Electronic filing, tax preparers, and participation in the earned income tax credit
By: Wojciech Kopczuk, Cristian Pop-Eleches.
Contributors: Pop-Eleches, Cristian.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11768; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11768.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Earned income tax credit -- United States.; Electronic filing of tax returns -- United States.; Tax return preparation industry -- United States.
Description: "In 2002 more than 18 million low-income individual taxpayers received the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).  Despite its size, non-participation in this program is a concern and substantial effort is devoted by the IRS, local governments and many non-profits to address it.  Most of the tax returns for EITC recipients are filed electronically by paid tax preparers who often charge significant fees for their services.  Using variation across states in the introduction of state electronic filing programs, we show that the introduction of electronic filing had a significant effect on participation in the EITC.  Our results are robust to accounting for other welfare, EITC and IRS reforms introduced during the same period.  We suggest that this effect is due to the impact that electronic filing opportunities had on the tax preparation industry, therefore providing an example of how a market-based approach can be effective in addressing the problem of program non-participation"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Title from PDF file as viewed on 12/7/2005.
Also available in print.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.