Time Savings October 4, 2017 10-11:30 am PT/ 1-2:30 pm ET Welc - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Connecting Your Clients to Savings: Promoting Tax Time Savings

October 4, 2017 10-11:30 am PT/ 1-2:30 pm ET

Welc lcome

Fr Fran Ros

• sebush Ba

Baylo lor

Director, Field Engagement Prosperity Now

Housekeeping

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Prosperity Now’s mis ission is to ensure everyone in

• ur country has a

clear path to financial stability, wealth and prosperity.

To connect, strengthen and inspire community tax programs so that they can … ✓ More effectively & efficiently deliver critical tax assistance ✓ Couple that assistance with other financial capability services ✓ Advocate for fairer tax policy

• Welcome from Taxpayer Opportunity Network
• Update from the Tax Time Financial Capability Working

Group

• Sharing of the CFPB’s Promising Practices for Tax Time

Savings

• Release of the new Prosperity Now Tax Time Savings Toolkit
• Q & A

What’s in store for today?

Today’s Speakers

Reb ebecca Th Thom

• mpson

Project Director Taxpayer Opportunity Network Prosperity Now

St Steve Ho Holt

Consultant Taxpayer Opportunity Network Prosperity Now

Today’s Speakers

Da Dave Siem Siemin inski

Policy Analyst Office of Financial Empowerment Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

St Stephanie ie La Landry

Program Manager, Savings & Financial Capability Prosperity Now

Welcome fr from Taxpayer Opportunity Network

Reb ebec ecca Thompson

Project Director, Taxpayer Opportunity Network

Prosperity Now

Do you offer additional financial capability services at your tax sites?

• Yes
• No
• Not applicable/unsure

Poll Question

Update from the Tax x Tim ime Fin inancia ial Capabilit ity Workin ing Group

Steve Ho Holt lt

Consultant

Taxpayer Opportunity Network

Tax Time Financial Capability – 3 Essentials

1) Prioritize financial capability activities 2) Build financial capability culture 3) Invest in financial capability culture

Essential #1

Prioritize Financial Capability Activities

Field as a whole can make determination along 2 axes:

1) Value of the financial capability activity to VITA taxpayers 2) Suitability of financial capability activity to tax time moment

Field-Wide Prioritization Matrix

HIGH value to taxpayer LOW suitability to tax time

HIGH value to taxpayer HIGH suitability to tax time

LOW value to taxpayer LOW suitability to tax time LOW value to taxpayer HIGH suitability to tax time

Essential #1 Prioritize Financial Capability Activities

Building off field-wide priorities, programs can assess & target locally along 2 additional axes:

1) Taxpayer interest 2) Site capability (which includes volunteer interest)

Local Prioritization Sub-Matrix

HIGH taxpayer interest LOW site Capability

HIGH taxpayer interest HIGH site capability

LOW taxpayer interest LOW site Capability LOW taxpayer interest HIGH site capability

Essential #1 Prioritize Financial Capability Activities

A good local process:

1) Assessing specific environment 2) Targeting how to increase taxpayer interest and/or site capability 3) Evaluating changes in environment over time

Essential #2

Build Financial Capability Culture

Foundational assumptions:

1) All taxpayers are capable of participation 2) Taxpayers are the decision makers

Essential #2

Build Financial Capability Culture

Change principles:

1) Value of financial capability activity must be salient to taxpayers 2) Value of financial capability activity must be salient to staff & volunteers 3) Culture change takes time

Essential #2

Build Financial Capability Culture

Operational guidelines:

1) All functions at site relate to promoting financial capability 2) All program personnel have role in promoting financial capability 3) Fun matters

Essential #3

Invest in Financial Capability Culture

Staffing:

1) Create/maintain dedicated financial capability staffing function 2) Involve site managers early & often

Essential #3

Invest in Financial Capability Culture

Training:

1) Make financial capability salient for all staff & volunteers 2) Highlight respective roles everyone plays

Essential #3 Invest in Financial Capability Culture

Communication:

1) Highlight financial capability opportunities to taxpayers in advance of tax season 2) Keep staff & volunteers apprised of financial capability successes 3) Reinforce financial capability themes after tax season

Essential #3 Invest in Financial Capability Culture

Evaluation:

1) Commit to effort required to collect relevant data 2) Do not let data sit dormant but use to assess & change

How do you encourage taxpayers to save a portion of their refund? (Check all that apply.)

• Split refunds
• Dedicated staff or volunteer position
• SaveYourRefund Promotion
• Other Incentives (share in the comment box!)
• We don’t actively encourage saving

Poll Question

CFPB Tax Tim ime Savings In Init itia iative

David Sieminski Policy Analyst Office of Financial Empowerment Consumer Financial Protection Bureau david.sieminski@cfpb.gov

▪ The CFPB has prepared these materials as a resource for tax preparers. This material is provided for educational and information purposes only. It is not a replacement for the guidance or advice of an accountant, certified financial advisor, or otherwise qualified professional. ▪ This document was used in support of a live discussion. As such, it does not necessarily express the entirety of that discussion nor the relative emphasis of topics therein. ▪ This presentation includes references to third-party resources or content that consumers may find helpful. The inclusion of references to third-party sites does not necessarily reflect the Bureau’s endorsement of the third-party, the views expressed on by the third party, or products or services offered by that party. The Bureau has not vetted these third-parties, their content, or any products or services they may offer. There may be other possible entities or resources that are not listed that may also serve consumer needs.

Disclaimer

CFPB Tax Time Savings Vision Savings outreach and education to consumers at tax time should be available across all service and product platforms - both commercial and VITA.

2017 CFPB Tax Time Savings Initiative Results

58 Programs participated / 45 programs provided results ▪ 255,782 consumers were provided with free tax preparation services ▪ 187,941 consumers had their taxes prepared at a site using CFPB information; ▪ 140,308 consumers received a refund; Of those;

 54,857 claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit  93,525 used direct deposit to receive their refund  3,179 (2%) used Form 8888 to split their refund  545 (.4%) purchased U.S. Series I Savings Bonds  44 deposited some of their refund into a myRA account.

Support Activities in 2017

▪ One-on-one technical assistance calls with participating sites ▪ Group discussions with sites around specific topics ▪ Site visits with four participating organizations ▪ Online survey of site leads (45 responses) ▪ Four focus groups with site leads ▪ Online survey and focus groups for staff and volunteers ▪ End of tax season convening

Implementation of CFPB Promising Practices

Promising practices to encourage saving

Helping Tax Filers Choose to Save 1. Communicate with consumers about saving before they come to the tax site 2. Offer saving choices more than once at the tax site 3. Provide multiple product choices for saving 4. Use “anchoring” and prompts to help consumers focus on a savings goal 5. Don’t overwhelm consumers by offering too many different types of services 6. Provide incentives, including non-financial rewards, to encourage saving 7. Make saving fun and exciting Training and Motivating Staff and Volunteers to Help Tax Filers to Save 8. Build commitment among staff and volunteers to encourage saving 9. Make sure tax preparers know how to help consumers save while filing

• 10. Dedicate staff or volunteers to encourage saving

• 8. Build commitment among staff and

volunteers to encourage saving

Benefits

▪ Key personnel have a common sense of mission beyond tax preparation ▪ Team efforts are generally more efficient and productive ▪ Coordinated approach helps to smooth client flow at the tax site

2017 Cohort approaches

▪ Recruit staff and volunteers already committed to providing financial education or other financial empowerment strategies ▪ Provide added education and training to team on challenges of asset poverty and benefits of tax time saving ▪ Provide talking points that help team feel comfortable about having saving conversations with clients

• 9. Make sure tax preparers know how to

help consumers save while filing

Benefits ▪ Volunteers are better able to navigate tax preparation software to execute on client savings goals ▪ Volunteers are better prepared to meet client needs and wishes ▪ Volunteers have more comprehensive information about saving

• ptions

2017 Cohort approaches ▪ Used already trained financial specialists as tax prep volunteers ▪ Provided enhanced saving training in addition to tax prep training ▪ Incorporated saving into mock and practice returns prior to tax season

• 10. Dedicate staff or volunteers to encourage

saving

Benefits

▪ Takes burden of additional tasks off of the tax preparation volunteer ▪ Allows the dedicated staff member or volunteer to develop a relationship and build trust with client ▪ Focused tasks for each volunteer or staff person helps to smooth client flow at the tax site

2017 Cohort approaches

▪ Use trained financial coach as dedicated savings staff person ▪ Provide enhanced saving training to existing support staff such as greeter or intake specialist

Plans for 2018 Tax Season

▪ Recruit approximately 70 VITA Programs for large scale demonstration ▪ Collaborate with TON, CEP, CBPP, and Prepare and Prosper

• n training content and delivery

▪ Increase engagement with AARP TCE, and programs serving people with disabilities ▪ Enhance Technical Assistance ▪ Deliver new planning tools * ▪ Expand measurement of savings behaviors * ▪ Enhance data collection * ▪ Hold end of tax season convening

2018 Planning Tools Enhancements

▪ Anchoring messages worksheets ▪ Messaging triangle to develop communications plans ▪ Taxpayer experience mapping ▪ Implementation outline and detailing tools ▪ Effort to impact matrix

2018 Data collection enhancements

▪ Support demonstration programs to add savings behavior questions to preparer use fields in software ▪ Pilot questions from Household Financial Survey with 4 to 6 sites ▪ Incorporate Financial Well Being scale into HFS pilot sites ▪ End of tax season focus groups with site managers, volunteers and staff

How do you measure the number of taxpayers who save through your program? (check all that apply)

• Number of Form 8888s filed
• Custom Questions (or Preparer Use Fields)
• Manual Count
• Other (share in the comment box below)
• We don’t track our savers

Poll Question

Tax Time Savings Toolkit

Reb ebec ecca Thompson

Project Director, Taxpayer Opportunity Network

Prosperity Now

• Emergencies
• Goals (Short-term & Long-term)
• Lump Sum

Why Savings, Why Tax Time

• VITA = Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
• # 1 Volunteer Need = Tax Preparers
• Encouraging Saving can be an “after thought” –
• nly discussed at the end of the tax hour
• Volunteers need help to know how to talk about

savings

Why This Toolkit

• Easy to use; Plug-and-Play
• Can be distributed to volunteers electronically
• < 30 minutes of your in-person training

By Design

• Made possible with the generous support of Capital One
• Developed and produced with the collaborative effort and

support of partners:

• Tax Time Financial Capability Working Group Members
• Barbara DelBene, TON Consultant
• Sarah Ellis & Taylor Spangler, UF IFAS/Extension
• Northern VA Cash & Fairfax County Government (filming location)

Thank You!

How do you train volunteers and staff to

• ffer additional financial capability

services?(check all that apply)

• In-person
• Online
• On-site training
• Other (share in the comment box below)
• No additional training provided

Poll Question

Let’s Start a Conversation about Saving

Step ephanie ie La Landry ry Program Manager, Savings & Financial Capability Prosperity Now

The Process

10/4/2017 49

Q & A

What questions do you have? Share them in the Questions box!

Thank You!

https://prosperitynow.org/start-savings-conversation-toolkit-vita-volunteers