TAP B03-025

Tax Curriculum for ESL Individuals

Statement of Issue:

The IRS & English as a Second Language (ESL) educators should collaborate on the development and promotion of a tax education curriculum that can be implemented in adult ESL programs across the Nation. This is a cost effective way to address the needs of recently migrated immigrant groups; primarily in teaching this population about their tax compliance obligations.

Proposal:

1. A variety of cost effective programs to meet the specific needs of those who have recently migrated can be added to more existing government sponsored programs such as the Low Income Tax Clinics and ESL classes.
2. Develop a small booklet on tax compliance and taxpayers' rights in English and another language useful to the local immigrant population. An example was distributed at the TAP October 2003 meeting in D.C. The example titled, YOUR VOICE, YOUR VOTE, was printed in English and Bosnian for the St. Louis community. It was funded by Verizon Wireless. The MLI Issue committee's mission is to expand and integrate products and services for LEP. A sample booklet could be designed as part of their mission and localized into different languages. A local sponsor could be located to cover the cost of printing and distribution.
3. Develop a relationship with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and other government agencies to include useful tax info in their pubs. FDIC's MONEY SMART series is an adult financial ed program. It is printed in English, and Spanish and soon to be printed in Chinese. It did not cover any info on tax compliance or taxpayers rights. This very useful program is being used by many banks to educate the less informed clients about basic financial matters.
4. With amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Congress has adopted the Financial Literacy Education Improvement Act, calling for the establishment of a largely cabinet level FINANCIAL LITERACY AND EDUCATION COMMISSION whose CHAIR will be the Sec of the Treasury and whose purpose is to improve the financial literacy and education of persons in the U.S. through development of a national strategy to promote financial literacy and education. THE IRS SHOULD TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY.

Response Notes:

1. The recommendation to train more VITA volunteers in their native language is an ongoing part of the VITA business model.
2. Through the SPEC program, IRS has established partnerships with various community and governmental organizations, including the Department of Health and Human Services.
3. IRS declined to reach out to "notarios," preferring to keep their outreach open to all tax preparers and tax practitioners.
4. IRS rejected the proposal of facilitating the sharing of "unofficial" documents and pamphlets prepared by LITCs because IRS does not have resources available to perform a quality review of such documents. The IRS will only provide materials whose information has been validated through official IRS channels.
5. IRS supported the MLI Committees' continuing work of the development and promotion of a tax education curriculum that can be implemented in adult ESL programs across the nation.