2018 Tax Season Kick-off Conference Call Center on Budget & Policy Priorities Get It Back Campaign January 18 th, 2018 Part I: EITC Awareness Day and Taxathons How will you kick-off the tax season? Holding soft tax site openings starting next week in preparation for tax season. Launching 17 th tax season on Feb. 1 with an annual event at a VITA site at a community center. Wondering how the shut-down of the federal government will impact tax season. Kicking off with a proclamation from the county government for EITC Awareness. Holding soft opening for a tax site on EITC Awareness Day and will file tax returns on 01/27. Hosting a two-day taxathon kickoff 02/02 and 02/03, 12 hours each day, with a popcorn maker and face painting. Planning and volunteer engagement for taxathons has been smooth; volunteers are intrigued by the novelty of the taxathon. Claire Warnick, United Way of Utah County, Provo, UT Holding a combined EITC Awareness Day and taxathon event and will focus promotion on families with young children. o Holding at a community center VITA site 01/27, 9am-1pm. o Accepting walk-in clients and friends and family members of volunteers. o Event is also a soft opening for new volunteers to orient them to the tax site flow. Also, partnered with the local Community Action Services agency to promote event. Holding press conference on EITC Awareness Day with the city mayor, Commissioner of the Department of Revenue, city council, and others, followed by a day of free tax preparation. Jennifer O Donnell, United Way of the Wine Country, Santa Rosa, CA Hosting a kick-off event on 01/27, 10am-3pm for press, gov. officials, and board members. o This launch will be a test-run for the site and will garner publicity. o Invite new volunteers to come and shadow current volunteers Rey Lopez, Filipino Veterans Group Inc., Las Vegas, NV Commends the City of Philadelphia for developing an effective flyer for promoting the EITC. Plans to adapt it for their tax season kick-off event. Hosting kick-off event on 01/26 at 1pm with a couple of volunteers and balloons.
The Department of Revenue in Philadelphia and the city council have worked with a marketing company to produce those flyers and graphics for 3 years. Will share the final version of the flyer with the group. Please share inspiring EITC materials (or those you don t like), or contact us if you want help creating something specific for your needs. Patricia Deck, Community Partnership of the Ozarks, Springfield, MO Partnered with the city government and the local utility company of the city for marketing. o Placed inserts in January utility bills advertising VITA tax clinics. Worked with local food banks and other agencies to include flyers in holiday baskets. Conduct outreach through word of mouth at monthly meetings for a Community Collaboratives program with more than 500 members; emailing marketing materials; partnering with the local United Way networks; and working with the local healthcare providers, manufacturing, and temp agencies. Previously partnered with a large management company to provide door hangers for all their rental properties. Part II: Challenges from the 2017 Tax Season and Outreach Plans for 2018 What were some challenges and successes from 2017? How do they affect your plans for 2018? Key challenges were with TaxSlayer and the PATH Act. o Purchased a contract with TaxWise for coalition due to TaxSlayer issues. o Conducted outreach and education on refund delays and many taxpayers already knew about it. Not planning substantive outreach on the refund delays this year. On-going challenge of only 38% of returns processed claiming the EITC. Wesley Peters, Filipino Veterans Group Inc., Las Vegas, NV Interested in using TaxWise this year, if possible. Will connect with Mimi after the call. TaxSlayer was significantly better during the off-season and the software has improved. To address PATH Act challenges, issuing press releases that emphasize refund delays will happen regardless of how one files their taxes since some people thought paid preparers could provide refunds quicker or delays only happened at VITA sites. Jennifer O Donnell, United Way of the Wine Country, Santa Rosa, CA Struggled with the PATH Act and TaxSlayer as well o Although found TaxSlayer to be problematic, many staff and volunteers got used to it and cited improvements.
o Chose not to say anything about the PATH Act to clients because didn t want to encourage people to go to paid preparers offering 0% interest loans Anticipate challenges this year around disaster area taxes due to the massive wild fires in CA during the summer. Don t want to announce that they cannot serve everyone, and know there will be some people they won t be able to help. o Interested in connecting with others who have worked in disaster areas. Tamara Kreigh, United Way Metro Nashville, Nashville, TN Had challenges with the increased number of Uber and Lyft drivers who were unaware of their status as contract laborers and lacked proper documentation for mileage and expenses etc. This year will hand out work sheets to help on demand drivers prepare for tax filing. Online portal: www.unitedwayfilefree.org o Tax Worksheet for On Demand Drivers o Tax Tips for On Demand Drivers Encourage partners to share what you are doing on this issue, including resources you are using. Speaking with an Uber rep about whether site can file these taxes. Doing education to help prepare taxpayers for filing; started making a flyer. Janne Huang, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC Let us know of any resources you want us to create for this gig economy population of tax filers. Expect to see people who believed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be repealed & didn t get health insurance, so may face up to $895 fine. Holly Woller, Wisconsin Judicare, Wausau, WI An on-going challenge is lack of free tax sites in rural communities. o Encourage clients to make appointments early at the nearest tax site. If they miss it due to bad weather, health issues, etc., it is very difficult to reschedule in their community. Clients then must consider sites in other locations several hours away, which discourages them altogether from filing. o Does anyone have experiences serving rural communities or ideas to address this challenge? Had some success using virtual sites that allow people to come in, drop off their documents, and review and pick it up their tax return later.
Also, for people who have computers and internet access, MyFreeTaxes is an option. Certified Acceptance Agent that completed over 200 ITIN applications and more than 80 renewals in 2017. Wants to serve as a gateway to asset building for immigrants, and faces challenges with misinformation and heightened fears due to political climate. o While the December 2017 tax legislation takes away the CTC for ITIN holders, some don t realize it s still available for TY2017, which discourages them from filing taxes. o Although, many immigrants are ineligible for public benefits, US-born children are if their family can show proof of income for household. Nationally, more than 50% of unauthorized immigrants live with children and 70% of those children are US citizens. 14% of children born in Philadelphia in 2017 were from unauthorized immigrants. Uses taxes to connect people with resources. o Works with a CDFI that offers microloans and mortgages to unauthorized immigrants. Eligibility requires due diligence in filing at least 3 years of tax returns. o Partners with immigrant-serving and legal services groups to keep informed about CEIBA s work and encourage financial well-being of families beyond immigration status. o Educating at meetings and conducting a lot of ITIN information sessions. Tamara Kreigh, United Way Metro Nashville, Nashville, TN A CAC site had trouble with the W-7 TaxSlayer for ITIN processing. Wants to connect for help. Uses TaxWise and will still see if can assist. Update: IRS territory manager shared that tax season will be delayed past the 29 th if the government shuts down. Part III: Announcements EITC Awareness Day Materials o The Get It Back campaign will send an email with several resources you can use to promote the EITC including graphics, simple ways to highlight the EITC, and videos with a new one on EITC eligibility. o Prosperity Now will release an EITC Awareness Day toolkit.
IRS EITC Awareness Day Thunderclap o Thunderclap is a crowd messaging social media platform that allows people to share a tweet, Facebook or Tumblr message at the same time. When you signup, it will post automatically on your or your organization s social media account on January 26 at 1pm. Partner Profiles o We are compiling short profiles to share more about who you are as individuals involved in the world of tax credit outreach. o We ll email the details to you directly and ask that you respond to a few questions about yourself, and send a photo. EITC Story Collection o We encourage you to identify clients to share their stories about using free tax preparation or claiming the EITC. If you want some guidance, just let us know. If you have any remaining questions, suggestions, or requests about anything, please email us.