Guest Blog: Can we save the savings bond?

Tax season is almost over and finally all of the pressure to “buy, buy, buy” with our refund will subside. But, thousands of taxpayers chose a different path this year – they chose to take a portion of their refund and save into U.S. Savings Bonds. In fact, since 2010, over 100,000 people have benefited from tax time savings bonds totaling more than $40 million. At D2D, we have been trying to increase the financial security of Americans for over a decade and very few innovations have been more successful or promising than tax-time savings.

D2D: Wash Away the Tax Season Blues by Doing Something Fun This Year!

The Doorways to Dreams Fund and the Bonds Make It Easy campaign are running SaveYourRefund, a national sweepstakes promotion to make saving at tax time fun and exciting.   We will be selecting forty-one lucky tax filers who save at least $50 of their tax refund to win a total of $35,000, including a very lucky $25,000 GRAND PRIZE winner.

The sweepstakes will begin on February 1, 2013 and end on April 15^th, 2013, with the Grand Prize drawing on April 19^th, 2013.  This promotion is open to all tax filers at least 18 years old and get at least $50 in refunds.  Entrants to the promotion must save a portion of their refund in IRS’s Form 8888 to be eligible to win.

Guest Post: Savings at Tax Time

Tax time provides a great chance for our clients to save

America Saves Week is February 19-26, 2012. To find out more, visit americasavesweek.org.

As we all know, tax time is a great time for our clients to put part of the disposable tax refund into savings for an emergency safety net to be available throughout the year if needed. Unfortunately, many of our clients are unaware of the great opportunities to start saving and use a savings vehicle that will draw interest while sitting in an account for emergencies.

Some of the alarming statistics include:

US Savings Bonds Campaign: Savings Bonds During Tax Time

U.S. Savings Bonds are an easy and secure way to save for the future

Want a safe, easy and secure savings product to offer during tax time? In partnership with the Doorways to Dreams Fund Inc., NCTC wants to support an easy way for tax filers to save during the tax season. Taxpayers can take a part of their refund and buy a savings bond!

Federal Benefit Payments Are Going All-Electronic

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is phasing out paper checks for federal benefit payments. Monthly benefit payments will instead be made electronically. This means that anyone who currently receives a federal benefit check must switch to an electronic payment method by March 1, 2013.

As a trusted source of financial information for low-income and older taxpayers, your organization is in the perfect position to share information about this change to the way federal benefits are being paid and urge people to switch now rather than wait for the deadline.

National Program Survey Results Released

How does your free tax preparation program compare to others in its field? How do other programs train their volunteers and ensure quality returns? NCTC’s 2011 National Program Survey throws light on these questions.

The IRS reported at the beginning of May that community VITA programs completed 1,287,344 returns (excluding paper returns) worth $1,972,554,273 in total refunds. NCTC’s annual  survey data (submitted by 126 programs) represents about 57% of returns for this field.