Tax filing and take-up: Experimental evidence on tax preparation outreach and benefit claiming

Jacob Goldin, Tatiana Homonoff, Rizwan Javaid and Brenda Schafer

Journal of Public Economics, 2022, vol. 206, issue C

Abstract: The U.S. federal government, states, and non-profits all devote substantial resources to increasing take-up of refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) through educational outreach. We study a different approach to increasing take-up: policies that encourage tax filing. In a large field experiment, we find that IRS letters about free tax preparation modestly increased filing, with a large share of the new filers claiming the EITC and the CTC. The results suggest policies that increase filing can be an effective way to increase take-up of tax-administered social benefits, even policies that do not raise awareness of the benefit itself.

Keywords: Tax Filing; Program Participation; Earned Income Tax Credit; Child Tax Credit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:206:y:2022:i:c:s0047272721001869

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104550

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