Dear Friends, 

Just in the nick of time for tax day 2016, I am writing to alert you to new, free resources regarding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the federal tax benefit for low- to middle-income workers. As you know, a large number of eligible individuals are unaware of the EITC or do not know how to claim it, resulting in hundreds of millions of unclaimed EITC dollars.

The Legal Aid Society of Orange County and the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at Columbia Law School have created three new resources to promote awareness of the EITC and to facilitate outreach to eligible claimants.

The first, EITC General Information (click here), provides advocates with an overview of the need to promote EITC awareness.  The second, Claim the Tax Refunds You Deserve (click here), is intended for dissemination to your clients and others to help them claim their EITC. 

The third resource is a lay-focused, one-stop information portal on claiming the EICT.  Click here to access this portal.

Sharing these resources with your fellow advocates, intake specialists, and clients could expand awareness and use of the EITC and put hundreds or thousands of dollars into clients’ pockets. Those eligible for the EITC can go back three years to claim it, so claims for 2015 do not need to be filed by April 18.

All the best,
Alex