Income
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)/Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
Asset building is becoming an increasingly important issue for Texas communities, and EITC and VITA have been essential components of United Ways of Texas’ comprehensive financial stability strategy for Texas over the past several years.
In 2006, UWT worked with the Internal Revenue Service and Bank of America to organize an EITC day in Houston, bringing in volunteers from across the state to process hundreds of tax returns for survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Through grants from United Way of America and Bank of America in 2007 and 2008, UWT has led a statewide initiative to increase the capacity of local EITC/VITA programs, particularly outside of the larger metropolitan areas. To date, participating communities have included Uvalde, Dalhart, Laredo, Longview, Corsicana and Corpus Christi. Local United Ways in many other communities are also involved in EITC/VITA outreach efforts.
In 2008, UWT and its partners were able to reinvest $115,239,469 into Texas communities through EITC/VITA programs. This large amount was no doubt influential in helping thousands of families take their first steps to financial freedom.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, UWT worked with local United Ways and other organizations in Texas communities to support EITC/VITA programs statewide.
EITC Awareness Day: Governor's Proclamation
Additionally, as a result of United Ways of Texas’ efforts in 2007, Governor Rick Perry declared January 31, 2008 ‘Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day’ in Texas. UWT’s member United Ways launched a statewide media campaign that ultimately increased their local EITC/VITA capacity. United Ways of Texas plans to continue its efforts to increase the breadth and depth of EITC/VITA outreach across the state with the help of its dedicated partners and members.
INCOME INITIATIVE RESOURCES
VITA HOW-TO MANUAL
Eager to get started with financial stability in your community, but not sure where to begin? United Ways of Texas, RAISE Texas, and the Internal Revenue Service - SPEC office have published a new toolkit entitled, "How to Start a VITA Site in Your Community: Bringing More Dollars Into the Local Economy While Supporting Families." The attached toolkit has been developed in order to provide organizations, institutions and collaborations with basic information for what VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) sites are, the basic steps for starting a VITA site and key operational activities necessary to successfuly operate a site.
2010 EITC TOOL-KIT
Is your community planning to participate in EITC outreach during the upcoming tax season? UWT has compiled a helpful tool-kit full of resources to assist members with financial stability work this year.
EITC Press Release Template (Word)
EITC Flyer (PDF)
Do You Qualify (PDF)
EITC FAQ (PDF)
Changes for 2010 (PDF)
Check out the IRS EITC Marketing Tool-Kit! The IRS produced several different marketing pieces for 2010, visit the links below to find resources to use in your community!
IRS Marketing Express, Main Page
TEXAS SAVES TALKING POINTS
Many of you are partnering with Texas Saves to help build wealth in Texas. To that end, we are offering this PDF that outlines helpful talking points with statistics specific to Texas savings assistance. If you aren’t currently working with Texas Saves, this information can still aide your efforts to promote the individual financial education stability initiatives (i.e. financial, education, Earned Income Tax Credit EITC programs, tax return assistance, etc) that are currently ongoing.
MONEY TALKS, HAVE YOU HEARD: EITC ADVICE
We know that many of you have started planning your outreach efforts for the upcoming tax season. This Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website offers helpful advice and breaks down the Earned Income Tax Credit rules so they are easy to understand.
Visit the Money Talks, Have You Heard website