1 AARP Tax-Aide Regional Meeting October 2009. 2 Presentation Overview Agenda Topics 2010 Filing Season Overview Key 2010 Filing Season Enhancements New.

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AARP Tax-Aide Regional Meeting

October 2009

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Presentation Overview

Agenda Topics 2010 Filing Season Overview Key 2010 Filing Season Enhancements

New Tax Law Training & Tools Quality Improvement Process

Technology Updates TaxWise Software Computers for Volunteers

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AARP Accomplishments

2009/2008 Comparison FY 2009(Data through 4/30/09)

FY 2008*(Includes ESP Returns)

% Growth

Total Paper 83,808 206,767 -146.7%

e-file “returns accepted” 1,390,594 1,513,960 - 8.8%

e-file rate 93.4% 88% 6.1%

Total Returns 1,474,402 1,720,727 -16.7%

E-file Reject Rate 6.8% 7.5% -10.2%

SS Pin Usage 132,640 or 12% 20,761 or 1.4% -84%

Practitioner PIN Usage 791,456 or 72% 1,489,077 or 98.6% 47%

Total PIN Usage 83.6% 99% 15%

Direct Deposit Usage 500,490 or 36% 394,285 or 26% 21.2%

Primary/Secondary 60+ 899,614 or 65% 1,024,617 or 68% -13.9%

Total EITC Dollars $200,138,473 $185,789,739 7.2%

State Returns 1,076,248 1,028,864 4.4%

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2010 Filing Season Overview

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2010 Filing Season Key Issues

SPEC Is Aware of and Planning For: Impact Continued Economic Turmoil Will Cause

at Sites Increased Taxpayer Demand Decreasing Partner Capacity

Angst and Frustration generated by Political or Public Policy Debates among Volunteers and Taxpayers

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IRC Section 7216 SPEC and All Partners Agree Safeguarding

Taxpayer Data is Paramount SPEC is keenly aware of the Impact IRC

7216 has on Site Operations Changes to IRC 7216 Requirements are

Responsibility of Treasury Department Status of Updated Regulations

- Under Review

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Financial Education & Asset Building (FEAB)

SPEC will be searching for Viable Financial Options to provide Taxpayers an Opportunity to increase Financial Stability

Key Aspects for 2010 Assist Partners to Fill Gaps Gather Best Practices Educate Internal Workforce

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Financial Education & Asset Building (FEAB) (con’t)

US Savings Bond Initiative US Savings Bonds can purchased direct via

Form 8888, Using Split Refund 2010 Filing Season Limited Options

Purchase through 1040 only for Taxpayer Must Have Bank Account for Refund Balance

Will Collaborate on Efforts to Promote

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American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Major Effort throughout IRS to Educate Taxpayers on the Beneficial Provisions of ARRA through all of 2010 Making Work Pay Credit Sales Tax Deduction for New Vehicles Residential Energy Tax Credits First Time Homebuyer’s Credit

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Tax Law Changes High Probability of Late Breaking Tax Law

Changes Look to November or even December

Timeline for Changes Will Work Diligently to get Augmented

Training Materials to Field Timely E-Learning will be Key for Last Minute

Updates

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2010 Filing Season New Tax Law

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2010 Enhancements – New Tax Law

Filing Season 2010 Training Products American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

of 2009 (ARRA) impacted Individuals and Families

Volunteer Training Materials Updated with ARRA provisions

Other Tax Law Changes for TY2009 incorporated into Volunteer Training Materials

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Scope Changes for 2010 Filing Season

American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Topics

Making Work Pay Credit Economic Recovery Payment Special Credit for Certain Government

Retirees First-time Homebuyer Credit

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American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Topics (con’t)

Sales Tax Deduction for New Vehicle Purchase

Temporary Increase in Earned Income Credit

Temporary increase in refundable portion of Child Tax Credit

American Opportunity Tax Credit (Expanded Hope Education Credit)

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Scope Changes for 2010 Filing SeasonARRA Topics (con’t)

Portion of Unemployment Compensation Tax-Free

Residential Energy CreditsOther New Topics

Revised Definition of a Qualifying Child New Rules for Children of Divorced or

Separated Parents

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Other New Topics IRAs and Other Retirement Plans - Temp

Waiver of Required Minimum Distributions Decreased Estimated Tax Payments for

Qualified Individuals With Small Businesses TY 2009 Indexing Changes Limited flow through income items from

Schedule K-1s (Form 1041, 1065, & 1120S) in-scope as Advanced Topic

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Scope Changes for 2010 Filing SeasonNew Forms and Schedules

Schedule L (Form 1040A or 1040), Standard Deduction for Certain Filers

Schedule M (Form 1040A or 1040), Making Work Pay and Government Retiree Credits

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For more information on ARRA and other Tax Law Changes for Tax Year 2009 visit IRS.gov. The following are links for quick access:

www.irs.gov – ARRA Information Center (on irs.gov)Publication 553 - Highlights of Tax Changes –

Includes 2008 and 2009 changes

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2010 Filing Season New Products

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2010 Enhancements – Training Products

Filing Season 2010 Training Products Interview and Quality Processes are still Central Focus Practicing Return Preparation (paper or electronic) is still

critical Link & Learn Taxes

Enhanced with more PBT methods and improved navigation features

Translated into Spanish and Chinese Includes Updated Version of Electronic Tax Software

Practice Lab

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Access to the Practice Lab Lessons Learned Upgrades

Delivery only after IRS has confirmed all calculations

Print capabilityWindows platform required – not compatible

with Macs Users can augment classroom training by creating

tax returns based on the Workbook Problems and Exercises in Pub 4491-W

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Product Ordering – CAPS Electronic Ordering Process ContinuesCurrently verifying e-mail and physical

addresses, closing inactive accounts, etc.SPEC & AARP Tax-Aide working together to

update CAPS database to ensure correct person receives the 2009 E-Order forms E-mail addresses will not be re-purposed

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Advance Copy of Training Materials Shipped in October to addresses furnished by

National AARP Tax-Aide Advance copy will include the following products:

Pub 4555 – Instructor Guide - Student Text Embedded Pub 4491-W, Comprehensive Problems & Exercises Pub 4012 – Volunteer Resource Guide Form 6744 – Student Test/Retest (Booklet)

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

ARRA Marketing and Outreach Products

ARRA Marketing Flyers and Posters – ARRA topics covered to date include Pubs 4772/4768 - Education, Pubs 4773/4777 - Energy, Pubs 4771/4775 - First-time Homebuyer, Pubs 4767/4776 - Making Work Pay, and Pubs 4770/4774 - Vehicle Deduction

Pub 4751 & 4751SP, $250 Economic Recovery Payment

Pub 4766, Making Work Pay and Form W-4

Pub 4780, Making Work Pay Tax Credit

Pub 4787, Overview of Key Individual ARRA Provisions

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2010 Filing Season Quality Changes

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FY 2010 Quality Changes

Worked with AARP to Update IRS Intake/Interview & Quality Review Sheet (Form 13614C)

Developed Electronic Training Course for Form 13614C in Link & Learn Taxes

Created Form 13614C Site Poster for volunteers and taxpayers

Use of IRS Form 13614C required for VITA or TCE Grant Agreements

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FY 2010 Quality Changes

Enhanced Quality Site Requirements QSR #1 requires Volunteer Certification &

Volunteer Agreement Signature QSR #3 includes Volunteer Alerts & AARP

Cyber Tax MessagesIncreased number of QSS Reviews

State Coordinators to Get ResultsDiscontinuance of SPEC Shopping Visits

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Software Updates

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TaxWise Software2010 Orders

Requests for TaxWise will be accepted

Oct 13, 2009 through Jan 29, 2010First Order to the Vendor - Nov 2, 2009TaxWise Desktop orders placed by Oct 28

will begin shipping Thanksgiving week TaxWise Online orders will be available

early December

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TaxWise SoftwareTraining

All TaxWise Training will be delivered by recorded web sessions – located on the Practice Lab of Link & Learn TaxesTaxWise Desktop Admin/trouble-shootingTaxWise Online Admin/trouble-shootingTaxWise Desktop/PBT for PreparersTaxWise Online/PBT for PreparersReports/Refresher/New Tax Law

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TaxWise SoftwarePlanned Changes for FS 2010

AARP will be participating in beta testing again this year.

No longer supports Windows 200032-Bit & 64-Bit CompatibleNew enforcement for Desktop

passwordsImproved Client/Return List Functionality

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TaxWise SoftwarePlanned Changes for FS 2010

Sorting Return ExplorerAutomatic processing of

AcknowledgementsAddition of a new User GroupWatermarks added to Print PacketsImproved Release Notes

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Hardware Updates

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Computers for Volunteers

Special Thanks to AARP for all of the Technical Assistance

Improvements to IRS loaned equipment programInstituted equipment quality check

processComputer Upgrades/Increased CapacityIncreased communications between

SPEC and the IRS Computer Depot

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5,500 Computers Allotted to AARP in Filing Season 2010

Distribution began August 3 and runs through January 8

Tax-Aide’s portion is 250 per weekDelivered computers will have Internet

Explorer 6.5 loaded. TaxWise disk will include IE 7.0 and upgrading will take less then 10 minutes

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Where YOU can make a difference… Provide accurate contact information Open and test equipment early Know where the equipment is and who is using

the equipment Safeguard equipment/data and protect

passwords Encourage volunteers to backup data daily to

avoid loss of data Notify IRS if equipment is broken, lost or stolen

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Thank you. You are the difference!

1 AARP Tax-Aide Regional Meeting October 2009. 2 Presentation Overview Agenda Topics 2010 Filing Season Overview Key 2010 Filing Season Enhancements New.

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