference in Los Angeles, hosted by the National Community Tax Coalition. back to top
This newsletter is sent to the National Community Tax Coalition affiliates. Forward it to a friend. For more information contact, Don Wedd.

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