Dear John,

As we close out the year, I’m always shocked by the juxtaposition of the cold, dark winter nights and the bright lights that adorn windows as far as the eye can see. Regardless of your holiday celebrations, taking in these moments reminds us of the power of community. The VITA community is certainly like no other. As we’re gearing up to tackle another filing season head-on, let’s take this moment to celebrate the community we’re a part of as we look forward to next year.

We’re excited to share a few updates for December and the first few weeks of the new year. First, we know you’ve been asking for it, so we’re excited to share that the VITA-Train is pulling into the station. Second, we recently hosted a webinar on Engaging Student Volunteers, so we encourage you to check out the web page for updated materials, including the PowerPoint and webinar recording. Third, be on the lookout for information about our Tax Season Kick-off on Jan. 19, and our EITC Awareness Day Toolkit after the new year. In the meantime, save Jan. 28, as EITC Awareness Day.

Happy and Healthy Holidays!

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

Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season and throughout the coming year.

Spotlight: All Aboard the VITA-Train!

The VITA-Train is pulling into the station, just in time for volunteer study and certification over the holiday break or in the first few weeks of the new year. This year’s VITA-Train includes streamlined modules to make things easier for you and your volunteers. We encourage you to explore each module.

For future upgrades, you can expect “VITA-Train On-the-Go”--short video recaps on the biggest bits of each module. We’re also working to include practice returns, scenarios, and more! Thank you for your patience; let’s ride out together!

Updates from the Network

The Earned Income Tax Credit Participation Gap

This resource is the product of the EITC outreach focus group discussions conducted as part of the Ensuring and Expanding Access to Tax Preparation Services project, produced with generous support from the Rockefeller Foundation. It highlights key strategies identified by the group that VITA programs can employ 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

These case studies 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.

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 for engaging student volunteers that the group identified.

VITACon Materials
Check out the Virtual VITACon page 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!

Help Wanted: TaxSlayer State Guide
GetYourRefund and Prosperity Now need your help to fill out a state tax guide. This quick guide 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. We thank you for your help on this effort.

CBPP Outreach Materials
CTC outreach toolkit: Includes messaging, three partner social media toolkits and more.

Toolkit for Stimulus Check Outreach to Immigrant Families: 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. This toolkit can also be used 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.

Custody and CTC: How to help clients if the wrong parent or guardian has claimed the advance CTC payment.

CFPB Resources

Your Guide to Economic Impact Payments: A complete guide to the COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments (EIPs). Now available in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog languages.

Advocacy Updates

The Build Back Better Act is quickly moving through Congress. This is our chance to lift millions of children and workers out of poverty, ensure communities have access to safe, affordable housing and provide support to small businesses owned by people of color. The Build Back Better Act can make these priorities a reality, but we need your help today. The House passed this bill last month, and we're calling on the Senate to pass the bill before the year ends.

Join us in calling on the Senate to:

Permanently expand the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit to help lift low-income children—particularly Black, Latinx and Indigenous children—as well as childless workers out of poverty.

Invest in affordable housing through rental and down payment assistance, increasing affordable housing stock and funding community development financial institutions (CDFIs).

Tools and Information for the Field

Updates 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. You’ll be able to find more about the launch and any limitations going forward on the TaxSlayer VITA/TCE blog.

IRS SPEC Partner Webcast Schedule

Click here to get the full 2022 schedule for IRS SPEC Partner Webcasts to ensure that you stay up-to-date on the latest news and resources from IRS SPEC.

Zip Code-Level Data Now Available

The 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 (CTC) 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 seeking to sign up non-filers for monthly CTC payments. This ZIP Code-level analysis is available here.

TaxSlayer Support Info:

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

Phone: 1-800-421-6346

Email: [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 for important software updates.

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

TaxSlayer Suggestion Box

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. Your feedback is needed for both federal and state returns, as well as reports.

Learning
Opportunities

Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Tax Season Kick Off: 2021 Tax Season
January 19 | 2 – 3:30 PM ET
Another tax season is upon us! As we prepare for the ups and downs of the tax year, join TON for an interactive conversation featuring some key national partners including TaxSlayer. We’re excited to bring these experts to you. In addition, we want to hear from your perspective on training, site preparation, and balancing your Virtual VITA and other forms of service delivery. You will not want to miss out on this conversation!

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

Recent Webinars and Events

Key Elements of Success for Engaging Student Volunteers

Representatives from higher education, VITA programs and the IRS shared perspectives on reaching and engaging student volunteers in the VITA program. This 60-minute interactive conversation also highlighted the new Key Elements of Success resource released by Prosperity Now.

CTC Navigator Trainings:
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 non-filer tool and how to support people using it.

VITA Offseason Prep: Tax Law Updates
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
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.

1. Mapping Influence: Understanding Who and How to Engage for Change

2. Successful Allyship in Grassroots Advocacy

3. Advocating for Equity-centered Policies

The ARPA Opportunity Webinar
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 begin virtual advocacy, but don’t know how to start? To find resources for effective advocacy at every level, visit our Prosperity Now Advocacy Toolkit.

How Tax Policy Can Help Low-Income Americans’ Pandemic Plight

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.