1. Jessica Delcid| Grant Coordinator
Fiscal Year 2019: Grant to Provide Volunteer Taxpayer Assistance Services
Jessica Delcid| Grant Coordinator
June 26, 2018

2. Jessica Delcid Grant Coordinator
Good afternoon. My name is Jessica Delcid. I am the Grant Coordinator and the Volunteer Outreach Coordinator of the Outreach Team within the Income Tax and Withholding Division at the Minnesota Department of Revenue. I administer the grant to provide volunteer taxpayer assistance services and I educate volunteers on Minnesota tax laws.
If you have any questions throughout the webinar, submit them through the chat feature and send them to all participants and I will answer them at the end of the presentation.

3. Disclaimer
This presentation is for educational purposes only. It is meant to accompany an oral presentation and not to be used as a standalone document. This presentation is based on the facts and circumstances being discussed, and on the laws in effect when it is presented. It does not supersede or alter any provisions of Minnesota laws, administrative rules, court cases, or revenue notices. If you have any grant related questions, contact us at , or (toll-free), or

4. Today’s Agenda Grant overview Grant proposal process Grant awards
Reimbursement of grant funds
Deadlines and due dates
Questions?

5. Grant Overview What is the grant for? Who qualifies?
Coordinating, facilitating, encouraging, and providing volunteer taxpayer assistance services to Minnesotans who are low-income, elderly, and disadvantaged.
Who qualifies?
501(c)(3) non-profit organizations
Must be part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
What are the objectives of the grant?
The objectives will be provided in the RFP.
The Commissioner of Revenue has authority to issue grants totaling $800,000 for the biennium. The Request for Proposals (RFP) that will be made available July 16, 2018 is $400,000 for fiscal year 2019.
We apologize for any previous communication with a date that the RFP would be made available. It will be available on our website starting Monday, July 16, 2018.
It is available to non-profit organizations that qualify under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, to receive grants to coordinate, facilitate, encourage, and provide volunteer taxpayer assistance services. Organizations applying for this grant must be part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Volunteer Taxpayer Assistance Services are accounting and tax preparation services provided by volunteers to Minnesotans who are low-income, elderly, and disadvantaged. This includes filing federal and state income and property tax refund returns and representing qualifying residents before the department and IRS.
Low income – households making less than $54,000 annually- follows the Earned Income Tax Credit guidelines
Elderly – age 60 or older
Disadvantaged – individuals with limited English-speaking ability, disabilities, among many others identified in the RFP.
Organizations must operate within the established guidelines and requirements of the VITA/TCE Programs.
Be compliant with Minnesota tax and information reporting requirements.
Be compliant with last year’s grant contract, if a previous grant recipient.
The objectives of the grant will be provided in the RFP.

6. Grant Overview
State of Minnesota is focused on diversity and inclusion. This includes our grant processes. We have updated and added some new questions to this year’s RFP.
Populations Served: Language was clarified and added to better identify disadvantaged populations.
New question asking about the diversity and inclusiveness of your organization’s board of directors, staff, and volunteers.
Make sure to review the RFP closely.
The State of Minnesota is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in its own organization and in the volunteer programs that support Minnesota taxpayers. Demonstrating your organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion are an important part of the grant application process.
The grant application process includes some new questions this year. Those questions include:
A thorough description of the population your organization serves. We clarified the language in the RFP to better identify disadvantaged populations.
We added a question about the diversity and inclusiveness of your organizations board, staff, and volunteers.
We encourage you to review the RFP closely to ensure you address these important questions thoroughly.

7. Grant Proposal Process
Fillable PDF Grant Workbook
Will be available on our website beginning July 16, 2018
Fill out electronically
All proposals must be submitted via using the fillable PDF Grant Workbook for fiscal year (FY) 2019 by August 15, 2018
A grant workbook is used for all organizations to submit grant proposal information correctly and consistently. The grant workbook is in a fillable PDF format. The PDF grant workbook must be submitted electronically. The text boxes do not expand. If you need additional space, you can attach additional pages.
All grant proposals must be submitted using the grant workbook. Attach any relevant or required documentation to help support your organizations proposal if it is not included in this grant workbook.
This grant workbook will be available on our website on July 16. Search “grant”.
Proposals are due August 15, 2018.

8. Grant Proposal Process
Required documentation must be included with the grant workbook
Your proposal will be disqualified if there is missing required documentation.
Grant deadlines will not be extended. Additional time will not be given to submit missing information.
Check the RFP for all documents that are required to be submitted with your proposal. We will not consider proposals if the application is incomplete, inaccurate, or late.
Only complete proposals will be considered. Missing required documentation will disqualify your proposal for Fiscal Year 2019 grant funds.
Proposals received after the grant deadlines will be disqualified for consideration.

9. Tips for Completing Your Proposal
Use the grant workbook to ensure you provide all required information.
Complete all required forms.
Double-check all your calculations.
Be clear and concise.
Use good grammar.
Review the proposal before submitting and use more than one reviewer.
Prepare your proposal early. Do not wait until the last minute to submit.
We compiled a list of tips for completing your proposal.

10. Grant Proposal Process
The department will verify the following information with the appropriate agencies:
Determination letter issued by the IRS recognizing your organization qualifies under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Current Minnesota Attorney General’s Registration Certification, if required for your organization.
Some exceptions may apply.
Once all grant proposals have been received, the department will verify the following information with the appropriate agencies:
Determination letter issued by the IRS recognizing your organization qualifies under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your organization’s name must be the same on the Grant Cover Sheet in the Grant Workbook and the 501(c)(3) determination letter.
Exception: If your organization operates under a Group Exemption Ruling, you must provide both of the following:
A copy of the group exemption ruling letter listing the affiliated tax-exempt organization your organization operates under.
A copy of the IRS determination letter recognizing the affiliated organization qualifies under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
2. Current Minnesota Attorney General’s Registration Certification, if required for your organization.
Exception: If your organization is exempt from registering with the Minnesota Attorney General, you must explain why.

11. Grant Proposal Process
Payment obligations to government agencies
Grant funds will not be distributed to organizations with a past-due balance to government agencies being collected by the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
We review department records when we receive proposals and before we reimburse grant funds.
To be eligible for consideration and to receive grant funds, you must not have a past-due balance owing to any government agencies that is subject to collection by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. We check for any past-due balances as part of the proposal review process and again before we reimburse grant funds.

12. Grant Awards
Grant expenses must fall within these four expense categories:
Equipment and Accessories
Advertising
Salaries
Other Expenses
Grant funds are awarded as a lump sum
Grant funds will be awarded as one lump sum to your organization. Proposal expense requests and reimbursement requests must be separated into four categories (equipment and accessories, advertising, salaries, and other expenses). You may spend the total amount awarded in any of these four categories.

13. Grant Awards Salary funding Cannot be used to pay volunteers
Must be reasonable
You may not request grant funds for salaries if your organization is exempt from registering with the Minnesota Attorney General because you do not pay persons to perform functions or activities. This rule does not apply to organizations exempt from registering with the Minnesota Attorney General for other reasons.
Salary funding cannot be used to pay volunteers who are conducting volunteer activities for conducting intake, preparing tax returns, doing quality review, interpreting, etc.
Grant funds also may not be used to pay for administrative costs for preparing the grant application.
Grant funds used for salaries must be paid to individuals specifically for services performed for the volunteer taxpayer assistance program. This must be well documented so that you can request reimbursement. I will discuss this in more detail later.
You may not request grant funds for salaries if your organization is exempt from registering with the Minnesota Attorney General because you do not pay persons to perform functions or activities. This rule does not apply to organizations exempt from registering with the Minnesota Attorney General for other reasons.

14. Grant Awards Print advertisements must:
Be reviewed and approved by the department before printing.
Be reviewed and approved each grant period.
State “Service made available through a grant provided by the State of Minnesota.”
Be professional and accurate, and represent the integrity and services provided through the volunteer taxpayer assistance program.
If your organization plans to request grant funds for print advertisements, a copy of the advertisement must be reviewed and approved by the department before printing. Advertising must be reviewed and approved each grant period.
If advertisements are not approved by the department prior to being printed, grant funds for print advertisements will not be reimbursed.
Advertising must include the statement “Service made available through a grant provided by the State of Minnesota.” It must also be professional and accurate, and represent the integrity of the services provided through the volunteer taxpayer assistance program.
If your organization requests advertising funds but does not plan to use print advertisements, provide a detailed description of your marketing plan.

15. Grant Awards New guidelines for FY19 grant expenses:
Purchase, construction, repair, or rehabilitation of any building or any portion thereof is not allowed.
Purchase of gift cards for volunteer recognition is not allowed.
Grant funds may be used to purchase volunteer recognition items but are limited to $10 per person. 
Grant funds used to purchase food and beverages for volunteers may not exceed $500.
Review the RFP for a full list of allowable and unallowable grant expenses.
This year there are a few new guidelines for grant expenses. Some examples include: (as stated on slide).
These are only some of the new guidelines. Please be sure to review the RFP for a full list of allowable and prohibited grant expenses.

16. Reimbursement of Grant Funds
When can I request reimbursement of grant funds? Anytime after the grant contract is executed and before August 30, 2019.
Organization awarded:
Submit a reimbursement request when:
$5,000 or less
The entire award has been spent.
$5,001 - $20,000
At least $5,000 has been spent.
More than $20,000
At least $10,000 has been spent.
When can organizations request reimbursement of grant funds?
Requests can be made anytime between October 1, 2018 (or when the grant is fully executed) and August 30, However, your organization should generally make requests shortly after you spend the funds and as soon as your organization’s tax sites close.
If your organization is granted a substantial amount of grant funds, we recommend requesting reimbursement in multiple increments (following the guidelines in the table above).
Note: Organizations receiving $50,000 or more in grant funds will have a monitoring visit conducted before final reimbursement is approved.

17. Reimbursement of Grant Funds
Reimbursement request cover sheet
Complete the cover sheet each time you request reimbursement
Requests will not be accepted without a cover sheet
You must include supporting documentation
Organizations will complete a reimbursement request cover sheet that will detail the specific expenses of the reimbursement request. The FY19 reimbursement request cover sheet will be available on our grant webpage on July 16, 2018.
Organizations will include supporting documentation for all expenses within the reimbursement request such as payroll records, timesheets, payment records, itemized receipts, invoices or purchase orders, mileage logs, etc. to substantiate that expenses are reasonable, necessary, and allowable within the guidelines of the grant contract.
General Ledgers alone are not adequate documentation.
Salaries – Include names, position, pay rate, and time allocated to the tax program (if they are involved in other functions of your organization)
Acceptable documentation: Payroll Records (Labor Allocation Detail Reports, timesheets, etc.)
Include receipts, cancelled checks, or a bank statement showing that the expense has been paid.
Documentation must be organized so that it flows in the order that it is listed on the Reimbursement Request Cover Sheet
Highlight/circle dates and expenses
Organize into one PDF (or as few as possible if a large document)
Requests for reimbursement without proper supporting documentation will not be accepted.

18. Due Dates and Deadlines
FY19 Request for Proposals (RFP)
Available on our website beginning July 16, 2018
Submit proposals by
Proposals are due August 15, 2018
The specifics on how to submit a question about the grant proposal process is detailed in the RFP for your reference. Questions can be submitted anytime between July 16 – August 3 with all questions answered by August 10. All questions received during this time and the answers provided will be posted to our website for anyone to review.
Proposals must be received by August 15. It is your responsibility to ensure a timely proposal is received by the due date. Proposals received after the due date will not be considered.
Once all proposals have been received, our grant review team will evaluate all complete proposals to determine awards. Details of exactly how proposals are scored on the basis of need, impact, and performance will be outlined in the RFP.
Review and evaluation of grant proposals will take place between August 15 and September 15, 2018.
You will be notified of selection/non-selection on or before October 1, 2018.

19. Due Dates and Deadlines
Progress Reports
Due February 15, 2019
Final Reports
Due June 1, 2019
Progress Reports are required for organizations awarded more than $5,000 in grant funds. If your organization is awarded less than $5,000, progress reports are not required.
FY19 Progress reports will be due February 15, after training for the 2018 tax season has ended and a few weeks into the filing season.
The goal is for organizations to report more specifically on preparations for the filing season on the progress report and report on how the entire filing season went on the final report.
Final reports are required for all organizations that are awarded grant funds.
FY19 Final reports will be due June 1, 2019.
You can still submit reimbursement requests until August 30, 2019 but final reports are now due earlier – June 1, 2019.
You can always submit progress and final reports before their due dates if you feel like you can adequately answer the questions in the reports.

20. Grant Questions?
We are excited to offer this grant opportunity to organizations that serve Minnesota citizens. The work done by our volunteer partners is an important part of making the Revenue system work for Minnesota. At this time I will take any questions you have.
I am now going to turn it over to our Income Tax and Withholding Director, Dan Getschel, who will share some information about the 2019 Individual Income Tax and Corporate Franchise Tax filing season.

21. I would like to take some time to switch gears and provide a brief overview of our implementation plans for the 2019 Individual Income Tax and Corporate Franchise Tax filing season. I will also solicit your ideas on how we can best assure a successful filing season for you, your clients, and taxpayers impacted by nonconformity.
Before I cover impacts to 2018 Minnesota tax returns, I would like to cover the history of where we have been. We all know that the 2017 tax year has been challenging. It began with the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017 enacted on September 29, Then, federal tax reform was enacted on December 22, The Bipartisan Budget Act was enacted on February 9, 2018, which renewed a number of individual and business tax benefits (also known as federal extenders) for tax year Finally, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 was enacted.
The 2018 Legislative Session has concluded, and a bill conforming the Minnesota tax code to the federal tax code was not enacted. The 2018 Legislative Session outcome means the Minnesota tax code does not conform to federal tax provisions in the federal tax reform legislation and Bipartisan Budget Act.
First let’s talk about 2017
Forms calculating the differences between federal and state laws for tax year 2017 were posted to our website in February. Customers should continue to use these existing 2017 forms, instructions, and systems to file their tax year 2017 returns.
This outcome will also affect 2018 Minnesota tax forms. We have begun our process to update the state tax filing systems for next filing season. This process happens annually, starting after the end of the legislative session. This year, we will update the tax filing systems to accommodate the differences between the federal and Minnesota tax laws.
While this process happens annually, we anticipate you may want to know a little more about the process and its timeline this year. 
We have already started:
-Synthesizing the differences between federal and Minnesota law to identify necessary additions, subtractions, or other modifications to accurately identify the right amount for Minnesota.
-Listening and engaging with all of you and other important stakeholders.
We will soon move to tax form updates and development.
The Individual Income Tax Division and the Corporate Franchise Tax Division work together to update over 80 forms each filing season.
Tax form updates include everything from changing the year “2017” on each form to “2018” to determining where provisions are incorporated into the forms.
Teams and workgroups do this work – each of which takes responsibility for publishing accurate, near final forms and instructions in August each year.
In the past, you have been familiar with the nonconformity schedule for individuals, or Schedule M1NC, Federal Adjustments. This year, there will be a nonconformity schedule for businesses and fiduciaries. In addition, each Minnesota Schedule K will have a corresponding nonconformity schedule for partners, shareholders, and beneficiaries. 
We will post drafts of most forms on our website at in August. You will be able to find these drafts by selecting “Software Providers” under the For Tax Professionals section. Then, select the “Forms, ERCs, and Specifications” tab. Finally, select “Individual Income Tax.”
After we publish the near final forms, we move into tax processing systems development and testing, including close work with software providers.

22. Revenue’s Priorities Minimize impact to customers
Support voluntary compliance
Assist taxpayers and preparers
Protect integrity of the tax system
As we do this work, we are guided by our priorities around serving customers and identifying solutions that support taxpayers as much as possible.
-We will work to minimize the administrative impacts to all of our customers including preparers, and software providers.
-We need to support voluntary compliance through forms and instructions that illustrate the changes required to calculate 2018 Minnesota Taxable Income in as clear and transparent a way as possible.
-We will design our forms in a way that enables us to administer the tax code correctly and consistently.

23. Stay Connected We encourage you to sign up for our email lists.
Go to our website and select the red envelope. Choose “Tax Law Changes” to sign up for updates on the latest information and opportunities to engage with us.
You can also select the orange “Tax Law Changes” button you see here. That is where we will post updates. There is a link to the tax law changes list on that page as well. 
We will continue to update the public and engage you as we work through this process.
The timeline for preparing for 2019 you saw earlier emphasizes the importance of engaging and communicating with stakeholders. We want and need your ideas, suggestions, and feedback. We want to open up a dialogue with you now – to hear from you – and capture your ideas – on how the department can best assure a successful filing season for you, your clients, and taxpayers impacted by nonconformity. While we do not have all the answers to questions yet, it is important that we know what your questions are so we can address them as we update forms and instructions.

24. What areas of nonconformity would you like the department to pay particular attention to?
Our first question is – What areas of nonconformity would you like the department to pay particular attention to?
This question is really about you – are there areas of complexity or areas of concern that you are thinking about that you want to make sure the department is also focused on as we develop forms and instructions.

25. What questions are your clients asking that the department would benefit from knowing about?
Our second question is – What questions are your clients asking that the department would benefit from knowing about?
This question is about taxpayers – what insights do you have to share about the needs of your clients?

26. Is there anything else you want us to know?
Our third question is – Is there anything else you want us to know or any questions you may have? 

27. Additional Nonconformity Comments or Ideas?
Send to our Tax Professional Outreach Coordinator:
Mark Krause
Phone:
The department is committed to meeting our priorities for the upcoming filing season. If you have further comments or ideas, please contact our Tax Professional Outreach Coordinator, Mark Krause, at or

28. Survey
We ask all participants to complete a survey:
Your feedback is appreciated.
Your feedback is appreciated. We ask that all participants complete a quick survey.

29. Thank you! Jessica Delcid 651-556-3052 or 1-800-818-6871 (toll-free)
If you have additional questions relating to the grant you can send an to the address above.
The PowerPoint and all questions and answers from this webinar will be posted on the grant website tomorrow, June 27, 2018.