Issue

Idea

Accuracy

• Set and enforce clear guidelines for what types of returns you will and will not complete—for example, setting a rule prohibiting preparing more complex Schedule C or Schedule F returns.

• Use a Quality Review Checklist for each tax return before the customer leaves (see this example).

• Enter information directly from source documents, rather than from intake sheets prepared on site.

• Practice typical scenarios involving who is a qualifying child for EITC with your volunteers.

• “Expect the unexpected” and allow enough time at each appointment to address issues that may come up.

Confidentiality

• Place a paper shredder at every site to dispose of confidential materials—and take one with you if you have a mobile program.

• Limit the transportation of tax documents and files and don’t leave them unattended in cars where they can be stolen.

• Lock tax documents in secure storage at the close of each session.

Site
Management

• Establish a clear set of procedures covering all activities from start to finish of a customer’s visit.

• Measure the time it takes for customers and volunteers to complete each step in your site’s process, add a little extra time for the unexpected, and use the results to help you plan your scheduling.

Customer
Service

• Train all volunteers to provide high-quality customer service.

• Survey or interview customers about their experience and use the results to improve customer service.

Volunteer Management

• Develop job descriptions and a training plan for each volunteer role.

• Create a scheduling checklist that itemizes necessary volunteer roles and use it to ensure you have the staff coverage you need.

• Maintain a log book or database showing which volunteers have been trained for which activities to help match volunteers with necessary roles.

• Recognize your volunteers’ contributions through thank you cards, appreciation events, etc.

Issue

Idea

Volume/
Uptake

• Meet your customers where they work—the workplace is an ideal place to both recruit customers and increase uptake by letting workers know that the EITC and other tax credits are available to them.

• Use payroll stuffers and employee newsletters, and include info with W‑2s to get the word out to workers, especially at firms with large numbers of low-wage workers.

• Offer “Lunch and Learn” workshops for employees year-round so you have a relationship to build on come tax season.

• Consider offering a mobile tax preparation clinic on-site at large employers and community gathering places.

• Enlist your tax-site customers to help you get the word out—give each customer referral “coupons” that their friends and family can bring with them, then, at the close of tax season, award a prize to the person who has referred the most people.

Diversity

• Obtain or create EITC outreach materials in languages other than English that are commonly spoken in your community.

• Distribute outreach materials through places of worship and other gathering spots for diverse cultures in your community.

• Recruit volunteer interpreters and schedule special alternative language days at tax sites.

Scope/
Collaboration/
Linkages

• Build relationships with employers to increase access to their workforce and gain financial support for your programs.

• Work with banks to provide and interpret credit reports for your customers, to open accounts for direct deposit of refunds, and to gain financial support for your sites.

• Link to IDA and homeownership programs and encourage use of refunds to create permanent assets for families.

• Develop partnerships with colleges to offer course credit for students who train and volunteer to do tax preparation.

• Collaborate with financial education programs to market the EITC and your tax assistance programs, and offer financial education workshops at your tax sites.

• Join forces with your local Senior Citizens/AARP tax site to maximize the impact of volunteers, computers, and other resources.