Promoting Free Tax Preparation Services to Low- and Mid-Income Filers

Client
New York City Department of Consumer Affairs
Faculty
Kevin Hansen
Team
Mona Saghri, Amanda Trepel, Crystal Tsoi

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs’ Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) is a local government initiative aimed at helping low-income individuals build assets and maximize their financial resources. Through OFE’s NYC Free Tax Prep program, many low- and mid-income New Yorkers are eligible to receive free tax preparation services, but most still utilize paid tax preparers. OFE engaged a Capstone team to analyze the local tax preparation marketplace. The team collected and analyzed primary data, including a consumer survey, interviews with subject matter experts and community stakeholders, and a review of paid tax preparer businesses and advertisements. The team produced a report that analyzes the factors leading eligible filers to pay for tax preparation and offers programmatic and policy recommendations for improving NYC Free Tax Prep’s promotion and utilization.

Capstone Year
2018-2019