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

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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]