1 AARP Tax-Aide Regional Meeting October 2009

2 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

3 AARP Accomplishments 2009/2008 ComparisonFY 2009 (Data through 4/30/09) FY 2008* (Includes ESP Returns) % Growth Total Paper83,808206, % e-file “returns accepted”1,390,5941,513, % e-file rate93.4%88%6.1% Total Returns1,474,4021,720, % E-file Reject Rate6.8%7.5%-10.2% SS Pin Usage132,640 or 12%20,761 or 1.4%-84% Practitioner PIN Usage791,456 or 72%1,489,077 or 98.6%47% Total PIN Usage83.6%99%15% Direct Deposit Usage500,490 or 36%394,285 or 26%21.2% Primary/Secondary ,614 or 65%1,024,617 or 68%-13.9% Total EITC Dollars$200,138,473$185,789,7397.2% State Returns1,076,2481,028,8644.4%

Filing Season Overview

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

Filing Season Key Issues 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

Filing Season Key Issues 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

Filing Season Key Issues 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

Filing Season Key Issues 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

Filing Season Key Issues 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

Filing Season New Tax Law

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

Enhancements – New Tax Law 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

Enhancements – New Tax Law Scope Changes for 2010 Filing Season 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)

Enhancements – New Tax Law Scope Changes for 2010 Filing Season ARRA Topics (con’t) Portion of Unemployment Compensation Tax-Free Residential Energy Credits Other New Topics Revised Definition of a Qualifying Child New Rules for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents

Enhancements – New Tax Law Scope Changes for 2010 Filing Season 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

Enhancements – New Tax Law Scope Changes for 2010 Filing Season New 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

Enhancements – New Tax Law Scope Changes for 2010 Filing Season For more information on ARRA and other Tax Law Changes for Tax Year 2009 visit IRS.gov. The following are links for quick access: – ARRA Information Center (on irs.gov) ARRA Information Center Publication Highlights of Tax Changes – Includes 2008 and 2009 changes Publication 553

Filing Season New Products

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

Enhancements – Training Products Access to the Practice Lab Lessons Learned Upgrades Delivery only after IRS has confirmed all calculations Print capability Windows 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

Enhancements – Training Products Product Ordering – CAPS Electronic Ordering Process Continues Currently verifying 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 addresses will not be re-purposed

Enhancements – Training Products 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)

24 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) ARRA Marketing and Outreach Products ARRA Marketing Flyers and Posters – ARRA topics covered to date include Pubs 4772/ Education, Pubs 4773/ Energy, Pubs 4771/ First-time Homebuyer, Pubs 4767/ Making Work Pay, and Pubs 4770/ 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

Filing Season Quality Changes

26 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

27 FY 2010 Quality Changes Enhanced Quality Site Requirements QSR #1 requires Volunteer Certification & Volunteer Agreement Signature QSR #3 includes Volunteer Alerts & AARP Cyber Tax Messages Increased number of QSS Reviews State Coordinators to Get Results Discontinuance of SPEC Shopping Visits

28 Software Updates

29 TaxWise Software 2010 Orders Requests for TaxWise will be accepted Oct 13, 2009 through Jan 29, 2010 First Order to the Vendor - Nov 2, 2009 TaxWise Desktop orders placed by Oct 28 will begin shipping Thanksgiving week TaxWise Online orders will be available early December

30 TaxWise Software Training All TaxWise Training will be delivered by recorded web sessions – located on the Practice Lab of Link & Learn Taxes TaxWise Desktop Admin/trouble-shooting TaxWise Online Admin/trouble-shooting TaxWise Desktop/PBT for Preparers TaxWise Online/PBT for Preparers Reports/Refresher/New Tax Law

31 TaxWise Software Planned Changes for FS 2010 AARP will be participating in beta testing again this year. No longer supports Windows Bit & 64-Bit Compatible New enforcement for Desktop passwords Improved Client/Return List Functionality

32 TaxWise Software Planned Changes for FS 2010 Sorting Return Explorer Automatic processing of Acknowledgements Addition of a new User Group Watermarks added to Print Packets Improved Release Notes

33 Hardware Updates

34 Computers for Volunteers Special Thanks to AARP for all of the Technical Assistance Improvements to IRS loaned equipment program Instituted equipment quality check process Computer Upgrades/Increased Capacity Increased communications between SPEC and the IRS Computer Depot

35 Computers for Volunteers 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 week Delivered computers will have Internet Explorer 6.5 loaded. TaxWise disk will include IE 7.0 and upgrading will take less then 10 minutes

36 Computers for Volunteers 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

37 Thank you. You are the difference!