When asked how tax filers at Georgia VITA sites planned to use the EITC or had used the credit in years past, four out of five respondents talked about using the credit for basic necessities, such as paying for food and household bills. And almost half of respondents discussed making investments in future economic mobility,…
It’s tax season and many households are waiting on their tax refund to pay down debt or for spending on necessities. A recent report from the JPMorgan Chase Institute investigates how tax refunds, as a specific cash infusion, impact the timing of out-of-pocket healthcare spending. Drawing on the JPMC Institute Healthcare Out-of-Pocket Spending Panel data set,…
The Common Cents Lab within the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University has released a new guide for VITA practitioners aimed at improving VITA-related outcomes by recommending interventions based on behavioral science. The Lab, which studies financial decision making, designed the guide to build on existing best practices. It outlines a series of solutions…
The Tax Policy Center’s new report on income volatility finds that the majority of working age adults live in households in which income during at least one month per year will fluctuate significantly (at least 25 percent above or below average monthly income). The percentage of low-income, working-age adults who experience this fluctuation is especially high…
The State of California’s Franchise Tax Board (FTB) recently released a report on the impact of the state’s earned income tax credit (CalEITC). Using data from Tax Year 2015, the FTB found that the CalEITC benefitted approximately 815,000 Californians and together with the federal credit, helped lift approximately 250,000 Californians out of deep poverty. The report…
A recent Tax Policy Center blog post takes a look at early tax filing data from the IRS, which show that fewer tax returns were filed early on in the tax season this year and that average refunds have dropped. As of February 3rd, only 20 million returns were filed in contrast to 27 million the previous…
EITC Awareness Day is coming up on January 27th. Below are some resources to help get the word out: The Taxpayer Opportunity Network and CFED have crafted ways to spread the word about the EITC in 5, 10 and 30 minutes. The EITC Awareness Day Toolkit also includes state-by-state data snapshots and sample social media posts in…
The Tax Policy Center has released a report on the impact of the EITC refund delay mandated by the PATH Act (the Act requires the IRS to delay refunds for tax filers who claim the EITC or additional child tax credit until at least February 15). Using IRS data, a survey of low-income tax filers,…
At the end of last year, Congress passed a tax package that made made a number of vital tax credit provisions permanent, including improvements to the EITC and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The legislation also created new requirements for immigrants who file their taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) for income earned in…
Did you know that EITC recipients may experience a delay in refunds during this upcoming tax season? Last December, Congress made permanent critical improvements to the low-income Child Tax Credit and the EITC that had been set to expire in 2017. The legislation also includes a lesser-known provision that will delay refunds for taxpayers claiming the EITC. Click here…