New from Brookings: Tinkering with the EITC

"While You Were Sleeping: Tinkering with the Earned Income Tax Credit" by Alan Berube, Senior Fellow and Research Director, Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings

"Last week was an active one for America's stealth anti-poverty policy- the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)- though you'd be forgiven for not noticing.  A couple of decisions, made with little fanfare, should have big implications for how low-income taxpayers receive the credit in the future."

Read the article from Brookings....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 12:48 PM - Categories: Press Releases | VITA

Brookings New Factsheet "The Child Tax Credit After ARRA"

Elizabeth Kneebone, Senior Research Analyst, Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution has released "The Child Tax Credit after ARRA: How Would Expiration Affect Metropolitan Families?"

"The Child Tax Credit's $3000 earnings threshold put into place by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is set to expire after tax year 2010.  This factsheet uses our MetroTax Model to estimate the number of working families that would see their Child Tax Credit (CTC) reduced or eliminated if policymakers allow the CTC's earnings threshold to revert to pre-ARRA levels."

Read more....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 9:00 AM - Categories: Press Releases | VITA

Virginia CASH Campaign Results

VACAP is pleased to announce the final free tax preparation results from its 28 coalitions:

• # federal returns filed electronically- 18,511
• # federal returns filed by paper- 893
• Total federal refunds- $25,901,558
• Tax preparation savings- $3,702,200 (approx $200/return)
• # EITC returns- 6,463
• Total EITC refunds- $9,164,155

See more results....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 11:49 AM - Categories: Coalition Partners | Press Releases | VITA

Webinar Highlights Now Posted

The State Information Technology Consortium webinar series from the past tax season is now posted for your viewing and listening pleasure.  You can listen to the webcasts and download the presentations.  Many thanks to all our webinar participants for a successful series.

Read more and listen....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 11:16 AM - Categories: Conferences/Webinars | Financial Education | VITA

Hampton Roads Honors the Memory of STOP President and CEO Edith Jones

"Highly respected, very gifted," Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said.  "Edith Jones was the driving force behind this incredibly important force for good in this community."

Watch video tribute....

Read news article....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 11:20 AM - Categories: Coalition Partners | VITA

2011 Program Overview and Application

The IRS has published the new 2011 VITA Grant Program Overview and Application.  You can download it now at:

2011 VITA Application....

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 9:57 AM - Categories: Coalition Partners | VITA

Free Webinar on May 4th

Join us for the final live webinar of this tax season by clicking here to register

Date:    Tuesday, May 4^th                      

Time:    2:00 – 3:00 pm Eastern

 Title:     VITA Sites and Financial Institutions:  Building and Maintaining Successful Relationships

 Description:

 In this Webinar, Megan Liddle, Coalition Coordinator from the Thomas Jefferson Area United Way VITA site in Charlottesville, VA; Rebecca Cardwell from the UVA Community Credit Union; Dawn Lindley, Director of Marketing and Financial Literacy, Virginia Credit Union League; and Ryan Ammann, Community Development Specialist,  BB&T Bank will describe the how’s and why’s of building and maintaining successful relationships. An interactive Q&A session will follow the presentation.

•  Topics included in the discussion will be: 
• Why include banks/credit unions as coalition partners?
•             How do I approach?
•             How do I ask?
• What services can they provide?
• Is it realistic to open accounts at a tax site?
• Does the bank/credit union offer financial education?
• Do activities happen only during tax season? Why/why not?
• Volunteer recruitment within the bank/credit union.

Posted by Carolyn Spohrer at 7:58 AM - Categories: Coalition Partners | Financial Education | VITA