EP90 Earned Income Tax Credit: How United Way is Helping Build Financial Literacy

Nancy Sasaki, President and CEO of United Way of San Diego County, shares how their Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition provides free tax preparation for those making under $67,000 annually. She explains the importance of financial literacy and how their programs help community members build economic mobility.

• Free tax preparation services available by calling 211 in San Diego County
• Trained volunteers often understand the specific needs of lower-income individuals better than paid preparers
• The SparkPoint program offers financial literacy coaching to increase income, savings, credit scores, and reduce debt
• Bank On program helps people learn to trust financial institutions and manage their money effectively
• United Way partners with 45 organizations throughout San Diego County to provide comprehensive services
• Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) allow those without Social Security numbers to file taxes legally
• Financial literacy education extends to both young people and their families

Call 211 to find free tax preparation services near you, or visit uwsd.org to learn more about United Way's programs.

Check out the blog for more!

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding Earned Income Tax Credit
• 1:03 Meet Nancy Sasaki from United Way
• 3:56 Free Tax Preparation Services
• 9:44 Why Get Help with Your Taxes
• 13:08 Financial Literacy & SparkPoint Program
• 21:37 Building Economic Mobility
• 24:07 Community Partnerships
• 25:49 ITIN Numbers and Tax Filing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

It's because you made earned income. You did make money this year, so is there any part of that that's due in a refund to you? And that's what the Earned Income Tax Credit is all about.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Hola mi gente, welcome to the Money Chisme Podcast, where we spill the real chisme on building wealth without the bullshit. Whether you're trying to invest, grow that side, hustle finally get your money right or, my favorite, buy rental properties, you're in the right place. I'm your host, violeta, a first-gen Mexican immigrant real estate investor, entrepreneur and your financial hype woman. Get ready for tips, tricks and expert advice straight from nuestra comunidad, porque el dinero es power and we're here to claim it. Don't forget you can always find helpful resources down in the show notes and in descriptions, so make sure you check that out.

Speaker 2: 1:00

You know tax season is just ending right around the corner. April 15th is the deadline, and April also so happens to be Financial Literacy Month, and you know financial literacy is very important in the Latino community, and so is taxes. It's a big topic and a lot of times we don't really know what to do. I know I struggled to figure it out. You know, growing up, no one was there to teach me, so I am excited to have Nancy Sasaki from United Way, from San Diego County, to share the services and talk a little bit about you know, taxes and also a little bit of financial empowerment. Hi, nancy, thank you so much for being here with me hi, violeta, I'm very glad to join you.

Speaker 1: 1:52

Thank you for the invitation to join you. I tell you, in tax season it's when everybody's stress level goes way high. Right, it's like you know you have to get it done and like so many people delay and wait, and you know just like, please don't make me have to do it. But you know, this year it is April 15th is the deadline. In the past couple of years we've actually had some extensions here in San Diego County so people had a little bit longer to do their taxes, but now this year it's the real April 15th deadline.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Yeah, so Nancy Sasaki, president and CEO of United Way of San Diego County, I've been the CEO for the past six and a half years. Seven years will be in September, so it's been a while. But all of my professional career has been in the nonprofit world, with Planned Parenthood, with an organization here in San Diego County called Alliance Healthcare Foundation where we were giving money out to nonprofits in San Diego and Imperial counties right next door to us, and then the last, as I said, six and a half years here at United Way, and I love it. It's really a great position, a great organization. We've been here in San Diego for over a hundred years, so 105. And I think the thing that really allows for that kind of longevity is being able to be adaptive and flexible, addressing the needs of the community. So as we hear about those kinds of things, we're going to be doing this and then maybe we'll switch over here and do that because we see that that's where the need is and so that's how we have come to be where we are today and to be continuing, and I hope, for another hundred years. I probably won't be the CEO, but you know I'm hoping that I'm setting the foundation now for that kind of longevity. You know I'm hoping that I'm setting the foundation now for that kind of longevity.

Speaker 1: 3:56

But we're really excited because during the pandemic we were able to focus on our strategic plan and really get that in order and get really focused on what it was that we're doing and we work in education and economic mobility, and we'll talk a lot more about economic mobility. So I'll just touch real quickly on the education side and that is we're doing work with the little ones and trying to make sure that they reach third grade reading proficiency by the end of third grade and so we want to get books in their hands. Books at the home, you know, encourage people to read, but that's a really important milestone because if you don't reach that, you don't have the tools with which to learn, because after that you learn to read up until then and then you read to learn after that. So if you don't reach that milestone, a lot of these kids don't graduate high school and some of them end up in the juvenile justice system. So it's a really critical milestone.

Speaker 1: 4:42

We focus on that justice system. So it's a really critical milestone. We focus on that. And then at the other end, with juniors and seniors in high school, we're doing a STEAM to careers program, getting them career ready and getting them aware of what other kinds of careers might be available to them and expose them to hands-on workshops as well as tours around the county to visit businesses and see what those jobs look like, meet the people in those jobs and hear about the pathway that they're taking or that they took to get to those jobs, because it's not always a four-year degree that makes it possible to get into a STEAM career in your future. So those are our education pieces and, you know, just really excited to be able to provide those.

Speaker 2: 5:23

I remember. You know, I'm first generation, so I had to figure out everything.

Speaker 2: 5:28

And high school was when I, I guess, became aware of how you know little I knew. And then it wasn't until a little bit much older, when I actually got into the job force and all that that I was like, oh actually I'm really behind. You know, financial literacy, and it was such a struggle so I'm I'm glad that you know United Way is there to, you know, provide those resources and education, I guess, since we're, you know April 15 is the one that's right here Financial literacy month is just starting.

Speaker 1: 6:06

So no, that's something that's really important in that, you know, people usually don't know that there are free tax preparation opportunities. Here in San Diego County we run the Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition and we've been doing that since 03, 2003. And this is a group of now 45 organizations, some doing the outreach and education, helping you to let people know that you need to get your taxes done and there is an opportunity to get your taxes done for free. Access these services by calling 211, but then also educating them about the fact that they're even eligible.

Speaker 1: 6:49

A lot of times when people are making $67,000 or less, which is the eligibility criteria, when they're making less than that, they're like I'm not going to get anything back, I don't need to file any taxes. This is you know but they're actually could be leaving money on the table. So by calling 211 here they can find an appointment that's close to where you work or close to where you live or something that's really convenient with regard to time and you can go and have your taxes done for free. And many times what we hear is that some of the people they might get enough back to really help them, like make ends meet for that month or they may get more than that back. That really helps them get out of debt in some ways. That really helps them be surviving throughout the year. So you never know how much you're going to get back or if you're going to get anything back, but it's still take the opportunity.

Speaker 1: 7:41

And the other part of our organizations that are working in partnership with us they're the ones actually doing the free tax prep, and so there are sites that are fixed like they're set in stone. They're going to be there, come, show up, you know, make an appointment. And there's other times that we'll might do something that we call mobile pop-ups and that is like oh, we see this area that's kind of down, let's go put a place, something in place there for maybe a couple of days, but invariably those all fill up, like all the appointments are taken. So it's you know, once people know that they could possibly be eligible, they're taking advantage of that opportunity.

Speaker 2: 8:19

So what would you say for those that are like you know I'll do it myself, because you know, when I was younger I used to do them myself and I learned the hard way that you mentioned earlier leaving money on the table because I didn't know about. You know, depreciation and all that, all that stuff. So what would you say for those that you know our community does it a lot. They want to do everything you know by themselves.

Speaker 1: 8:48

Well, you know, you want that strength of independence, right? You want to have the confidence that you know what to do. They say that it's so simple and you just walk through it. But what we found with some of the people that are trained to do these free tax preparations they're especially trained for people in this situation that are making less than $67,000 annually and they know the questions to ask. They know that when you come in and you say like this is what I did last year and I don't know if it's accurate, they can go back and look and they can impact this year's filing. So they know all of that. They have the expertise, it's free, so why?

Speaker 2: 9:26

not utilize it.

Speaker 1: 9:27

You know, it's like it's just people who are volunteering to do this, but they go through an extensive training to be able to be prepared and and in some ways, sometimes they're better able to serve the needs of the people that are in this category than are the paid preparers, the people that are in this category than are the paid preparers. So, you know, it's really great to like reach out and find those that are doing the volunteer tax preparations that are free, yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:53

Yeah, and going back a little bit, you talked about the earned income tax credit. For those that don't know what that is Like, what is what is that? What does that mean? Why should I worry about it?

Speaker 1: 10:08

Well, that's exactly what this whole program is. It's for people who are making less than 67,000. They can come to United Way or to one of our partner organizations and find out whether they are eligible for that earned income tax credit. It's because you made earned income, you did make money this year, so is there any part of that that's due in a refund to you? And that's what the earned income tax credit is all about. And just to find out whether or not you're eligible.

Speaker 2: 10:36

Once I finally figured out to actually get somebody, it made life so much easier.

Speaker 1: 10:41

So I'm definitely going to make sure you know you can definitely probably you know walk through and do your taxes.

Speaker 1: 10:50

You know on the surface, like just answering the questions, you can get it done. But exactly what you're saying is that you don't know what you don't know, so you don't know what to, like, dig a little bit deeper into to see if there's an opportunity you don't know, like should I follow this question over here to you know to find out what the next question is? You, just if you just go through it on the surface level, you can complete your taxes. You know. But if you really want to make sure you're doing it accurately, if you really want to make sure, especially that you're asking all the right questions to get more credit back, you know why not do it. And you know sometimes if you're doing it for pay, with a paid one person that's helping you through it, sometimes, just knowing it the first time what the questions are, you could probably do it yourself the next year, but of course they changed all the rules and the regulations just a little bit each year.

Speaker 2: 11:42

So you know it's always best to get somebody that's really trained and knows what they're doing that, oh, that is true, like the, the tax stuff is always changing and you know we're busy, you know working and trying to, you know make ends meet, or or just like you know progress in our career, and to, on top of that, track all the changes of taxes. Like, yeah, that, like I have learned that I'm just going to always find someone that is knowledgeable or professional, so that way I don't have to worry about it.

Speaker 2: 12:19

And you know, that's one of the things that, not just with taxes, and if we may just go into a little bit of you know financial literacy for for this month this episode will be out. You know April. And that's the other thing as well. With financial literacy, we try to do all these things on our own. But Growing up myself, it wasn't until I actually sought out help, that a lot of these terms, a lot about finances, credit, all that stuff finally started to make sense, because I try to do it myself and I am smart, but it can get a little bit tricky.

Speaker 1: 13:04

Absolutely, and that's why we have a program that we call SparkPoint little bit tricky. Absolutely, and that's why we have a program that we call SparkPoint and this is a financial literacy and coaching program that we just started. I think we're in our second year now with SparkPoint and SparkPoint is where we might be working with some partner organizations to actually help coach people, whether it's individuals or families, through their financial concerns and issues that they want to address. In this program we want to try to help them maybe increase their income, potentially increase their savings, increase their credit score and decrease their debt. And they come in and work with our counselors and they pick which one do they want to work with first right and like no, try to tackle off four of them at one time, but try to tackle one thing first and let's talk about that and let's coach you through that.

Speaker 1: 13:52

Let's see what you need to do, what the opportunities are. You know where to go, what your resources are, so that we can help them do that. And we just started that two years ago. We're starting to see the impact. But we did model it after a program that some other United Ways in the state of California are offering and they've seen they've been doing it for longer and they see really much longer term success. People work with us anywhere from six to 12 months and we will just coach them through it. We also have some opportunities that are more open to the public than just the caseload that we're working with. So they're more open to the public and people can come in and bankers and some of the trained tax people and other people will come in and do some of that kind of walk them through.

Speaker 1: 14:38

Some of the financial literacy types of things that you need to know, and I mean some people are probably even thinking like what is financial literacy?

Speaker 1: 14:47

And that's really to begin to understand when money comes in to your bank account or to you, what do you do with it and how is it best to use that. You know, like my beginnings of financial literacy was my daddy telling me nancy, your first paycheck, I'm 16 years old, your first paycheck, half of it has to go to savings. You know I'm 16. So I don't have all of the worldly, you know expenses. So he felt like 50% should go to savings. And so you know, you begin to learn that way and then you're starting to think about from maybe like long time ago in my generation we got allowances. So how do you keep that money and decide like, okay, I'm going to try to buy this, like mine was a stereo. I first big purchase I wanted was a stereo and so I refused to save half of my paycheck. I said I'll start with the second paycheck, but this first one I'm buying that daggum stereo.

Speaker 1: 15:43

So I got my stereo and but you know it's. It's that kind of thing, just learning, like what are the smart things to do with that paycheck when it comes in the door? How much is realistic to put into savings when it feels like you don't have any money to spend yourself, right? So just being gay and beginning to learn what that is and understanding like another one is just understanding credit, like you mentioned. You know like should.

Speaker 1: 16:06

I get a credit card. How do I manage the credit card? Some people thinking that debit cards, it means your bank account is endless, which it's not, you know. So all of that has to do with your financial literacy and understanding and learning about how to manage your finances in a way that really serves you well and sets you up for the future. So our SparkPoint program does a lot of that work and hopefully, like I said, it's brand new. So we're looking at how we're doing that.

Speaker 1: 16:35

But we're also tying together some of the families, the juniors and seniors that we're working with in high school. They're probably have their families probably could really benefit from this financial literacy and coaching program. And then we also, within that, have a program called Bank On, and Bank On is where we're helping people like, say, they do start getting an income and they don't know what to do. Like, how do you trust banks and other financial institutions to take your money right and what are they going to do with it? Where should you place it within the bank? So, learning how to trust banks. But also, if you're already in a bank, like maybe you just have your money sitting there and you just withdraw it when you need to pay your bills. What else could you be doing with your money that might make more sense or might help you build more savings, if you, you know, just look at it differently, manage your budget differently, that you might be able to really set yourself up well for the future.

Speaker 2: 17:32

Yeah, I'm glad that you're putting that opportunity to for the parents.

Speaker 2: 17:41

Yeah because that is again I mentioned. Like you know, I had to figure it out but also, you know, do it for my parents and even to this day it's always like you mentioned earlier with the banks having to have those conversations with my mom and and my dad and figure out. You know things, simple things like credit and like they had they were very hesitant with doing like credit cards or anything like that. And so as someone that's trying to figure it out and then also teach it to my parents, I'm glad that you're having those opportunities to also bring them into building that financial literacy, because sometimes it can be difficult, as someone that was still learning it, to try to figure out like how do I teach this or convince my mom or my parents or my family to take action, because there's a lot of fear and anxiety that goes on there and you know they don't know. So anything that they don't know is kind of like hesitation.

Speaker 2: 18:45

So of course glad that that's being recognized and being brought into you know, united way and having those types of programs.

Speaker 1: 18:54

Well you know the other thing is is that it's trying to get younger people especially to think it's important. You know, it's kind of like me when I was 16 and didn't I wanted to spend my first paycheck on a stereo versus saving it. You know, like I didn't understand the value of saving at that point in time. You know, I just knew what I wanted and so you know, getting younger people to even realize that it's something important for them to learn is one of the first hurdles, right, and then the second is actually getting them to see how to manage that, even with their financial literacy. So I know now you think that if you were new it back then you would have really appreciated it, but maybe not you know, because it might be telling you stuff that you don't really want to hear.

Speaker 1: 19:41

That's probably how I would have been, how I was with my daddy Nope not going to do that.

Speaker 2: 19:47

I'm not going to do that how I was with my daddy. Nope, not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. That is so true, because my I have a stepson. He is 15 and he's looking to get his first job, probably this summer.

Speaker 1: 19:56

So I'm already trying like okay, well, this is the plan and we'll see. We'll see how that goes, good luck.

Speaker 2: 20:03

Good luck with that yeah, yeah, and so, um, you were mentioning earlier about like financial, uh, what was it that you called it? Like mobility? Uh, what does that mean and how, um, do you help, you know, encourage that?

Speaker 1: 20:22

yeah, well, all of these programs that I've talked about, we hope really impact people's economic mobility or their financial mobility when they learn more, you know, when they learn more about how to manage their money, when they learn more about credit, when they learn more about all of that. If we're helping them to increase their income, you know, that's where you start getting some mobility in your ability to, you know, reach new goals or to provide more for your family or, to, you know, do more things that you wanted to do. That's where you start getting some financial mobility. Instead of, this is the only pot of money that I get coming in. There's never going to be more. That's all I'm just like. This is all I have to manage. Like, what can we do to help you? Look at things that might increase your credit, increase your savings, increase your income, or decrease your debt.

Speaker 1: 21:12

What are those kinds of things that might be possible or accessible for you to do? So that's where we talk about the financial mobility.

Speaker 2: 21:20

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 21:22

It's, it's, you know, growing and hope, hoping for the best for the next generation and increasing um as well, because that's definitely uh important in my community and, uh, of course, you know, one of my passions is making sure we, we uh encourage that and learn and teach and and all that. So, um, I was reading that you also work, uh and well, you partner with not just you know you it says on here schools, but also with other you know um, basically around the county. So I'm curious, like you know who you work with and stuff.

Speaker 1: 22:05

You know, really our partners are awesome. Like I said, in our Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition we have 45 different organizations, so there's no way I can name them all. Yeah, the ones that really do a lot of the on the ground tax preparation are organizations like Dreams for Change and Interfaith Community Services. There are others that are doing the on the ground home start. There's just plenty that are doing the actual tax preparation services and then others that are doing the outreach and education. But you know, like for our SparkPoint in Escondido that area we're working with Interfaith Community Services. We're working with interfaith community services. We're working with Lifeline Community Services to do some of this work with some of their clients that they're already working with because maybe they're getting surplus food provided to them or things like that, so they're already clients within the organization and giving them just an additional boost of information. We also work with 2-1-1. I've mentioned them. They are the place to call if you need resources or have a question and they can help answer it for you, get you onto the right path.

Speaker 1: 23:15

We work with the IRS in the Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition, as well as the County of San Diego.

Speaker 1: 23:21

So you've got the county, you've got federal government. You've got you know, a lot of some of our programs, like our steam to careers, are at Escondido high school and Lincoln high school, um, so we're working with the schools in that way. So it's a real, real well-rounded group of partners that we work with in the County, within the County. Um, the school districts are part of the work that we're doing here in San Diego County. We have 43 different school districts, so we're only working with about two or three of them right now. As we get more of the growth in our programs, we hope to expand into other areas as well. But right now, escondido High School, lincoln High School, surrounding areas with a lot of our work Earned income tax credit is all around the county. No matter where you live, we probably have a site that you can go to to get your taxes done. So you know we're all over the place and working with as many partners as we can.

Speaker 2: 24:19

Yeah, that's awesome because it does take a whole I guess, village, you would say people to come together and help bring these communities up and teach financial literacy and all that.

Speaker 1: 24:37

Yeah, I mean we learned that during the pandemic there was no one organization that could do it all. We all had to work together. We all had to find out, like, where are you providing food so I can provide food over here, where are you doing this so I can be over here? Like we needed to cover the entire county. And so we all learned that you have to work in partnership with others, you have to work collaboratively, you have to have good communication between the organizations in order to provide care and services and the needs that people have in our community.

Speaker 2: 25:10

I guess it's a little bit on the news. I kind of going a little bit backwards, back to kind of like the taxes, because it popped in my head with the news of itin. Um, because of everything that's going on now, it's like confusion on like whether to do it or what is it. For those that may not be aware, I I, you know didn't have to use it because I was undocumented when I was younger, but I know my dad did it at the beginning, before he got his citizenship as well, and so I didn't know what an ITIN was. And do y'all work with ITIN?

Speaker 1: 25:49

Yes, of course we do. Yeah, this is a temporary tax identification number that you can obtain if you don't have a social security number in order to file your taxes, and this is certainly in this time, with the administration and the changes that we're seeing happen. All along we've been able to tell people that if you get an I-10 number and we'll help you get that number but if you get that I-10 number, we can actually do all your taxes and everything, and right now the law protects you. Your I-10 documentation will not go anywhere beyond the IRS. We are not as certain about that now. We do still encourage people because if you are here and you're working and you're getting a paycheck, you must file taxes.

Speaker 1: 26:36

But it is a little bit more iffy right now about whether or not it will continue to be protected with the IRS and above. So you know, all we can do is tell people it is the law to file your taxes and, you know, talk with them about why it's important to get that I-10 number. And I-10 is I-T-I-N because it sounds like you're saying you know, like, you know, like whatever. Um, but it is an i-10 number and it is through the irs and you know, we still encourage people to file your taxes to get that number, and I understand that people do take a risk right now because there's no law change. The law is still the law, but, um, you know, as we're seeing, sometimes that law is being overlooked or, um, ignored, and we just don't know with the same certainty that that's going to be a difficult, um I guess, uh hurdle to help uh them overcome because of the fear right now.

Speaker 2: 27:39

But, like you, said it's like it's something that you have to do anyways and then if you want to, you know, later on down the road, um, you know, adjust your status. It's a, you know, one of the requirements sometimes of like to make sure that you have been paying your taxes and all that and so yeah, it's kind of like yeah, it's a convoluted circle, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 28:02

You have to, but you have this risk. But if you end up getting you know some sort of you know question about it, then you have to have filed your tax. It's very convoluted and I understand people need to evaluate that risk for themselves. All we can do is tell them that the law says you, should you have to file your taxes.

Speaker 2: 28:25

Yeah well, thank you so much for you know coming on here and sharing this resource. Where can they, uh, find united way and you know, and what kind of? I guess I know you mentioned tax services is one of them right, but for those who are interested? Where can they find?

Speaker 1: 28:41

uh, you know so you can kind of get the broad overview of everything if you go to our website and that's uwsdorg, just the first letters of United Way San Diego. So, uwsdorg, if you're really interested in moving forward with the tax preparation, you can call 211 here in San Diego. They'll they'll talk you through everything you need to know, all the documents that you need. They'll talk you through all of that and set up an appointment for you that you can go and get your taxes done.

Speaker 2: 29:11

Yeah, yeah, also, and I will have all that information in the show notes or the description depending where you're listening to on the podcast and, yeah, any other last tips or things that you wanted to mention before we close the episode.

Speaker 1: 29:30

You know, not a whole lot, but I would just really encourage people to reach out and find out what resources are available to you and utilize them. These are the kinds of things that will help you get your feet on the ground If you need that. These are the things that will help you get full move forward in your life and providing for your family If you need that or want that. You know, it's like I just there's so much out there. Take advantage of what's out there for you to access and really encourage people to do that. But thank you so much for inviting me to be on as a guest. I've really enjoyed our conversation.

Speaker 2: 30:04

Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's. It's definitely a lot of resources out there, um easier now than ever to just like find them online and everything. So definitely make sure you know, uh wherever you're at, even if it's not San Diego, um to go out there and see what's available near you.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Yeah, and the 211 is actually everywhere, so there's a possibility that there's a 211 near you. If you're not in San Diego County, you know, I know this one really well. But you know, try and find out if there's a 211 and they can give you a lot of the resources that are available in your community.

Speaker 2: 30:41

Awesome. So yeah, yeah, definitely check that out, see if it's available. So, yeah, yeah, definitely check that out, see if it's available.

Speaker 1: 30:46

But, again.

Speaker 2: 30:46

thank you so much, Nancy. That's it for this episode. I will see everyone in the next one. Bye, Bye.