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Dear John,

3, 2, 1! Happy New (Tax) Year! The IRS has announced that the 2022 filing season will officially begin on Jan. 24. The TON team is working hard to bring you the resources you need for the new filing season, the first of which will be our annual Tax Season Kickoff webinar [[link removed]] on Jan. 19. This 90-minute webinar is an interactive event featuring speakers from IRS SPEC, TaxSlayer and more. The webinar will be recorded, so make sure you register [[link removed]] as soon as possible to get access to the recording.

On Jan. 28, we will celebrate EITC Awareness Day. Be sure to stay tuned for our digital EITC Awareness Day toolkit, replete with resources to help you promote this valuable credit in your community. This digital media toolkit will include sample posts for social media, shareable images, data sheets and more. Keep an eye on your inbox and the Prosperity Now social media feeds to stay up to date.

Ready for the New Filing Season!

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

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,

‘What are you doing for others?'"

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Spotlight: Welcome Graham!

We are excited to share that Graham O’Neill has joined Prosperity Now as the Tax Strategist. In this role, Graham will work closely with TON to identify, develop, support and lead strategies that help millions of empowered low- to moderate-income (LMI) taxpayers leverage the benefits derived from the tax code to increase their financial security.

Before joining Prosperity Now, he was a member of the TON Steering Committee while working as the Director of Partnerships & Virtual Tax Operations at Campaign for Working Families. In that role, he worked to expand the organization's ability to provide free, high-quality VITA tax preparation services. Graham also served as the Administrator of Taxpayer Assistance & Credit Programs for the Philadelphia Department of Revenue, Benefits Access Coordinator for the Philadelphia Office of Community Empowerment and in several roles at the benefits access non-profit Benefits Data Trust.

Welcome to the TON Team, Graham!

Updates from the Network

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

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, with generous support from the Rockefeller Foundation. It highlights key strategies that VITA programs can use to identify and encourage EITC-eligible populations to take up this major anti-poverty program.

VITA-Train is Here!

This year’s VITA-Train [[link removed]] includes streamlined modules to make things easier for you and your volunteers. We encourage you to explore each module. Feel free to download each module in either PowerPoint or pdf format. Thank you for your continued support for the VITA-Train.

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.

MyFreeTaxes in Spanish

MyFreeTaxes is now in Spanish and can be accessed directly at [[link removed]] or by using the language switcher at the top of the site. FSA users who access the Spanish site will also be connected to TaxSlayer FSA. Once on the TaxSlayer landing page, users can toggle the TaxSlayer page to Spanish and experience a complete, end-to-end Spanish filing process.

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.

CBPP Outreach Materials

CTC outreach toolkit [[link removed]]: Includes messaging, three partner social media toolkits and more.

Toolkit for Stimulus Check Outreach to Immigrant Families [[link removed]]: 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 [[link removed]]: How to help clients if the wrong parent or guardian has claimed the advance Child Tax Credit (CTC) payment.

Get It Back Campaign Materials

The Get it Back Campaign has released two new toolkits to promote the EITC and CTC. Toolkit resources include messaging and earned media, social media posts, flyers, mailers, and newsletter, call and text scripts. Find everything at: TaxOutreach.org/Coronavirus [[link removed]].

CFPB Resources

Your Guide to Filing Your Taxes in 2022 [[link removed]]: These resources include all things tax from the expanded Child Tax Credit, Economic Impact Payments and ways to file. These are ideal as a client-facing resource, so check it out today.

Tools and Information for the FieldUpdates from the IRS and SPEC

Filing Season Dates Announced [[link removed]]: The IRS has announced that the tax season will start on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. The filing deadline to submit 2021 tax returns or an extension to file and pay tax owed is Monday, April 18, 2022, for most taxpayers.

IRS News Releases:

IRS issues information letters to Advance Child Tax Credit recipients and recipients of the third round of Economic Impact Payments; taxpayers should hold onto letters to help the 2022 Filing Season experience [[link removed]]

2022 tax filing season begins Jan. 24; IRS outlines refund timing and what to expect in advance of April 18 tax deadline. [[link removed]]

Final Deadline to order TaxSlayer Software is January 27th!

Please place your order through your Relationship Manager by COB on January 27th, 2022. Any sites that do so can expect to have the software delivered by February 1st, 2022.

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.

IRS SPEC Partner Webcast Schedule

Click here [[link removed]] 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 For Outreach

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 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 [[link removed]].

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 [[link removed]] for important software updates.

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 reporting.

Learning

OpportunitiesUpcoming Learning Opportunities

Improving Economic Security Through Tax Credits Awareness [[link removed]]

Jan. 18 | 1 – 2 p.m. ET

This webinar, co-hosted by the EITC Funders Network, Community Foundation Opportunity Network and the Community Foundations Leading Change, encourages outreach with workers and families who do not know they are eligible for the expanded tax credits or how to file their taxes in non-predatory settings. This webinar is ideal for the upcoming EITC Awareness Day.

Tax Season Kick Off: 2021 Tax Season [[link removed]]

Jan. 19 | 2 – 3:30 p.m. 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 learn 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.

Tax Time Opportunities to Volunteer and Help Consumers #GetBanked [[link removed]]

Jan. 20 | 1 – 3 p.m. ET

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) hosts this webinar to promote opportunities to provide free tax assistance to low- and moderate-income (LMI) households and to get more Americans banked during tax season. Presenters will provide an overview of the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Tax Time Savings (TTS) Cohort.

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

Recent Webinars and Events

Key Elements of Success for Engaging Student Volunteers [[link removed]]

As mentioned previously, 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 [[link removed]] resource released by Prosperity Now.

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 learn 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 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 (ARPA). Topics covered include the role of FinTech, financial security and more.

Virtual Advocacy Toolkit [[link removed]]

Want to begin 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.

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