Sec. 5. National center To promote quality, excellence, and evaluation in volunteer income tax assistance
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There is hereby established the National Center to Promote Quality, Excellence, and Evaluation in Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Center ). The Center shall— promote the adoption of a universally accessible volunteer training platform for the preparation of Federal income tax returns, provide capacity-building technical assistance to qualified return preparation program managers, identify and disseminate best practices related to tax site management emerging from States, community-based organizations, nonprofit providers, and local government entities, support outreach and marketing efforts to encourage the use of qualified return preparation programs receiving funding under section 4, and provide evaluation of programs and activities funded under this Act, including— identification, both in aggregate and disaggregate, of gaps in services for low-income taxpayers and underserved populations, and independent evaluation of progress toward program objectives, as defined by the Secretary.
The Secretary shall— designate, through a competitive process, one qualified entity to be the lead national organization, and provide an annual grant to the lead national organization designated under clause (i). The lead national organization shall use funds provided through the grant in subparagraph (A)(ii) to— carry out the purposes of the Center, and make subgrants as provided in subsection (b). The lead national organization shall make available subgrants to eligible organizations to facilitate specialized technical assistance in reaching one or more underserved populations.
For purposes of this subsection, the term eligible organization means any organization which— is described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code, has, to the satisfaction of the lead national organization, demonstrated expertise and evidenced-based practices in specialized outreach to, and service of, one or more underserved populations, and has, to the satisfaction of the lead national organization, demonstrated expertise in the provision of specialized technical assistance relating to qualified return preparation programs for one or more targeted underserved populations.
In order to be eligible for a subgrant under this subsection, an eligible organization shall submit an application to the lead national organization at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the lead national organization may reasonably require for each fiscal year. An eligible organization which receives a subgrant under this subsection shall assist the Center by— providing technical assistance to qualified return preparation programs with targeted outreach and assistance to one or more underserved populations, and including strategies for the provision of technical assistance targeting individuals and families with annual household earnings at or below 250 percent of the poverty line within the underserved populations served by the subgrant.
Each year, the lead national organization shall make available subgrants which, in the aggregate, do not exceed 40 percent of the grant received under subsection (a). Of the amount of subgrants provided under subparagraph (A)— not less than 25 percent shall be dedicated to specialized technical assistance in serving taxpayers with disabilities, not less than 25 percent shall be dedicated to specialized technical assistance in serving limited English speaking taxpayers, and not less than 25 percent shall be dedicated to specialized technical assistance in serving Native American taxpayers.
A subgrant awarded under this subsection shall be for a period of 1 year and shall not be renewed other than through an application under paragraph (3). For each of fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, there are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 to carry out the purposes of this section. Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authority of paragraph
(1)shall remain available without fiscal year limitation until expended.