EITC Moves Families from Crisis to Opportunity

For more than 20 years, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs have assisted individuals with low to moderate incomes file their tax returns at no cost.

IRS–certified volunteers have helped return more than $1 billion in tax refunds to people in low–income communities. These volunteers ensure that clients claim tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Tax Credit, the Elderly Tax Credit, and the Child Dependent Care Tax Credit. VITA sites also offer financial services that help tax filers eliminate debt and increase savings.

New Life Corporation, headed by Ariel Martinez, is the lead organization for the Coalition for Working Families, which runs the VITA program in New Haven and West Haven. Last year, the agency helped 2,000 filers obtain $1.3 million in EITC returns and more than $3 million in federal returns. It also saved clients over $515,000 in preparation fees that normally would have been paid to commercial preparers. At the close of the most recent tax season, the Coalition estimates that it helped 2,699 working families secure more that $6.6 million in Earned Income Tax Credits and other federal refunds. New Life also reached out to low–income filers who may not be citizens to help them secure an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), so that they are able to legally pay their income taxes.

Since 2003, VITA and EITC work have been essential elements of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s National Tax Assistance for Working Families Campaign. The Foundation believes the children in greatest trouble in America today are those whose parents lack the earnings, assets, services and social support systems required to consistently meet their families’ needs.