WE Connect Promotes EITC during Final Days of Tax Season

USA - English

• Latin America - español

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the April 15^th tax deadline quickly approaches, WE Connect, a program of The California Endowment, launches a tax countdown campaign encouraging low-income Californians to try its online calculator that quickly and easily determines if they may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) — a federal tax credit that may boost an individual's or family's federal refund by as much as $6,044. The WEbConnectorEZ, built in-kind by the Intuit Financial Freedom Foundation, asks four simple questions and within minutes lets taxpayers know whether they may be eligible for the EITC.  After, they can visit WE Connect's Resource Map to find locations that provide free tax assistance, so they can be sure to claim the credit.

EITC, enacted by Congress in 1975, is one of the nation's largest anti-poverty programs, annually lifting 6.6 million people out of poverty. However, according to the IRS, $760 million in EITC refunds have gone unclaimed since 2010.  California is the state with the greatest amount of unclaimed refunds, with 86,500 residents who haven't filed or didn't claim EITC in 2010, 2011 or 2012, leaving $69.8 million on the table.    

The WEb Connector EZ is just one of the many money-saving programs and services available through the WEConnect.net that helps improve the financial health of Californians. This year, WE Connect partnered with hundreds of organizations across the state to offer Health Care Enrollment & Resource Fairs that provided nearly 20,000 individuals with medical and dental screenings, Affordable Care Act information and enrollment, CalFresh enrollment and immigration assistance.  The events were part of The California Endowment's "Asegúrate" or "Get Covered" initiative, a comprehensive outreach and enrollment campaign targeting California's uninsured population, which is largely Latino.

Visit www.weconnect.net to learn more.

WHO:          WE Connect
                   The California Endowment 
                   Intuit Financial Freedom Foundation

WHAT:        Three Important Online Tax Help Tools:

• WEbConnectorEZ – EITC Tax Calculator
• Resource Map – Free Tax Prep Locator
• WEbConnector – Determine Eligibility for State and Federal Programs, including EITC

WHERE:       http://www.weconnect.net

SOURCE WE Connect