CFPB Ready, Set, Save Tax Time Savings Campaign; End of Tax Year Partner Feedback

OMB No. 3170-0024
Expiration Date: 12/31/2015

Questions for VITA Partners
To be answered at the end of tax season 2014
Instructions
Thank you for participating in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Ready? Set, Save!
Tax-time savings pilot in 2014. The tax time savings pilot furthers our mandate to provide
opportunities for consumers to access financial services during the preparation process to claim
earned income tax credits and other benefits. We also recognize that your organization is
committed to maximizing the benefit of the tax refund as part of your efforts to improve the
financial literacy and capability of consumers so we greatly appreciate the opportunity to
collaborate with you on this effort.
As we described in the memorandum of understanding entered into by your organization and
the CFPB before the start of tax season, we are seeking a limited amount of information about
the results you achieved during the recently ended tax campaign, and your feedback on the
tools, materials and training provided by the CFPB. Your response is strictly voluntary but the
information you provide would be extremely helpful to the Bureau in getting a better
understanding about how organizations such as yours integrate savings promotions strategies
in their VITA campaign and the value that the Bureau can provide in support of those efforts.
The information we receive from you will be analyzed along with similar responses from the 12
other Ready? Set, Save! pilot organizations to assess whether the tools and materials we
provided to you were beneficial and to help us plan for future efforts in the tax time savings
space. The CFPB plans to publish a report of the findings from this year’s campaign but will
only use your information along with other pilot sites in an aggregated form and will not report
on the individual results or feedback from each organization.
A list of the information we are seeking is below; seven statistical elements that you can extract
from the Taxwise software that you employed to help people file their taxes; and a two page
narrative response in which we are requesting that you address 6 key questions regarding your
experience in partnering with the CFPB on this pilot. We estimate that your response will take
no more than 90 minutes to complete. We would appreciate your reply by May 5th, 2014.
Please email your responses to Dave Sieminski at [email protected]. If you have
questions in advance of your response please contact Dave at the email address above or call
him at 202-435-9698.

End of tax season numerical results
1. Number of tax returns prepared by your whole community VITA tax campaign.
2. Number of tax returns prepared at sites where Ready, Set Save (RSS) savings
campaign was utilized. (if different than answer to question number 1).
3. Number of returns at RSS sites claiming the earned income tax credit (EITC).
4. Number of returns at RSS sites receiving a refund.
5. Number of returns at RSS sites using direct deposit to receive their refund.
6. Number of returns at RSS sites splitting their refund using IRS form 8888.

OMB No. 3170-0024
Expiration Date: 12/31/2015

7. Number of returns at RSS sites purchasing a U.S. Series I savings bond.

End of tax season narrative report
Please provide a narrative description of your experience participating with the CFPB in the
Ready, Set, Save tax time savings campaign. The total report length should be no more than
two pages. Please include responses to the following general questions plus any other
information you would like to provide.
1. Describe your impressions of the training that was offered to your volunteer trainers
through webinar in early January 2014. Was the training useful and well-organized? Did
it provide you with information you need to utilize the CFPB training and consumer
facing materials? Provide recommendations for improving the training in future years.
2. Were you able to deliver the training to volunteers? If so how did you do it, in group
sessions? One on one? Or other? Did you connect it to your regular tax prep training or
deliver it separately? How long were you able to spend on delivering the RSS training?
3. Describe your impressions of the content contained in the Instructor’s Guide and the
Participant’s Guides provided by the CFPB. Was the information well organized and was
it useful for the intended audiences in helping to better execute a savings strategy in
your tax campaign? Did you receive this information in a timely manner in order to utilize
it in your 2014 tax campaign? If not, when would you have liked to receive it?
4. Describe your impressions of the consumer-facing materials provided by the CFPB
including worksheet, information sheet, posters, stickers, pens, and videos. How did you
employ them in engaging with your tax customers? What worked? What did not work?
Did you receive the various consumer pieces in a timely manner in order to utilize it in
your 2014 campaign? If not when would you have liked to receive them?
5. How did your tax customers respond to your efforts to inform them about opportunities to
save a portion of their refund? Please provide your general impressions about the level
of customer receptiveness and/or acceptance.
6. Please provide any guidance you may have on how the CFPB can better support your
tax campaign’s efforts to promote savings at tax time in future years.

Paperwork Reduction Act
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this
collection is 3170-0024. It expires on 12/31/2015. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to
average approximately 90 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing any instructions, searching existing data
sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
Responding to this collection of information is voluntary. Comments regarding this collection of information, including the
estimated response time, suggestions for improving the usefulness of the information, or suggestions for reducing the
burden to respond to this collection should be submitted to Bureau at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(Attention: PRA Office), 1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20552, or by email to [email protected].