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WEBINAR: Boosting Financial Stability Through Tax Credits – Live Captioning Transcripts>> Welcome to today's REI webinar, Boosting Financial Stability Through Tax Credits. My
name is Elizabeth Jennings. I'm the director of training and technical assistance here at
National Disability Institute. I'm going to be today's moderator. I'm going to invite my colleague
Nakia Matthews to offer a few housekeeping tips before we get started.
>> Thank you, Elizabeth. Good afternoon, everyone. Afternoon everyone. The audio for
today's webinar is being broadcast through your computer. Please make sure that your
headphones are plugged in. You can control the audio broadcast via the audio broadcast
panel which you see below. If you accidentally close this panel or if the sound stops, you can
reopen it by going to communicate menu at the top of the screen and choosing join audio
broadcast. If you do not have sound capabilities on your computer or if you prefer to listen by
phone, you can dial the toll-free number that you see here and enter the meeting code. Please
note that you do not need to enter an attendee ID. Realtime captioning is provided during this
webinar. The captions can be found in the media viewer panel which appears in the lower right
corner of the webinar platform. If you'd like to make the media viewer panel larger, you can do
so by minimizing the chat and command a pic if you do not need the captions, you can
minimize the media viewer panel. We will have time for questions at the end of the webinar.
Please use the Q&A box or the chat box to send any questions you may have during the
course of the webinar to Iser either Elizabeth Jennings or myself, Nakia Matthews, and we will
direct those questions accordingly during the Q&A portion. If you are listening by phone and
not locked into the web portion you may also ask questions by e-mailing is -- Elizabeth directly
at ejennings@ndi-inc.org. The materials will be placed on the NDI website at the URL below. If
you experience any technical difficulties during this webinar, please use the chat box to send
me, Nakia Matthews, a message or you may e-mail directly at nmatthews@ndi-inc.org.
>> Thank you, Nakia. We'd also like to give a special thank you to the sponsors of the Real
Economic Impact network,Walmart, BankofAmerica, Walmart, Bank of America, Acorda
Therapeutics, the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, and the IRS. For those of you
who are new to our webinar, National Disability Institute is a national research and
development organization with the mission to promote income preservation and asset
development for persons with disabilities to build a better economic future for Americans with
disabilities. We invite you if you have not already to join our Real Economic Impact network. It
is an alliance of organizations and individuals dedicated to advancing economic empowerment
of disabilities all coming together to embrace, promote and pursue embrace, promote and
pursue access to and inclusion of people with disabilities in the economic mainstream.
Through the network, network, we provide many things including today's webinar. We also do
a monthly newsletter and we are willing to we're willing to offer technical assistance to you as
you learn and seek ways to implement what you learn through your own services. Today we
are going to talk about tax credit basics including earned incometax credit, Child Tax Credit
and premium tax credit, free filing options, opportunities to improve tax credit outreach
activities, resources to support tax credit outreach and we are going to leave time for questions
and answers. If you have a question that doesn't get answered today or you have a question
after the webinar ends, you're always welcome to reach out to us at NDI. You can reach out to
me, Elizabeth Jennings at ejennings@ndi-inc.org. We're really thrilled today to have with us
two women from the Center on budget and policy priorities, Roxy Caines, the earned income
credit campaign director and zik04, the outreach assistant. We want to give a thankyou to both
of you for joining us today and I thankyou to the Center on budget and policy priorities for their
continued partnership and their strides in this area. Welcome, Roxy and Jeni.
>> Thank you so much for having -- us. Will be going over some of the basics about the tax
credits before turning it over to Janne, who will discuss outreach opportunities and resources
to support your work. First, we'll begin by exploring the earned income credit and the Child Tax
Credit. The earned income credit also known as the EIC and the Child Tax Credit also known
as the CTC are federal tax benefits for lower and moderate income workers including families
and individuals. These credits help to offset income and payroll taxes, supplement wages and
they also provide a work incentive. Later on we'll have a chance to see how a work incentive is
built into the structure of the Earned Income Tax Credit. Some of the key features of these tax
benefits and why they are important is that they help to reduce any taxes that workers may
owe and even if workers don't owe taxes, they still may be eligible for a refund. Some a refund.
Some workers get both the earned income credit and the Child Tax Credit. So these tax
benefits are refundable, which is a very important point to note, how they contrast compared to
nonrefundable tax credits. With a nonrefundable tax credit, let's say for example you have a
nonrefundable tax credit that's worth $1000. And someone owes $300 in taxes. That $300 is
eliminated and then there's a $700 that goes unclaimed and is unused with that nonrefundable
tax credit. Refundable tax credits are different because in that same example with the $1000
refundable tax credit, if someone owes $300, that $300 in income tax liability is eliminated and
that remain than $700, the worker would receive. They would get to keep. This is one of the
reasons why refundable tax credits are so important and why we have an outreach initiative to
help promote them. One way that the credits help boost financial stability is by helping to move
people out of poverty. So in 2013 the earned income credit and Child Tax Credit listed 9.4
million people above the poverty line. This includes 4.9 million children. Research shows that
people who claim these tax credits use them to support themselves and health care for their
families. Popular ways to use refunds from the earned income credit and Child Tax Credit
include paying for child care, rent and utilities, transportation costs, auto repairs,basic needs
including food, food, clothing and shelter, as well as medical expenses. So these credits are
important because they help workers be able to keep working and care for themselves and
their families. So what is outreach actually why is outreach actually needed? When we look at
the earned income credit, we can see that nationally, it is estimated that 7580% of people 75 to
80% of people who are eligible for the earned income credit actually claim it. This means that
20 to 25% of people who are eligible are not receiving this tax benefit. Now, when you look at
the overall take-up rate, it may seem like that's pretty good, to be able to reach 75 to 80% of
people. That 20 to 25% however translates to an estimated -- as much as $10 billion being
unclaimed in earned income credit refunds. So this is money again that is not reaching people
who are eligible for the credit, to be able to use, to support themselves and their families. This
is why outreach is needed. Let's take a closer look at the Earned Income Tax Credit. The
earned income credit is adjusted for inflation each year. For tax year 2014, which is the year
we are currently in and will be filing taxes for next year, this slide shows the maximum amount
that the earned income credit is worth into the right-hand column, the income guidelines in the
middle column and the family structure in the left-hand column. So these are factors that
contribute to determining how much an earned income credit refund is worth. For. For workers
with three or more children, the earned income credit is worth a maximum of $6143. And the
income guidelines in the middle are for single workers. So for someone earning less than
$47,000. For two children, the maximum EIC is $5460. For someone earning about 43,700, for
someone raising one child and earning about 38,500, the maximum is $3305. For workers
without children, earning about $14,600, less than 14,600. The maximum EIC is worth up to
$496. So the income guidelines in the middle column are $5430 higher for married workers
filing jointly. You cannot claim the earned income credit if you file married firing filing
separately. Also to note, is that for workers not raising children, they must be between the
ages of 25 and 64. There are no age requirements for adults claiming the earned income credit
who will be claiming children as well. There are age requirements for the children and we'll
have a closer look at those shortly. And the other consideration in determining eligibility for the
earned income credit is that one cannot have investment income that exceeds $3350. When
we talk about investment income, this would be the interest off of earnings for investment
income pics of not just having something saved away, but any interest off of stocks and bonds
and capital gains distributions for example. So someone has investment income that exceeds
$3350. Even if their income is below these amounts, they would not be eligible to claim the
earned income credit. Another thing to note is that these income guidelines are the maximum
amount. There is not a minimum amount that a minimum amount that one must turn to claim
the earned income credit. For example if someone earns $1, they may be eligible to claim this
tax credit. So this chart shows a little bit of how the earned income credit is a structured. And
how a work incentive is built into the design of this credit. Along the horizontal axis is the
income amount. And the credit amount is along the vertical axis. So here you can see the way
the credit is structured for workers without children, which is represented by the dark blue. One
child is the light blue. The orange color is two children and the light beige color is for three or
more children. So the more you work and the more you earn and travel along that horizontal
axis, the larger your credit amount is. Then it reaches a point where it plateaus and it slowly
declines and phases you out of the earned income credit. It's different from other benefits in
that it doesn't immediately cut you off if you earn $1 more than you did the previous year. This
charge includes a dotted line which represents the guidelines for workers who are married
filing jointly. The earned income credit can be worth even more further states that have a state
earned income credit. 24 states including District of Columbia have a state earned income
credit. State EIC's are a percentage of the federal credit. So this chart shows the percentages
next to each state. Those listed in green are nonrefundable and all of the other states are
refundable credits. So if you live in one of these states, your earned income credit could be
worth even more, by also claiming the state earned income credit. So now let's take a look at
the Child Tax Credit. The Child Tax Credit works first as a nonrefundable credit in that it
reduces or eliminates any income tax old or withheld. Then it works as a refundable credit and
any remaining amount of the Child Tax Credit is provided as an additional Child Tax Credit
refund. The Child Tax Credit -- it structured differently from the earned income credit and here
you can see what the income guidelines are and the value of the credit. So if workers earn
more than $3000, that's when the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit will kick in. It's
worth up to $1000 for each qualifying child. And there is not a maximum of qualifying children
that can be claimed for the Child Tax Credit. This chart shows income guidelines to receive
that maximum benefit of $1000 for each qualifying child. So any earnings that someone may
have beyond this, they still may be eligible for a a Child Tax Credit. It would just be worth a
smaller amount. So let's take a look at eligibility a look at eligibility. There are some similarities
between the earned income credit and the Child Tax Credit. As the name of the earned income
credit notes, you must have earned income to claim these credits. So earned income generally
refers to wages, salaries wages, salaries and tips from a job. It can also include self-
employment, union strike benefits, employer paid disability benefits, and military combat pay.
Earned income does not include nontaxable earned income. It does not include public benefits
including Social Security , SSI and welfare. And it does not include other forms of income such
as unemployment, interest on bank accounts, alimony and child support and investment
income. Now, if someone has a combination of things on the right-hand column and on the left-
hand column, they may be eligible for the tax credits. However, one only has to Social Security
for example as a source of income , they would not be eligible to claim the tax credits if that's
their only source of income. To claim the credits, both working full-time, part-time or self-
employed -- if someone has only worked a couple of a couple of days throughout the year or
works sporadically throughout the year, they may be eligible as well. Again, you can claim.
Again, you can claim the tax credits and receive public benefits, be single or married, raising a
qualifying child, or there's the Earned Income Credit for workers without children. And then
immigrants legally authorized to work can claim both the Earned Income Credit and the Child
Tax Credit as well. For the Earned Income Credit, one must have a Social Security number
that authorizes work. This applies to the worker filing the tax return, a spouse if present as well
as any children claimed as well. For the Child Tax Credit only, immigrants who had individual
taxpayer identification numbers also known as PIMs may also claim the Child Tax Credit and
that applies to both the taxpayer, spouse, and children. The Child Tax Credit is also available
to some noncustodial parents. So the definition of a qualifying child, there are three criteria that
help determine a qualifying child. One is the relationship, two is residence and three is the age
of the child. So these credits can benefit many different types of workers. A qualifying. A
qualifying child includes son, daughter, grandchild, stepchild, adopted child, brother, sister,
stepbrother, stepsister or their descendents as well as foster child placed by a government or
private agency. The qualifying child must live with the worker in the US for more than half of
the year. This time does not have to be continuous at the end of the year however. It must add
up to more than half of the year. And one place where the credits differ is that for the earned
income credit, a child can be under age 19 or under 24 19 or under 24 if they are a full-time
student. They can also be any age if they are considered totally and permanently disabled.
The IRS uses the same definition of having a total and permanent disability as is used for
Social Security disability. For the Child Tax Credit, a child must be under 17. If you are a
qualifying child, you cannot claim the Earned Income Credit for yourself. Also, if if a child is
claimed for both the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit, it is the same worker who
must file for both credits. So one note is that sometimes people are concerned about claiming
the refunds if they are receiving public benefits. So current rules state that the federal tax
refunds not count as income for any program receiving federal funding. Refunds that are saved
do not count against any resource limits or asset tests for 12 months after the refund is
received. So how do the credits work? Let's take a look at some examples. So we have Craig,
who is single and 41 years old. He earned $5000 in 2014. He does not owe any income tax.
Her -- his Earned Income Credit refund is $384. Next we have Maxine. Maxine is a single mom
raising a six-year-old son. She earns $19,000 in 2014. She has $200 in income pass the tax
withheld. Her total Earned Income Credit and Child Tax Credit refund is $4114. So these are
two examples to get an idea of the value of the credit. There are two important things to note
one important that both Maxine and Craig have to do to actually receive these tax refunds.
They had to file a tax return. So that is the requirements to be able to receive these benefits. Is
not an application there's not an interview process. You must file a tax return. If you are
claiming the Earned Income Credit with children, you will also include the schedule EIC. If you
are filing for the Child Tax Credit, you will also include schedule 8812. One thing that is very
key to outreach is that eligible workers can claim the Earned Income Credit and child tax
refund for up to three previous years as long as they were eligible in each of those years. As I
mentioned before, the Earned Income Credit is adjusted for inflation each year. So if someone
met the income guidelines for those previous years, then they can claim those credits as well.
If they didn't file a tax return in the previous years, they would just file one for those tax years.
If someone did file for those previous years and realize is that did not receive the tax credits
and they were eligible for them, then they can amend their tax returns to get those refunds.
Okay. So let's talk about filing for free. So most people when it's time to file a tax return, will go
seek out help from a commercial preparer. 65% of Earned Income Credit recipients use
commercial tax-preparation. There are fees that range depending on the preparer from $85 to
$120 for just the e-filing alone. There are some tax preparers that will add on additional fees
and some will also use what's called refund anticipation loans or refund anticipation checks.
Refund anticipation loans are on the decline. I want to start by saying that if anyone on the
webinar is familiar with refund anticipation loans, they do still exist. So currently, they are very
high interest loans that are arranged by a commercial tax preparer with a payday lender or a
non-bank business. In the past there was an arrangement made with another financial
institution. Currently all financial institutions have pulled out of making these arrangements.
However, commercial tax preparers are finding other ways to offer these routes. And so what
happens is that a client has their taxes prepared, and they receive what the preparer says
there refund will be and the timeline that is quicker than the IRS can actually process the
return. When the IRS does process the return, if they determine the refund amount is less than
what the client already received, it is the client who is stuck paying the difference of the refund
amount that they received and the actual refund as well as paying the interest on this alone.
So they're very dangerous because there's no guarantee that the refund will equal the amount
of the loan. So now more commercial tax preparers are turning to refund anticipation checks ,
which has the commercial tax preparer set up a temporary bank account and have their report
refund deposited their. Once the refund is deposited, they will give the refund to the client,
minus a certain number of fees. The problem with this note the concern is that it's no faster
than direct deposit and still the commercial tax preparer can subtract fees, so it means a
worker will not get the full benefit of their refund. So there are alternatives, Volunteer Income
Tax Assistance which is also known as VITA provides free tax filing services in communities
across the country. There's also a program, Tax Counseling for the Elderly as well, which often
is available in conjunction with AARP TaxAide program that makes free tax preparation
available throughout the country. Another option is MyFreeTaxes.com, which you will hear
about a little later on. So one other important tax benefit is that we have this new tax benefit
called the premium tax credit. This is one of the provisions under the Affordable Care Act that
helps make health insurance available to more people. So the premium tax credit provides
assistance with the cost of healthcare for people who purchase coverage through the health
insurance marketplace. The federal health insurance marketplace or through one of their state
marketplaces. There's an option to receive this credit in advance. And by doing this, the IRS
paysmonthly, a certain portion to the private insurance plan company chosen through the
marketplace and then consumers may have a monthly premium contribution as well. When
they file their tax return,they can reconcile these amounts. Some people will receive a refund.
Premiums are limited to get 2% to 9.5% of family income. Currently we are in the open
enrollment period for health insurance coverage for 2015. It started November 15 and
continues through February 15. It's during this time that people who are uninsured have a
chance to purchase health insurance and may be eligible for the Premium Tax Credits. There
are four primary criteria for eligibility for the tax credit. For the premium tax credit, one is that
someone must be enrolled in a marketplace plan. To is that one must have income between
100% and 400% of the federal poverty line. And with this, there is one exception in that lawfully
present immigrants with income over those under the poverty line are eligible for Premium Tax
Credits, if they are ineligible for Medicaid because of their immigration status. This generally is
that someone has not been in the country for a five-year period. What counts as income when
we're talking about having income 100% to 104% of the poverty line? This is based on
modified adjusted gross income. Modified adjusted gross income is a combination of adjusted
gross income plus nontaxable Social Security benefits, plus tax-exempt interest plus any
excluded foreign income. Now, Social Security payments including disability payments do
count as income. And for the purposes of someone who is applying for health insurance for the
first time and may be eligible for Premium Tax Credits. If one has not actually received a
decision on their disability status, then they should notinclude SSDI in their estimated income.
Only include it if you actually are already receiving it. The remaining criteria for Premium Tax
Credits are that one must have an eligible filing and dependent status. Similar to the Earned
Income Credit, one cannot be married, filing separately. Married filing jointly or single or head
of household, have one of those filing status is. And then one cannot be a dependent to
receive the Premium Tax Credits. Finally, one must be ineligible for minimal essential
coverage which includes most public and employer-sponsored coverage. So just a little bit
more about what is minimum essential coverage?So as of 2014, there is a requirement that
most people must have health insurance. This is identified as minimum essential coverage. It
must be reported on your tax returns. In general, coverage for one day equals covers --
coverage for the entire month. If someone finds they have coverage or there's been changes in
their coverage, in the middle of a month, this is how it's counted. If you have it for one day in
that month, then you have it for the entire month. This chart shows more on what counts as
minimum essential coverage and what does not. In the left-hand column, we can see most
employer-sponsored coverage, individual health insurance and government-sponsored plans
including Medicare, most Medicaid, and chips. In the right-hand box, we see limited benefits
that are not counted as minimum essential coverage. This includes limited benefit Medicaid
plan. So having Medicaid does count as MVC for the most part. If you have a limited Medicaid
benefit plan, then it may not be covered. There is an exemption available for 2014 for some of
these. And after that, one will have to make sure that they have other forms of minimum
essential coverage. So some people who do not have minimum essential coverage for the
entire year will have to pay a penalty to the IRS. And this penalty is enforced regardless of
disability status. And so if someone finds that they do not have minimum essential coverage,
they may be eligible for an exemption from the penalty. There are more than 14 types of
exemptions including low income, Medicaid ineligibility because one state didn't expand,
medical expense debt, unaffordable insurance choices, homeless and ineligible immigrants.
So there's a link here that will allow you to see more of -- on the different types of exemptions
that are available. So another way that health insurance is available in addition to the Premium
Tax Credits is through Medicaid expansion. States that have chosen to expand will now have
Medicaid available primarily to newly eligible adults including parents, whether or not they work
and adults without dependent children. The Medicaid expansion allows people with income
within 138% of the poverty line to be eligible. This chart shows the current lay of the land with
the number of states that have expanded Medicaid and those that have not. So one other tax
benefit that may be of use is the child and dependent care credit. So this tax benefit is a
nonrefundable benefit in that it reduces income tax that one may owe. And it specifically for
any expenses one incurs to care for a child or a dependent with disabilities to be able to work.
The maximum expenses are $3000 for one dependent, and $6000 for two or more. And the
credit is worth a percentage of expenses depending on income. 26 states also have their own
credit and in 12 of the states, the credit is refundable. So now I'm going to turn it over to Janne
to talk more about what you can do now that you know the basics about these tax credits,
who's going -- she's going to share some of the outreach opportunities available.
>> Thank you, Roxy. So I'm sure now you all know about how tax credits work and you can
share with your clients and colleagues. So as an organization serving people with disabilities
you can absolutely help promote the tax credits without being a tax expert. A great way to do
this is to incorporate these outreach activities into your daily work routines and to encourage
your partners to do the same. Finally, you can build partnerships to expand your outreach
efforts. So you can talk to clients about the tax credits when they come in to see you. So you'll
want to have on hand eligibility guidelines, local vital locations and a list of Navigators and
sister agencies in your area who can help clients with the marketplace. How you can do this is
by handing flyers out to clients as they come in, displaying posters in your offices or including
notices in your newsletters that you send out, either the-newsletters or mail. Of these
promotional materials are available on our website, the ITC outreach.org and a link to the VITA
sites in your area. All of these links I'll be discussing in a later slide. So let's go back to the
ACA for a moment. When clients come in, you'll want to make sure that you ask them if they
have health insurance for the year. If they don't have health insurance, you'll want to direct
them to the marketplace or to Navigators and sister agencies in your area. If you look on the
link, local HealthCare.gov, you can go there to find agencies who can help you. If they are
enrolled, check to make sure they know to report income and family changes to the
marketplace. When the family or the income changes, their ACA tax credit may change and
they will want to report that immediately. In addition to sharing tax credit information with your
clients you can also reach out to your colleagues. A great time to do this would be during staff
meetings where you can hand out flyers with more information or include a PowerPoint
presentation. On our website you'll find this PowerPoint available. You can also use technology
to post tax credit information on your intranet or include tax credit information as your EE-
signature and tell coworkers to do the same. We have afew examples here like do you know
about tax benefits for people who work? Or why pay when you can file your taxes for free?
Make sure that you have the information available so you can pass it on to others. You can
also expand your outreach by building partnerships and pooling resources. Informing partner
agencies about the EIC and CTC is very helpful. You can share flyers and promotional
materials with these partner agencies as well as information about the credits. If you are a
nonprofit, you can partner with a VITA site to host a free tax help day and also raise tax credit
awareness. On January 30, of 2015, there is a national he ITC awareness Day. That is a great
time to start using social media to inform people about free tax filing as well as tax credit
awareness. As always, social media is a great tool to get the word out. Okay? So I'm going to
share a few examples of organizations who have reached out to -- done a great job reaching
out to people with disabilities. To start we have Goodwill Hawaii. They conduct a manual
survey to make sure they are addressing all of the accessibility issues in their VITA program.
They host their own VITA services. And they always try their best to make sure that everyone
can access their services. After conducting their annual service -- survey, rather, they started a
shuttle bus program to pick up the clients from where the bus line ended. They've also moved
all of their offices to the first floor to make sure that all clients can access their resources. And
they have a sign language interpreter available for everyone who needs it. They also use NDI's
virtual toolkit to provide sensitivity training to all of their VITA volunteers. The legal aid Society
of greater Cincinnati is another example ofgreat tax credit outreach. They partner with the
Cincinnati speech hearing and deaf Center for three days of free tax preparationto workers
with disabilities. They also have an ASL interpreter available. At their tax sites, they use
dividers to -- for confidentiality for filers. Finally we have Davenport University. In Grand
Rapids. They transport plans to their site from group homes for people with disabilities, and
they also have mobile sites. Where they visit nursing homes to assist taxpayers who cannot
travel to VITA sites themselves. So what are the tax credit outreach resources that you can
use in your outreach? Well, one great way to start off is by connecting with your local tax credit
outreach coalition. These coalitions promote the EIC and CTC to provide free tax preparation
services. A lot of them also focus on asset building and financial education. To see if there is a
partnership in your area, you can go to the website provided there which includes a local
directory of partnerships by state. If you have any trouble connecting with a coalition, you can
contact either Roxy or me pick my e-mail is jhuang@cbpp.org or you can contact Roxy Caines,
her e-mail is caines@cbpp.org and we would be happy to find another contact for you. You
can also contact your IRS territory manager who can provide further information and resources
for you. Another great resource is the REI network virtual toolkit. This toolkit provides disability
awareness training for VITA volunteers and site coordinators. This is available either as EE
training or as a PowerPoint presentation. They have a very comprehensive social media guide.
And finally they have effective outreach strategies from everythingfrom marketing to people
with disabilities to how to use people first language and then financial literacy training. And
again a link is provided there for you to access their resources. If a client comes in who has an
issue to resolve, you can send them to the low income taxpayer clinic. These two have income
eligibility requirements. So you should check up on that, but they can be very helpful. Of these
clinics represent low income taxpayers before the IRS. They can help with audits, appeals and
collection disputes. They are not a routine tax preparation -- they do not do routine tax
preparation. Only go if you bear funded partly by IRS grants. Till -- so to find one, you can go
to the PDF provided below. So finally, we have a list of quick links you can access for more
information on the ACA, on minimum essential coverage, as well as the Earned Income Credit.
And of course you can always go to the national tax credit outreach campaign website, he ITC
outreach.org, for more eat for more resources. You can find all the promotional materials I was
talking about before in different languages to posters and eligibility guidelines and VITA
locations. To access the promotional materials, you'll want to go to the button that says
outreach tools. And then under materials, you will find most of the posters andflyers. So with
that, I will turn it back to Elizabeth.
>> Thank you so much, Roxy and Janne. That was a really great overview, very
comprehensive. I was struck by how much we were able to learn in just 40 minutes. So kudos
to both of you. Thank you so much. So everyone got a good amount of information we wanted
to just make one more suggestion, which is we know that sometimes the funding of your tax
sites can be limited to. And so there's another option for connecting people to free tax filing
through MyFreeTaxes.com. This is just another way that you can offer free tax preparation ,
but maybe for individuals who are at a point where they can do their taxes a little more
independently. This is a free website. There's no gimmick to it. They are not going to get a
pop-up saying now that you have money, why don't you buy this? Nothing of that nature. It's
completely free. And available to anybody sorry, I should have checked -- I believe under
$58,000 this year. Which could include many of the people on-site. Actually it is 60,000 dollars.
Thank you, Nakia. , Nakia. It's a great resource and there is a helpdesk if folks have any
trouble as they are going through the process. So we have lots of time for questions and
answers. So if you haven't had a chance to put your questions in the Q&A box, now is the time
to do that. I'm going to go ahead and get started with some of the questions that have already
come in. So one of the biggest questions we've gotten so far is how do I get a copy of the
PowerPoint? If you haven't had a chance to look in the chat box yet or the Q&A box, the link to
the posting of the PowerPoint is they are. Also, we do have some questions that have come in.
For the taxpayer who is employed and has health insurance, how will he or she proved to the
tax preparer that they have insurance if it is not reflected on their W-2? Great detailed
question.
>> Yes. That's a great question. Thank you for asking. Taxpayers that have health insurance
through their employer are not required to submit any documentation with their tax return for
the next tax filing season. There will be new questions on the 1040. And there is a question
that we'll ask -- did you have health insurance all year? If you did, then you will just check the
box. In future years, employers will be required to send some type of documentation to
employees showing what their health insurance coverage was. For next year, there is not a
requirement for that documentation.
>> Thank you, Roxy. Another question we've received is, I still have individuals on
SocialSecurity who are afraid to file their taxes. Is there anything I can share with them to help
overcome their fear?
>> Okay. So I think one aspect is understanding exactly what the fear is. So having a
conversation would be very helpful in this case. And I would say providing some education on
some of the benefits that are available, depending on if someone has another form of income,
then they would want to file a tax return because they may be eligible for these tax credit
refunds. So that's often a place where people who do have some type of fears about filing tax
returns are able to become more engaged. If you want to send in a little bit more if you do
know what the fears are, then I may be able to share something else with you.
>> Thanks, Roxy. To add to that, on national disability's website, RealEconomicImpact.org, we
have links to our webinars. And we have several webinars that we've done on financial
capability strategies for people with disability's that includes the exact provisional language
from the regulations that say, individuals will not have a negative impact on -- their tax refunds
will not count as income and it will not count as an asset for 12 months. We can also give you
the link fromthe POM, the Social Security policy and operating manual. So people can have
something in writing. So if folks need anything like that, then you are more than welcome to e-
mail into us or to show people how to educate themselves on some of these topics by tapping
into some of the free webinar archives that are already available to them. So Roxanne, Roxy,
can you share a little bit about free file from the IRS?
>> Sure. So free file is a partnership of different tax filing softwareprograms that have entered
an agreement with the IRS to be able to provide their services to taxpayers for free. And each
company has different guidelines and rules in terms of if there are income limits that someone
must meet to be able to use their services. In addition, some of the companies will charge fees
for filing state returns. And some of them don't have fees for certain states. So it is another
opportunity to find free tax filing assistance. And this would be through the computer. It is
something where you do want to look at what each company offers carefully, to make sure that
if you are in a certain state, that he'll be able to file your state return for free without any
additional charges as well.
>> Thank you. The next question is, will taxpayers be informed that they should be receiving a
1095 A?
>> So yes. Taxpayers don't 1095 A form is forpeople who have received health insurance
through the health insurance marketplace. And so if someone has gotten insurance through
the health insurance marketplace, they should receive some type of notification that they
should be receiving this form. If they haven't received the form, there is a way to go to the
website, HealthCare.gov. And there is a link there that will be able to provide people
moredetail. And I believe they are also making available a way where people can download
the forms as well. I'd have to actually double check on the status of that. That is one option that
I know they were intending to make available.
>> Thanks. Sorry for that pause, everyone. I couldn't get my phone off of mute. One more
question is do you know if there will be any new opportunities for savings at tax sites this year?
>> Opportunities for savings at tax sites do include some of the options that have been
available before. So we do have the option to purchase savings funds. As well as to split
refunds. What that means is someone can have their refunds -- split into up to three different
accounts. If someone has a dedicated savings account, or wants to start a savings account,
then they then they can do that and have a portion of their refund also go into their checking
account. So those are the options that will be available again. And at this time, I haven't heard
of something that's completely new that will be offered.
>> Great. Thank you. So we don't have any more questions, but I did want to make one
comment and open it up to Roxy and Janne to see if they had other comments. I wanted to
note that I took a look at the attendance for today pick a lot of you on the line are from disability
organizations and from Workforce centers. So I just want to say a thank you to you , each of
you for joining us today because individuals with disabilities have been noted by the IRS as a
population of people that are still continuing to not claim Earned Income Credit. And so the
power of what you can do in sharing this information with those who serve in guiding them
towards the resources that will best suit them is incredibly powerful. And I want to take a
moment to thank each of you for taking your time to join us. Roxy or Janne, do you have any
final thoughts before I close us out?
>> I would like to thank everyone also for joining this webinar, taking time to learn about tax
benefits that are available. And certainly encourage others to do one thing. I know there's a lot
of information we shared during this webinar. So just take one thing to be able to share with
your community. And I do want to remind people that we do have resources available on our
website. And our new 2015 outreach kit is available as well. So you can find the links and
information online. And if you'd like to receive a printed copy in the mail, you can request that
as well.
>> And Roxy, maybe we'll answer the answer one question before we go. Are there free tax
services available for individuals who operate a business and need to file their taxes?
>> Okay.So that's a good question. It depends on the type of business and the nature of the
business. So there are actually some VITA sites that have been involved in opportunities to
provide free tax filing assistance as well as some coaching and support to certain self-
employed workers. They had to meet some income guidelines and a couple of other
requirements. So in general, self-employment is out of scope for many free tax preparation
sites. And to my knowledge, there's not a specific initiative that is dedicated to providing
freeservices for self-employed workers. There are some VITA sites that do still offer that
assistance. And so maybe later on, Elizabeth, you can send me the location of where that
person is and I can check to see if there is a site where they are?That does offer that service?
>> That would be great. Thankyou so much pick the the person who asked that question, if
you could e-mail me as well as the individual who asked a personal question about the sale of
their home and receipt of SSDI? Please e-mail me. That's ejennings@ndi-inc.org.
>> So on that note of the offer of extended help, as you should need it, we hope that you will
do that. Your reach out to us as you need additional assistance and that you'll join us in 2015
for a new for a new season of webinars offered by the Real Economic Impact network. We do
already plan to have the center back on with us and we look forward to that opportunity. So
another thank you to Roxy and to Janne and all of you for joining us today pick I hope you
have a very happy holiday season and that you'll join us again next year and connect with us
over the holidays. Thanks, everyone. Have a great end of the year.
>> [event concluded]
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