A research report from the Filene Research Institute proposed that credit union's should consider offering tax preparation services for more than just low income members or lower income communities.
Instead, John Hoffmire and Thomas Harms argue in The Economics of Serving
Low-Income Employees at Tax Time: Implications for Credit Unions that credit unions should consider using the workplace to offer tax preparation services not to their own lower income employees but low income employees of Select Employee Groups as well.
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Hoffmire and Thomas also stress that they are not suggesting credit unions train their own staff to prepare taxes as is often the case in the volunteer income tax assistance program. Instead the researchers suggested credit unions partner with existing tax preparation firms to provide the tax preparation services for a reduced fee and that such an arrangement, which has been done with the Staples office products retailer, can provide benefits for the credit union, the employee, and the employer.
"It is important to note that this report examines something very different from what many credit unions may be used to in the tax preparation field. In short, we are not reporting on a modest tweak to the mainstream Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs," the authors wrote in the study. "This study is about providing tax preparation and public private benefits enrollment to low- and modest-income employee groups for a fee."
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