Data Collection Training 2008 Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Campaign Site Coordinator Training January 9 th, 2008 Jennifer Lee Urban Strategies Council

Introduction and Overview General Overview of Data Collection Process Confidentiality Waiver Survey Administration Taxwise Back-Ups & Reports Asset and Operations Data

The Confidentiality Waiver Client receives confidentiality waiver during intake process. Confidentiality Waiver has two purposes: 1. Authorizes release of Tax Return Data to Urban Strategies Council to conduct analysis and improve services 2. Authorizes release of contact information for follow up to additional services requested (e.g. Food Stamps)

The Confidentiality Waiver Confidentiality waiver separate to the IRS Intake form Make sure filer reads and understands the waiver Filer selects “Yes” or “No” to authorize the release of data, prints and signs the waiver with date Waiver Tracking Sheet should be used to keep a record of clients who do NOT want their data backed up; include SSN and date of tax preparation. Keep the survey and waivers on site until the end of tax season; then mail/delivery hard copies to Urban Strategies.

The Confidentiality Waiver

Survey Administration Tax Filers receive hard copy of the survey during the Intake Process (Survey is a separate form) Inform filers of survey purpose: to provide better services in future to help understand clients needs to ensure the program continuation Survey answers will NOT be sent to the IRS – kept confidential; Ask the survey questions one at a time; inform filers of all available response options; filer can refuse to answer a question.

Survey Administration Screeners/Preparers can circle the responses on the hard copy Preparer enters the survey responses into Taxwise Located in the 1040 Individual Form under “Preparer’s Use Fields” Select survey response using drop down menus; questions already programmed by site coordinator Response codes are listed on the survey Questions #1 -8 – One response only Questions #9, 10 - multiple responses optional Select only one response with drop down menu, OR Manually enter multiple response codes, separated by commas Example: 2, 4, 5

Survey Administration Main Information Sheet

Survey Administration Drop Down Menu

Survey Administration Earn It! Keep It! Save It! 2008 Alameda County SURVEY QUESTIONS Please CIRCLE the most appropriate number or letter for the answer. Please circle only one selection for each question (exception: Questions #9, #10). 1. What is your ethnicity? AA African-American CA Caucasian CH Chinese LA Latino/Hispanic NA Native American VI Vietnamese OA Other Asian OT Other DE Decline to answer 2. Do you have a bank account? 1Yes, Checking 2Yes, Savings 3Both, Checking and Savings 4No, but would like one 5No, and not interested 6No, don’t qualify 99 Decline to answer

Survey Administration 7. Do you or anyone in your household have a disability? 1 Yes 2 No 99 Decline to answer 8. Last time you had a financial emergency between paychecks, how did you pay for it? 1Used my savings 2Put it on my credit card 3Borrowed from family/friend 4Took out a payday loan (e.g. from a check cashing ctr) 5Did not address the emergency until I had funds 6Went without food or other necessities to pay for it 99Decline to answer 9.Are you interested in the following services and opportunities? (Multiple responses ok, use “,” to separate) 1 Job training 2 Homeownership education 3 Financial education 4 Small business ownership 5 Planning for an education 6Debt/credit counseling

Survey Administration 10. For tax preparer use only as a prompt to provide additional resources: Yes, I provided the following additional information to the client: (Multiple responses ok, use “, ” to separate) 1Food Stamp enrollment/referral 2Health Insurance 3Alameda County CAN Resource Directory 4Other benefits documentation or referral 5Refund as direct deposit into checking account 6Refund as direct deposit in savings account

Data Back Ups Key Points: Back Up should be performed on a computer that contains all the returns. Back Up is done in the Taxwise under “Tools” menu Only send data for filers who signed Confidentiality Waiver and gave permission to release their tax data. Send data by or copy files to a disk or CD to Urban Strategies Council at end of season ***New sites will send a trial back-up at beginning of the season.

Data Back Ups

Taxwise Summary Reports ALL sites will need to send the following Taxwise reports: Preparer Summary Tax Form by Filing Type ***Located under “Reports List” toolbar. See Data Collection Instructions for detail. Includes “aggregate” data for all filers, regardless of data permission. Does not contain personal information. Save in excel format and send to Urban Strategies at end of season.

Sending Taxwise back ups & reports to Urban Strategies Send back ups by (preferred) or by “snail mail” 1. Please compress or zip the back up files & add password protection (if you have this capability) 2. Snail mail: Save files to disks or CDs; you will need plenty of blank formatted disks; number multiple disks. See “Data Collection Instructions” for specific instructions Final back ups due at the end of tax season: Wed., April 23 rd, 2008

Operations & Asset Building Data General Operations & Asset Building Data are to be collected. An excel spreadsheet is included in your packet, including definitions. Added new site capacity variables: volunteer and staff hours, total hours/days of operation Site Coordinator is responsible for collecting the data Send electronic format please, no hard copies, to Urban Strategies at end of season. Finally…please send hard copies of confidentiality waivers and survey forms at end of season. Thank you!

Questions or Comments? Steve Spiker Urban Strategies Council vitadocs/vitadocs.html