VITA-Train, Virtual VITACon Materials Available, and more!

No images? Click here [link removed]

Dear John,

Thank you. Before we dive into the bulk of the newsletter, I want to take this time to thank you for being a part of this incredible TON community. We’ve all been through a tumultuous 20 months, yet TON remains a constant for the community tax preparation field and the millions of people served around the country. As a member of TON, you’re a part of an awesome, collective effort to help millions of low-to-moderate income Americans fulfill their civic obligation, access valuable, family-supporting tax credits, come into tax compliance, etc., all for the sake of leveraging the tax code, and the benefits contained therein, to improve their households’ financial security. We are grateful to be in partnership with you.

As we make the turn and head towards the end of the year, let’s make sure you’re on the right track for TON materials. First, you may want to check out the materials from our first-ever Virtual VITACon [[link removed]] earlier this fall. Second, we’ll be releasing the VITA-Train soon, and we invite you to join us by sharing your expertise in the process [[link removed]]. If you’d like to help, please complete the survey below. Finally, we’ll have a few more webinars and learning opportunities coming up so keep an eye on your inboxes. We’ve still got a full docket upcoming so bring your plates and get ready for seconds!

Thankful and Blessed,

Rebecca M. Thompson, Interim Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Network Building

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

– John F. Kennedy

Spotlight: VITA-Train Coming Up Soon!

The VITA-Train [[link removed]] is ready to roar into the station! If you’re unfamiliar with the VITA-Train [[link removed]], this modular learning platform helps volunteers learn the necessary tax law to pass both the Advanced and Basic level IRS VITA Volunteer certification tests. Through easy-to-download presentations, videos, and more, this learning platform is a great complement to any virtual training you want to offer during the filing season. Please fill out this survey [[link removed]] if you’re interested in lending your expertise, and we’ll let you know when the VITA-Train gets closer to the station.

Updates from the Network

The Earned Income Tax Credit Participation Gap [[link removed]]

This resource is the product of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) outreach focus group discussions conducted as part of the Ensuring and Expanding Access to Tax Preparation Services project, with generous support from the Rockefeller Foundation. It highlights key strategies identified by the group that VITA programs can take to identify and encourage EITC-eligible populations who are not claiming the EITC to participate in this major anti-poverty program.

Alternative Service Delivery Case Studies [[link removed]]

These case studies [[link removed]] were written as part of the Ensuring and Expanding Access to Tax Preparation Services in Underserved Communities project to demonstrate how VITA programs can successfully implement and serve taxpayers through alternative tax preparation methods when facing technology and other access barriers.

Advocacy Updates

The Build Back Better Act is quickly moving through Congress. This is our chance to lift millions of kids and workers out of poverty, provide childcare and paid leave to low-income families, and ensure communities have access to safe, affordable housing. The Build Back Better Act can make these priorities a reality, but we need your help today.

Join us in calling on Congress to:

Permanently expand the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit [[link removed]] to help lift low-income children—particularly Black, Latinx and Indigenous children—as well as childless workers out of poverty. Invest in affordable housing [[link removed]] through rental and down payment assistance, increasing affordable housing stock and funding community development financial institutions.

Engaging Student Volunteers

The TON Student Volunteer Engagement Task Force convened in 2021 to identify model practices and effective strategies for successfully engaging student volunteers and running a campus VITA program. Learn about the seven Key Elements of Success [[link removed]] for engaging student volunteers the group identified.

GetYourRefund.org Application is Live!

Get involved with GetYourRefund.org. GetYourRefund is an IRS SPEC-approved virtual and drop-off tax preparation service built by Code for America and offered in partnership with VITA programs. Check out their page [[link removed]] to find out more and apply. The deadline is Nov. 30, 2021.

VITACon Materials Live!

Check out the Virtual VITACon page [[link removed]] for the materials from our three-day extravaganza. You will find the session recordings, PowerPoints and more. Thank you for being a part of this incredible VITA event.

CTC Outreach Materials

Our friends at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have shared their resources on the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Please check out their CTC outreach toolkit [[link removed]] which includes messaging, three partner social media toolkits and more. In addition, you will find out more about what to do about Custody and CTC [[link removed]] if the wrong parent or guardian has claimed the advance CTC payment.

Help Wanted: TaxSlayer State Guide

GetYourRefund and Prosperity Now need your help to fill out a state tax guide. This quick guide [[link removed]] can provide valuable information for your state and others in TaxSlayer, which can be especially useful on those tricky, out-of-state returns. If you need a frame of reference for completing your state’s section, you can use the existing Prosperity Now state income tax guide [[link removed]]. We thank you for your help on this effort.

CBPP Outreach Materials

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Get It Back Campaign has released a new Toolkit for Stimulus Check Outreach to Immigrant Families [[link removed]]. It features a media guide, talking points, sample social media posts, flyers, a radio PSA script, text message and email. The toolkit is available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Vietnamese. In addition to families with immigrants, the toolkit can be used through the remainder of the year to connect with harder-to-reach populations such as families with no or low incomes, families with a member who is incarcerated, people who lack secure housing, people without Internet access and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) communities.

EIP Guide

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau updated its guide on the three Economic Impact Payments in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. This guide [[link removed]] answers a series of FAQs based around the newest tax law information, all in one convenient location.

Tools and Information for the FieldUpdates from the IRS and SPEC

Filing Season Deadline Announced:

The deadline for next filing season is April 18. Use this data to update any materials for this filing season.

TaxSlayer Practice Lab Live:

The TaxSlayer Blog announced the activation of the Practice Lab [[link removed]]. You’ll be able to find more about the launch and any limitations going forward on the TaxSlayer VITA/TCE blog.

Non-Filer Portal

The Treasury Department and the IRS have unveiled an online Non-filer Sign-up tool [[link removed]] designed to help eligible families who don’t normally file tax returns register for the monthly Advance Child Tax Credit payments, which began on July 15. This tool is also designed to help eligible individuals who don’t normally file income tax returns register for the $1,400 third round of Economic Impact Payments and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit for any amount of the first two rounds of Economic Impact Payments they may have missed.

Zip Code-Level Data Now Available

Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis analyzed IRS data to identify where children who may be eligible to be claimed for the expanded and newly-advanceable Child Tax Credit but who had not been claimed on a recent tax return are located. The data can be used to help organizations focus their outreach efforts as they seek to sign up non-filers for monthly Child Tax Credit payments. This ZIP Code-level analysis is available here [[link removed]].

TaxSlayer Support Info:

Please use the following information to create a support ticket with TaxSlayer this filing season:

Phone: 1-800-421-6346Email: [[email protected]]Support Hours (Beginning April 16):Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET

Also, be sure to check out the TaxSlayer VITA/TCE Blog [[link removed]] for important software updates.

IRS SPEC Partner Webcast Schedule

Click here [[link removed]] to get the full 2021 schedule for IRS SPEC Partner Webcasts to ensure that you stay up-to-date on the latest news and resources from IRS SPEC.

Link and Learn

The online certification and tax law curriculum from IRS SPEC is available for use by VITA/TCE volunteers. This Fact Sheet [[link removed]] and Volunteer Tax Alert [[link removed]] provide important information necessary for certification.

TaxSlayer Suggestion Box [[link removed]]

Do you have thoughts or ideas on how TaxSlayer could be improved to help you run your sites more efficiently and make it easier to prepare and file more quality returns? Share them in the VITA/TCE Suggestion Box [[link removed]]. Your feedback is needed for both federal and state returns, as well as reports.

Learning

OpportunitiesUpcoming Learning Opportunities

MyFreeTaxes 2022 Season Updates [[link removed]]

November 18 | 12 Noon ET

Please join our partners at MyFreeTaxes to learn more about their updates and improvements for 2022. If you want to improve your capacity with MyFreeTaxes, you don’t want to miss out!

If you have ideas for future learning events, stories or resources, contact us at  [email protected] [[link removed]].

Recent Webinars and Events

CTC Navigator Trainings: [[link removed]]

In the first training, learn what resources are available, what support you can provide and go step-by-step through the Non-filer Portal and CTC Update Portal. In the second training, walk through the new GetCTC.org [[link removed]] non-filer tool and how to support people using it.

VITA Offseason Prep: Tax Law Updates [[link removed]]

This last filing season has been full of ups and downs, but TON is here to help sort out the tax law changes that will impact your VITA site going forward. This 90-minute webinar covered the tax law changes as they occurred, what you did to ensure quality returns and what you expect going forward. Our TON VITA field experts shared some of their thoughts and perspectives from their local sites.

Camp Prosperity [[link removed]]

It’s back! Use these events to find out more about your organization’s advocacy readiness and how to bring your efforts to the forefront.

Mapping Influence: Understanding Who and How to Engage for ChangeSuccessful Allyship in Grassroots AdvocacyAdvocating for Equity-Centered Policies

The ARPA Opportunity Webinar [[link removed]]

This webinar hosted by our partners at Commonwealth tackles some of the opportunities to come from the American Rescue Plan Act. Topics covered include the role of FinTech, financial security and more.

Virtual Advocacy

Want to get started on virtual advocacy, but don’t know how to start [[link removed]]? To find resources for effective advocacy at every level, visit our Prosperity Now Advocacy Toolkit [[link removed]].

How Tax Policy Can Help Low-Income Americans’ Pandemic Plight [[link removed]]

Feb. 26, 2021

In this episode of Tax Notes Talk, Rebecca Thompson of Prosperity Now discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected low-income communities and families of color in the United States and what tax policy tools could help them.

VITA Leadership Institute Year One Analysis [[link removed]]

Oct. 22, 2020

After a successful VITA Leadership Institute, we want you to join us in sharing our results and how we plan to move forward. This is a can’t-miss event for newer programs wanting to get an inside look at all aspects of a great VITA program.

TON COVID-19 Listening Session [[link removed]]

April 28, 2020

We’ve broken down the most impactful resources from our national partners around COVID-19 as well as the new GetYourRefund.org virtual VITA pilot.

Evaluating Tax-time Savings Behaviors [[link removed]]

Have you ever wondered what tax-time savings and behaviors look like on the national scale? Well, wonder no more because the Taxpayer Opportunity Network is here to provide you with the answers.

1200 G Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC xxxxxx

HOME [[link removed]] | BLOG [[link removed]] | ABOUT [[link removed]] | DONATE [[link removed]]

Copyright © 2021, Prosperity Now, All rights reserved.

Unsubscribe [link removed]