Give us your opinion about national conference

The conference in Los Angeles was a great success. Thanks to the many people who presented, learned, networked and laughed! Now tell us what you think, so we can make it better next year. You can fill out an evaluation here.

We have posted conference presentations to our website. A detailed list is in the Resources section.

Split refunds training

United Way of America is partnering with the National Community Tax Coalition and D2D Fund, Inc. to offer the following webinar:

Build Savings at Tax Time: The Promise of Split Refunds

Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 

Time: 12:00pm to 2:00pm EST; 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Central; 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Mountain; 9:00 am – 11:00 am Pacific

Register now

Session Description: Beginning in 2007, taxpayers will be able to deposit their tax refund into as many as three accounts, e.g. checking, savings, and retirement.  This new feature, called refund splitting, is an especially critical savings opportunity for low to moderate income households, as their tax refund is the largest sum of money many receive all year. The presenters will share insights gathered during a three-year pilot project to explore the implications of refund splitting at free tax preparation sites, including strategies that free tax preparation campaigns can employ to promote split refunds and strategies for partnering with financial institutions to provide savings accounts to unbanked taxpayers.

Speakers:

• Jeff Zinsmeyer, Executive Director, D2D Fund, Inc.
• Mary Ruth Herbers, Senior Director for Programs, Center for Economic Progress/National Community Tax Coalition
• Pam Smith, Manager of the EITC/VITA Program and Volunteer Programs, Community Action Agency of Tulsa County

Please Note: the number of participants will be limited to 200.  Please register as soon as possible to ensure your participation. This training is free of charge.

Coalition Executive Committee elected

For the first time, the National Community Tax Coalition has elected an Executive Committee.  After five years of growth, the Steering Committee responded to the need to have some group take responsibility for maintaining continuity between meetings, and keeping an eye on the big picture.

The inaugural Executive Committee members are:

• Donnicus Cook, Broad Spectrum Community Development, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Mary Dupont, Nehemiah Gateway CDC, Wilmington, D.E.
• Lucy Gorham, EITC Carolinas, Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Jean Hunt, Campaign for Working Families, Philadelphia, Penn.
• Dave Sieminski, United Way of King County, Seattle, Wash.

Congratulations, and thanks for taking on this task of service.

back to top

Telephone excise tax refund

NCTC staff can see 100 ways in which this one-time refund could become a nightmare. They are working on procedures and tools to help you sleep easier during tax season. See initial information in the new Telephone Excise Tax section of our online Resource Library that will be updated with new materials and information.

Link and Learn ready

The IRS training tool, Link and Learn, is now updated for tax year 2006. The course is designed for volunteers at free tax preparation sites. There are five modules: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Military, and International. Each module has its own certification test that can be completed online. Returning students can choose to go directly to the certification exams.

back to top

Give us your tax season data!

Have you sent in your tax season data yet? The Coalition compiles data from as many free tax preparation programs as possible, and harnesses it for advocacy, research and building support for federal funding for free tax preparation programs.

If you have data from the January—April 2006 tax filing season, we want it! We provide tools to assist you in preparing the reports. Find out more and submit your data here.

We offered T-shirts to every tenth program to send us their data. We thanks the following winners:

• Peg Giffels, Community Partnerships Manager at NPower Seattle
• Seymour Spector in St. Louis
• Margaret Buckley, Americorps VISTA volunteer at Human Services Coalition, Miami
• Desmond Leong, Program Administrator at Friendly Community Tax Assistance Coalition, St. Louis
• Sandra Byrd,  Professor at Missouri State University, Springfield
• Carla Gainey, Director of Taxpayer Services at AccountAbility Minnesota, St. Paul

The following story is about a different data collection project, that could eventually replace this one.

back to top

Join the national data collection pilot program

This year the Casey Foundation and the National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC) will take a second step to bring our data collection efforts into closer alignment. The data collection project is a strategy to track and analyze the depth as well as the breadth of the work performed by the field.

Our goal is to help the field make a deepr impact with taxpayers served, develop a broader understanding of the customer-base, as well as position the field to nationally impact the deicisions of elected officials, policy leaders, and philanthropists through the power of data.

This project marks the initial steps to deeping our impact in individual communities and across the nation. If your organization is interested in participating in this initiative, please complete this survey.

Affiliate satisfaction survey

Before you become too busy with the new tax season, we want to check in to see how the Coalition is going. The best way to learn what we are doing well and where we have room for improvement is simply to ask you. Your feedback is critical to our remaining responsive to your needs.

As a special incentive to stimulate your participation in our Affiliate Satisfaction Survey, all survey respondents will be entered into a random drawing for five $10 VISA gift cards.  Start the survey here

back to top

Coalition opposes proposed regulations to increase Installment Agreement fees

David Marzahl of the Center for Economic Progress and Pam Smith of the Community Action Project submitted comments on behalf of the National Community Tax Coalition strongly urging the IRS to withdraw its proposal to increase installment agreement user fees on the basis that the fees would unfairly burden low income taxpayers. Tax Notes, 10/25/06

Low-Income Taxpayer Clinics urge adoption of their suggestions for revamped OIC program

Rolando Palacios of the Center for Economic Progress and other organizations operating low income taxpayer clinics have urged the Treasury and the IRS to adopt LITC income guidelines for determining who qualifies for a waiver of the filing fee and recently-added down payment under guidance modifying the Offer In Compromise program. Tax Notes, 10/25/06

back to top

Baltimore CASH Campaign: Leveraging a Diverse Coalition

The Baltimore CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) Campaign came alive in 2000. With the Maryland EITC Outreach Campaign (a project of Maryland Committee for Children) already in place, the founding members of Baltimore CASH created a coalition to build on the statewide work to provide local EITC outreach, free tax preparation services, and connections to asset building activities. Read the full story.

back to top

Why Americans should pay more taxes: A Nobel winner's view on productive economies
In an interview with the New York Times, the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics, Columbia University professor Edmund Phelps discussed why he thinks America’s wealthy should be paying higher taxes and doing more to increase the wages of the poor.  Full article available upon request.

Envelope stuffer
Responding to request, a template of an envelope stuffer that can be used to promote the EITC and free tax prep in local water and gas bills can be found at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website. Posted by: Patti O’Callaghan.

IRS Offers In Compromise
IRS and Treasury have issued a request for comments regarding the new Offers In Compromise rules. Rolando Pacacios of the Center for Economic Progress requested input on comments he put together to submit to the IRS. 

A couple of suggestions could be: 1) change the waiver of 20% down rule so it applies to persons living at 250% of poverty -- i.e. the same guidelines we use to qualify taxpayers for LITC services; 2) Though not strictly part of the OIC, we could comment about the unfairness of the new cost of living standards reflected in the 433a and 433f since by no reasonable measure is the cost of living going down. Comments are due by October 9th.  Detailed article on the new OIC rules are available upon request.  Posted by: Rolando Palacios.

Copying taxpayers Social Security cards
Does anyone require the actual social security card for the taxpayer(s) and their dependents when preparing returns or do you just allow the customer to tell you what the numbers are? Do you make photocopies of the cards for reference in case of a reject? Posted by: Nayoakee Parker.

• Response.  “Last year, for e-filing, we required SS card, SS statement (1099-SSA), federal annuity statement (1099-R), or ITIN card or letter for everyone on the return, so that we could make comparisons for rejects. We kept photocopies until the return was successfully acknowledged then shredded the copies. We actually found that because we had good quality control measures in place that we had very few mismatches and are not likely to make the copies this year.” Posted by: Teresa Hinze.

•  Response. “Considering that people can buy counterfeit SS cards, this step may help but it's no guarantee that the info is correct. By making a photocopy you have another piece of paper that needs to be locked up and ultimately shredded (I strongly recommend a cross-cut, not a strip, shredder; they're relatively inexpensive.
  
  Also, I know of one clinic (at least) that uses an interview sheet that asks the client for the last six SSN digits. This all but gives someone intent on identity theft an easy opportunity to figure out the SSN since the numbers are assigned by state and only a few have more than a small range of the first three digits. You can easily find what the first three digits are by tapping into www.ssn.org. I'd limit the info to the last four SSN digits since it's rare that two people will have the same ones in a clinic (four digits account for up to 9,999 people).” Posted by: Jeff Gold.

• Response. “I highly recommend requiring ITIN documentation or Social Security Cards for any person listed on the return with an exception for returning clients whose information is in TaxWise carry forward data.  (If their information was correctly entered in a previous year and that data was carried forward you would be creating an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.)
  
  I have found that requiring documentation creates a significant reduction in e-file rejections. Reducing initial e-file rejections should be a priority for any program fixing and managing rejects onsite tends to create oversight bottle-necks and reduces the overall quality of preparation and service.” Posted by: JC Craig.

New eligibility requirements cause a decline in free e-file participation
 “Some 39 million taxpayers became ineligible this year for free electronic filing due to new income limits. [But, according to the last par. below, only 4 million—barely more than 10%—used the program in ’06; in short, is it worth the effort considering the limited IRS resources that could be used elsewhere?]” Full article available upon request. 

 I.R.S. Going Slow Before Election
The commissioner of internal revenue has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections and the holiday season, saying he did so in part to avoid negative publicity, according to the New York Times. Full article available upon request. 

back to top

VITA Coordinator
Applications are now being accepted for a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Coordinator at the Houston Asset Building Coalition. The VITA Coordinator plans, coordinates, and oversees all activities of the VITA program including recruitment, training, retention and the recognition of volunteers, and manages all VITA sites. For the job description, email to sarah@houstonassetbuilding.org

 Director of Advocacy
The Center for Economic Progress seeks a Director of Advocacy who will serve as the organization’s external voice and strategist on progressive tax and asset-building policies at the federal and state levels.  For the job description, email gfields@centerforprogress.org

Project Manager
Action for Boston Community Development, Inc (ABCD) is hiring a project manager to be responsible for their EITC tax site coordination and establishing asset development programming for Boston’s community action agency. Please send resumes to: Chris Sieber, Director of Planning; sieber@bostonabcd.org

back to top

November

Wednesday, November 29 and Thursday, December 1. Consumer Federation of America Consumer Advocates’ Payday Loan Summit in Washington, D.C.

Thursday, November 30 and Friday, December 1, 2006. 2 day Training Institute in Los Angeles, CA. CASH Asset Development and Individual Development Account Training Institute. This training is for people interested in designing, improving or expanding Individual Development Account initiatives. For details,  contact: Zenae Scott at 916-443-1721 x 203 or visit www.cal-neva.org and follow the link to the CASH IDA Institute.

CASH Campaign Members, Partners, and Friends, only $50.00 for CASH Members and $100.00 for General Registration.

January, 2007

Tuesday January 23 - Thursday 25, Expanding Native Opportunity: Native IDA Initiative training presented by First Nations Development Institute, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, and CFED, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Applications accepted until November 27, 2006. Download an application from www.cfed.org/go/nida.

February

Tuesday February 27  - Thursday March 1, Expanding Native Opportunity: Native IDA Initiative training presented by First Nations Development Institute, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, and CFED, in Denver, Colorado. Applications accepted until January 12, 2007. Download an application from www.cfed.org/go/nida.

Tuesday March 27 - Thursday 29, Expanding Native Opportunity: Native IDA Initiative training presented by First Nations Development Institute, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, and CFED, in Washington, DC. Applications accepted until February 9, 2007. Download an application from www.cfed.org/go/nida.

back to top

Asset Building Model
Presentation on a one-stop-shop method. Provided by Experiments in Self-Reliance.

7 Asset Building Tools
List of 7 tools available in Forsyth County, WV. Provided by Experiments in Self Reliance.

IRS Quality Improvement Process for 2007
The issues covered include Form 13614, Intake and Interview Sheet, Form 13715, Site Information Sheet, the IRS site and return review process, and changes to the IRS database.

Build Savings at Tax Time
A guide to split refunds at tax sites. See pages 8-15 for VITA site operations. This manual was distributed in print form at the national conference.

Site Manager Training Warm-up Exercises
Tax return exercises for training site managers, developed for Illinois by the Center for Economic Progress. Cover letter provides an example of how it could be used. State income tax applies to Illinois only.
Section 1: cover letter & answer sheet [PDF, 540KB]
Section 2: Exercise 1 [PDF, 360KB]
Section 3: Exercise 2 [PDF, 760KB]
Section 4: Exercise 3 [PDF, 480KB]
Section 5: Exercise 4 [PDF, 7500KB]
Section 6: Exercise 5 [PDF, 1MB]
Section 7: Exercise 6 [PDF, 420KB]

Conference Presentations

Workshop 2
Expand Your Reach: Engage Empoyers and Unions in Tax Services
John Hoffmire [PPT, 70KB]

Workshop 3
Engaging Key Partners: Elected Officials and Tribal Leaders
Kaye Schmitz [PPT, 2.5MB]

Workshop 7
Refund Splitting I: Engage Financial Services Partners
2006 Final Statewide EITC Coalition Report [PDF, 200KB]
Celeste Sparks: Asset Building Flier [PDF, 280KB]

Workshop 8
Refund Splitting II: Outreach and Publicity
Zina Poeltz: Go Direct: [PPT, 700KB]

Workshop 9
Serving Immigrants: The Coming Crunch
Francine Lipman [PPT, 1.4MB]

Workshop 11
TaxWise 201 – Twists and Turns in TaxWise
Teresa Mathis [DOC, 640KB]

Workshop17
Building a Fair Tax System: What do Policy Experts have to Say?
Effects of Savers Credit Reform [PDF, 60KB]
Mark Iwry [DOC, 60KB]
NCTC Proactive Platform [PPT, 110KB]

Workshop 22
Make Sure Your Voice is Heard: Be an EITC Advocacy Leader
Erika Schafer[PPT, 160KB]

Workshop 23
Multi-Benefit Outreach
Michelle Henry [PPT, 4MB]

Workshop 24
Refund Splitting III Linking to Asset Building
Mary Dupont: Asset Building Strategy Concept [DOC, 40KB]
Mary Dupont: postcard split refunds [PDF, 400KB]
Mary Ruth Herbers: Banking the Unbanked [PPT, 220KB]
Carole Wayman: The Savings for Working Families Act [PDF, 120KB]
Carole Wayman: Legislation Promoting Asset-Building for Low-Income People [DOC, 110KB]
Carole Wayman: Refund Splitting: Linking to Asset Building {PPT, 110KB]

Workshop 26
Telling the Story Measuring and Evaluating Impact
Alan Berube [PPT, 1.8MB]

Workshop 27
The Path to Self Sufficiency: How to Identify Crisis for Asset Building Services
Shirley Abdullah: The "Building My Future" Campaign [PPT, 330KB]
Amy Audetat: Tax Time: Gateway to the Credit Path [PPT, 4MB]
Amy Audetat: Flyer [PDF, 480KB]
Amy Audetat: Refund Express [PDF, 180KB]
Amy Audetat: The FACT Act and Free Credit Reports [DOC, 30KB]
Amy Audetat: Wish List [DOC, 600KB]

Workshop 35
Quality
Amy Brown [PPT, 160KB]
Marshall Hunt [PPT, 300KB]
Marshall Hunt: e-File Checklist [DOC, 50KB]
Marshall Hunt: Guide for Supervisor’s Review of Tax Returns [DOC, 50KB]
Bill Smits: Volunteer Return Preparation Program - Quality Improvement Process [PPT, 1.3MB]

Workshop 36
Refund Splitting IV: Tax Season Operations
Rita Eygabroard: CASH bank account program [DOC, 140KB]
Rita Eygabroad: CASH Intake Sheet [DOC, 180KB]
Rita Eygabroad: On-Site Bank Accounts [PPT, 160KB]
Rita Eygabroad: Waiting for Account Number Form [DOC, 30KB]
Brandy Holleyman: Discussion On The Operational Execution Of Splitting A Refund
[PPT, 74KB]

Workshop 37
Saving the EITC in an Hour a Month
Erika Schafer [PPT, 1MB]

Workshop 38
They Have It, We Need It: The Client Intake Process
Barbara DelBene: Intake and Interview from Detroit AAS [DOC, 50KB]
Barbara DelBene: Intake Sheet from Chicago CEP[DOC, 40KB]
Barbara DelBene: Client Intake Sheet Instructions [DOC, 32KB]
Barbara DelBene: Client Intake Sheet 2007 Draft [XLS, 25KB]
IRS Form 13614 [PDF, 190KB]
IRS Intake and Interview Process Talking Points [DOC, 260KB]

Workshop 40
Working with Credit Reports and Credit Counseling
Ken Long: Integrating Free Credit Reports [PDF, 110KB]
Working with Credit Reports and Credit Counseling [PPT, 10MB]
What’s the Score on Credit Scores? [PPT, 1.7MB]

Luncheon Plenary, Thursday October 12
Bernie Wilson, H&R Block [PPT, 200KB]
David Willisma [PPT, 200KB]

Session A: Volunteer Recruitment and Management
Meghan Andrews [PPT, 300KB]
Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 [DOC, 45KB]

Session B: Volunteer Training
Barbara DelBene: Tools for Training [DOC, 35KB]
Barbara DelBene: Tools for Training spreadsheet [DOC, 30KB]
IRS summary - Volunteer Tax Preparation Training Materials [HTML, 30KB]
IRS Volunteer Order Form 2333v [PDF, 170KB]
Barbara DelBene: Sample Curriculum Detroit AAS [PDF, 85KB]
Barbara DelBene: Sample Curriculum Chicago TCP [DOC, 27KB]
Steve Tolbert: IRS Link & Learn [PPT, 800KB]
Steve Tolbert: How to Install TaxWise [DOC, 30KB]
Steve Tolbert: DE Module Listing [DOC, 72KB]
Steve Tolbert: Delaware Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign [PPT, 1MB]

Session C: Site and Program Management
Pham: Tax Site Procedures [PPT, 1.7MB]
Ragland: Common Elements of VITA Sites [DOC, 20KB]
Ragland: Site Coordinator Responsibilities [DOC, 20KB]
Ragland: VITA Site and Program Management Agenda [DOC, 20KB]
Ragland: Volunteer Responsibilities [DOC, 25KB]

back to top