From the Editor

Dear John,

Happy New Year from your friends at the Taxpayer Opportunity Network! Now that we’ve cleaned up the confetti, we’re ready to dive into the filing season! Be sure to mark your calendars for January 27 for the official opening of the filing season! These next four months will be a whirlwind for the community tax preparation field and we’re here to help.

From weekly Tax Prep Dispatches covering the most pressing quality review topics to the Tax Roundtable listserv to connect you to your tax preparation peers, being a member of the Taxpayer Opportunity Network is a great way to arm yourself with the knowledge and know-how needed for the upcoming filing season.

Later this month, we invite you to join us in raising awareness about the availability and value of the EITC on Friday January 31, EITC Awareness Day. We’ll share key messages and sample social media posts, as well as opportunities for you to reach out to your local, state and federal policymakers to share the importance and value of the EITC in your community and asking for their support for a stronger credit.

Be on the lookout for the EITC Awareness Day toolkit…coming soon!

Please be sure to share our newsletter and invite your partners to join the Taxpayer Opportunity Network to stay engaged with us throughout 2020!

Looking forward to a fantastic filing season!
Rebecca M. Thompson
Project Director, Taxpayer Opportunity Network

"You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending."

C.S. Lewis

Spotlight: EITC Awareness Day

EITC Awareness Day is January 31! VITA veterans and newbies alike know how important the EITC can be for the millions of low- and moderate-income families that receive this powerful credit. As effective as the EITC is, nearly 1 in 5 of those eligible for the credit don’t claim it and younger workers and those without children are either ineligible or only receive a small credit. EITC Awareness Day is here to promote the value of the EITC and encourage all who are eligible to claim the credit. To celebrate EITC Awareness, we will be sharing an online toolkit complete with social media messages, EITC data sheets, shareable images and more! Be sure to keep an eye out for the toolkit later this month!

As a part of this celebration, we’ll need your help to collect stories on the importance of the EITC and the value it brings to families in your community! Do you have stories of the people you serve showcasing the efficacy of the EITC? Maybe one of your first-time clients just realized that they can claim the EITC which helped them pay off some of their bills after a long winter. Whatever the story is, we want to hear it! Please email us at [email protected] and we’ll be sure to share those stories on our social media as a part of our EITC Awareness Day celebration!

Updates from the Network

America Saves Week 2020 is OPEN!
If you've participated in past America Saves Weeks, you know first-hand the impact that we can make by joining together. We're confident that America Saves Week 2020 is going to be the most impactful ever—but we need your support and participation to make it happen! Sign up for America Saves Week 2020!

The Tax_Roundtable Has Moved!
With the shutdown of Yahoo Groups, we moved the Tax Roundtable listserv to our new home at Groups.io! You can join the new listserv here!

New CFPB Report Released
The CFPB has released a new paper following its Tax Time Savings cohort of 75 VITA programs from 33 states and Washington, DC. This paper covers the newest findings from the cohort and the types of tools, resources and training that are on the cutting edge of the tax-time financial capability sphere.

Self-Employment Tax Calculator
The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities’ Get It Back Campaign and CASH Campaign of Maryland launched a new tool to help self-employed workers calculate their estimated tax payments.

Tools and Information for the Field

Updates from IRS and SPEC

Filing Season Start Announced
IRS has announced the opening of the filing season as January 27! It’s almost here!

TaxSlayer Partner Call Schedule
You can join your fellow tax preparation partners and TaxSlayer representatives to help answer your questions during the filing season.

The call schedule is listed below. Each call will take place from 1-2 PM ET.

January 16, 2020
January 30, 2020
February 13, 2020
February 27, 2020
March 12, 2020
March 26, 2020
April 9, 2020

You can call in with the conference call information:

Toll-free Number: 888-331-8226
Access code: 5538435

Site Coordinator Corner
The filing season is coming soon so be sure to get your site coordinator materials ready by going to the IRS SPEC Site Coordinator Corner here!

IRS SPEC Partner Webcast Schedule
Click here to get the full 2020 schedule for IRS SPEC Partner Webcasts to ensure that you stay up-to-date on the latest news and resources from IRS SPEC.

Reminder: TaxSlayer Suggestion Box
The VITA/TCE Suggestion Box is designed for you to share your feedback and ideas on the software that will assist you in servicing your taxpayers. Click here to submit your suggestions.

Latest Tax Prep Dispatch

What's New with the Forms?
December 5, 2019

What's New?
November 5, 2019

I Hereby Pledge
October 4, 2019

Voter Registration at Tax Time
August 30, 2019

What's Going on with Form W-4?
July 25, 2019

Browse older editions of the Dispatch

Learning Opportunities

Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Making Tax Time Work for Everyone: Strengthening Tax Credits for Working Families
February 6 | 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. | United States Capitol Visitor Center

Prosperity Now and Tax Credits for Workers and Their Families, with the support of H&R Block, will bring together policymakers, tax time researchers and community tax preparers on Capitol Hill for a lunchtime discussion on ways to continue strengthening the tax time moment.

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

Recent Webinars and Events

Don't Spin Your Wheels: VITA-Train Year 2 Launch

The VITA-Train has pulled out of the station! Check out this webinar to get the scoop on the most recent VITA-Train!

Lunch and Learn Series: Volunteer Management Software

Each hour-long session focused on both a peer-led lens and a presentation from the software vendor which culminated in an interactive question and answer session with attendees.

V for Voters and VITA

Find out more about the Voter Filer Registration project and how you can implement it at tax time and your site!