CFPB Tax Time Savings Initiative; Post-tax season pilot participant survey

OMB No. 3170-0036

Questions for VITA Partners
To be answered at the end of tax season 2016
Instructions
Thank you for participating in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Ready? Set, Save!
Tax-time savings pilot in 2016. 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 season, 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 programs 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 40
other Ready? Set, Save! pilot organizations to assess whether the training, 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 tax season 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; eight 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 15th, 2016.
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 program.
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. 3170-0036

7. Number of returns at RSS sites purchasing a U.S. Series I savings bond.
8. Number of returns at RSS sites that made a deposit into a myRA account.

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. Do not include personal information in your responses.
1. Describe your impressions of the training that was offered to your volunteer trainers
through webinar in December 2015 or early January 2016. 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 and staff? If so how did you do it, by
having them participate in the live webinars we offered? Through use of the recorded
webinars we provided? 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 Guide provided for volunteers 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, table tents, social media share graphics, information sheets, posters
and video. 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 2016 campaign?
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, rather than
anecdotal evidence containing personal information, 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 3170-0036.. 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].