Taxpayer Opportunity Network Newsletter: November 2023
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Dear John,
We know many of you are in the midst of planning for the upcoming tax season. Whether you are recruiting and training volunteers, opening new hybrid VITA sites, or trying to make sense of any tax law changes, we hope the resources in this month’s newsletter support your planning efforts and provide you with a little boost of excitement for the upcoming season.
In this issue, we spotlight our VITA Leadership Institute member, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, and their efforts to provide VITA services to the Haitian Community in Miami-Dade. Our partners at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), have been going deep on the income-boosting impact of state and local EITCs and CTCs, that can provide some talking points for your local EITC Awareness Day efforts on January 26. Finally, I encourage you to read our recent report, spotlighted below, Why Communities Leave Money on the Table [[link removed]], which shares some lessons learned from VITA sites engaging in enhanced client outreach efforts, to encourage folks to file for taxes and receive tax credits they are otherwise missing out on.
Stay tuned for more from us as we plan Taxpayer Opportunity Network pre-season virtual learning opportunities, such as highlighting the Direct File pilot from the U.S. Treasury and IRS, as well as our annual Tax Season Kickoff in January. Finally, get ready to board the VITA-Train Express🚂! We are currently “conducting” a review of our VITA volunteering training tool, VITA-Train [[link removed]], and will be “tracking” our 2023 updates for you soon.
Sincerely,
Dara Duratinsky
Director of Network Building
Building A Safe Place for the Miami-Dade Haitian Community at Sant La
In September, Prosperity Now launched the second iteration of the VITA Leadership Institute, through generous support from the Wells Fargo Foundation. The VITA Leadership Institute (VLI) aims to train a diverse class of ten emerging VITA leaders to build their capacity to expand and scale free, high-quality, and racially equitable tax preparation services for low-income taxpayers in their communities. Over the next year, we are working with our cohort to build the VITA leadership capacity through peer learning calls, one-on-one individualized technical assistance, and support for local EITC Awareness Day events, which will all culminate in a digital toolkit of lessons learned that we share with the entire Taxpayer Opportunity Network. This month, we are spotlighting one of our cohort members, Alphonse Piard, Director of Financial Literacy Services at Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center [[link removed]] in North Miami, Florida.
Read the Full Conversation Here [[link removed]] VITACon-tinued: A Deep Dive into the Future of VITA
This past September, we and 200+ of our favorite tax pros took over the City of Bridges (Pittsburgh, PA) for VITACon’23. After three days of talking nothin’ but taxes, the conference is in the books; however, the work is just beginning.
Leveraging the wonderful tax minds present at our FOMO-inducing conference, we turned to the future and forecasted the expansion of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly Programs (VITA/TCE) in the next five years. First, attendees were asked to share a future headline about VITA at either the federal, state or local level (read: manifest some more VITA success). After our shared manifestation session, we jumped into how we can make these seemingly lofty dreams happen. What follows is one of my favorite headlines shared during the session and ideas for how we get there: “VITA Reports Too Many Volunteers!”
Why Communities Leave Money on the Table
The Expanding Economic Opportunity through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (EEOVITA) project, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, aims to enhance outreach strategies and service delivery methods to groups who could benefit the most financially from free tax preparation assistance but are least likely to file taxes. In this resource, we share how members of the EEOVITA cohort developed outreach strategies to reach first-time filers and lapsed filers from underserved and vulnerable populations – youth from low-income families, people who are formerly incarcerated, people experiencing homelessness, immigrants, survivors of domestic violence, and isolated tribal populations – with the goal of removing structural barriers to filing and receiving the expanded Child Tax Credit benefit, economic impact payments and other tax benefits.
Read More Here [[link removed]] Resources and Publications
Local Earned Income Tax Credits: How Localities Are Boosting Economic Security and Advancing Equity with EITCs [[link removed]] | Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)
This ITEP report examines the income-boosting impact of local EITCs for workers and families and how they can advance racial equity.
Boosting Incomes, Improving Equity: State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2023 [[link removed]] | ITEP
ITEP highlights the landscape of state EITCs, including the 12 states that have expanded and improved credits in 2023, the 10 states that have made their credits more inclusive through extending eligibility to immigrant taxpayers with ITINs, and the 8 states that have extended eligibility to younger and older workers.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit Would Advance Racial Equity in the Tax Code [[link removed]] | ITEP
ITEP continues its examination of tax credits by highlighting how expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to 2021 levels would lift 60 million children out of poverty, especially Black and Hispanic children who are disproportionately harmed by current rules.
States are Boosting Economic Security with Child Tax Credits in 2023 [[link removed].] | ITEP
ITEP highlights the landscape of state CTCs, including the 14 states with fully refundable Child Tax Credits in 2024, the 3 states with new CTCs, and the 5 states offering credits at or above $1,000 per qualifying child.
A Clear Policy Choice: Repeat Success by Expanding the EITC for Adults Without Children [[link removed]] | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
CBPP advocates for expanding the EITC for Adults Without Children, which when enacted in 2021, boosted the incomes of more than 16 million people, more than double those who benefited before the expansion.
Rep. Watson Coleman Reintroduces Legislation to Expand Earned Income Tax Credit [[link removed]] | InsiderNJ
In September, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman introduced the EITC Modernization Act, which would make caregivers and students pursuing higher education or advanced degrees eligible to receive the Federal EITC.
Events and Opportunities
Upcoming VITA and Tax-Aide Program Staff and Volunteer Webinars from the CFPB Tax Time Initiative:
Strategies for Connecting Local Residents with Free Tax Assistance: Making the Case for Launching or Expanding VITA in Your Community [[link removed]] – Webinar, Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm ET.
Expert Panel on Making the Case for Launching or Expanding VITA in Your Community – Wednesday, November 15, 1:00-2:00 pm ET. Registrants from the November 14 webinar will automatically be invited to this discussion.
More Effectively Measuring Results and Reporting Outcomes: Making Your Case to Funders and Stakeholders [[link removed]] – Webinar, Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 1:00-2:00 ET.
Peer Discussion on Measuring Results and Making Your Case, Wednesday, November 29, 2023, 1:00-2:00 ET. Registrants from the November 28 webinar will automatically be invited to this discussion.
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