Promising Directions - North Carolina

Claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit

Nationwide, there are 1.3 million low-income wage earners with disabilities who have yet to file their taxes. Even if they don’t owe any taxes, filing an income tax return may make them eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). This is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals. Congress originally approved the tax credit legislation in 1975 in part to offset the burden of Social Security taxes and to provide an incentive to work for low-income individuals. EITC can reduce an individual’s taxes, and can mean a refund. To qualify for the EITC, an individual must have earned wages at some point during the tax year. When the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.

Because low-income working individuals, with and without disabilities, failed to file and thereby qualify for the EITC, between $800 million and $1 billion go unclaimed every year.

In Fall 2007, the North Carolina ADA Network met with the Asset Development Collaborative, an existing North Carolina group that has not had disability representation. The Network met with this group to learn more about asset development sites in the community. The ADA Network held an ADA training, focusing on facility access, for tax preparers in the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. In addition, two Centers for Independent Living (Disability Rights and Resources in Charlotte, NC and The Adaptables in Winston-Salem, NC) became VITA sites for the first time:

The project will continue throughout this fiscal year, learning, doing and then developing materials.