Our Mission

CTR is really unique in that we integrate research and systemic advocacy with direct representation, litigation, and services (through our Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC)).   We actually just revised our mission statement this year to better reflect all the work we do and the roles we play:

The Center for Taxpayer Rights is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering taxpayers’ awareness of and access to taxpayer rights and deepening their understanding of the role taxation plays in achieving the common good.

We accomplish our mission through individual and systemic advocacy.   By providing free legal assistance to US low income taxpayers and technical support to low income taxpayer clinics in the United States and internationally, we help ensure tax administrations are fair and just.  We advocate for systemic change by connecting with national and international policymakers, advocates, and academics on issues impacting taxation and taxpayer rights; filing amicus briefs and participating in high-impact litigation in important tax cases; and promoting transparency through freedom of information act requests and other research. 

 Through these and other initiatives, we help ensure tax systems promote and support the economic inclusion and wellbeing of all.

We have several significant research projects underway, which we will be reporting on over the next several months in the new year:

• Toward a more inclusive tax system: Shaping the Benefits-mission of the Internal Revenue Service – This project, funded by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (RWJF), is a two and half year exploration of how the IRS administers tax provisions that benefit families and children, including the child tax credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It’s a three-prong project that includes (1) interviews with low income taxpayers who have been the subject of IRS audits and a nationwide survey of poverty-level households about their experiences and attitudes toward the IRS; (2) a survey of how other agencies – international and domestic – deliver benefits to low income populations; and (3) interviews with IRS employees who interact with low income taxpayers.  This 360-degree view of the tax benefits system will serve as a basis for recommendations for improving that system.
  
  
• Developing an Expansive and Inclusive Definition of Family for US Income Tax Provisions – Funded by the RWJF Global Learning initiative and building on our 360-degree-view tax benefits system project discussed above, this project takes a deeper dive into how different countries and cultures define “family” and “household” in order to make recommendations to US policymakers and tax administrators about how to adopt a more expansive and inclusive definition of “family” for purposes of tax provisions designed to benefit families and children.
  
  
• Developing a Comprehensive and Holistic Return Preparer Strategy — Over 2024 and early 2025, CTR is researching and conducting interviews with US federal and state and international tax administration officials about the issues they see with respect to for-fee tax preparation.  During the 2025 US filing season, CTR and its partners will be conducting “mystery shopping” visits to un-credentialed return preparers serving the low income taxpayer community, to assess the competency of return preparation for that community.  We will also be conducting a pilot program to measure the impact a targeted education campaign has on taxpayers’ behavior in avoiding scams and incompetent/unscrupulous return preparers.  Based on this study, which is funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation/Arnold Ventures, CTR will make informed, actionable recommendations for how the IRS can ensure the quality of return preparation in today’s environment, better detect problematic preparers and intervene quickly, thereby protecting taxpayers from errors and preparer fraud.

Low Income Taxpayers and Tax Clinics

Over the last year, in terms of our work in the United States, we have focused on vulnerable populations impacted by the tax system – not just low income but also incarcerated or formerly incarcerated persons, survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking victims, victims of scams etc.  Through our collaboration with the Harvard Federal Tax Clinic and other law firms and LITCs, we’ve filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs in a number of important cases – including one with the Supreme Court of Virginia arguing that Amazon drivers are employees and not independent contractors (the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) ruled that they were employees and Amazon appealed; we partnered with a number of groups, including Legal Services of Northern Virginia, in filing the amicus brief … oral arguments have been scheduled before the Virginia Supreme Court on January 8, and I plan to attend; if the VEC position is upheld, this would be a significant win for all working folks in similar jobs).

Our work through the LITC Support Center has grown substantially.  We now have over 140 LITC clinicians signed up for our confidential weekly calls and listserv, and through our outreach to publications and tax software programs, we have coordinated donations of products to the LITCs that in 2025 will raise over $1 million in matching funds, creating a potential additional $1 million in IRS funding for these programs!  And that doesn’t include the number/value of volunteer attorney hours we have created for the clinics through LITC Connect, our matching app for LITCs and volunteers. We have also coordinated LITC meetings with and comments to Treasury and the IRS on matters relating to Math Error processing of Rebate Recovery Credits and Advance Child Tax Credit payments, Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, and access to refundable credits by Domestic Violence Survivors.  We are working with the clinics on a coordinated litigation strategy regarding several of these issues. 

Finally, we have entered into an agreement with the U.S. Tax Court to provide pro bono attorneys to attend remote (virtual) calendar calls to assist pro se litigants.  We were gratified (and stunned) that within hours of sending a simple email to members of the Court Procedure Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section, we had 28 volunteers!  We’ve now participated in four trial calendars in the last six months of 2024, and we have four others scheduled for the first six months of 2025.  Through this program, CTR and its volunteers have helped many unrepresented taxpayers understand the law at issue in their cases, the evidence necessary to  persuade the court, and how to navigate the litigation process; in several cases, the volunteer attorneys have agreed to represent the taxpayers in their cases and even assist in handling collection issues should their case ultimately result in a tax liability.

International Taxpayer Rights and Digitalization of the Tax System

Of course, as you all know, CTR is international in scope; this year, I was honored to be awarded a Bellagio Center residency, where I was able to escape for a month and focus my undivided attention on a proposal for an International Digital Taxpayer Bill of Rights.  We are currently working with the World Bank and the University of Antwerp on a paper with recommendations for developing countries to increase trust in the context of digitalized tax systems; respect for taxpayer rights is key to this approach.  Additional international work includes moderating a panel at a conference in Manila, The Philippines in February on digital taxation/taxpayer rights, and in April we will be moderating a plenary session at the 16^th International ATAX Tax Administration Conference and hosting a workshop at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, for the tax clinics that have been created in Australia.  In my opinion, the ATAX conference is the best tax administration conference around.  Well, maybe it’s a close second to our own ICTR … which, as I noted at the beginning of this post, will be held at Harvard Law School next year from June 4 through 6, 2025.

In closing …

This is a ton of work we’ve been up to, but we have a terrific team and great partners.  At the start of 2024, we hired our first Deputy Director, Jacqueline (Jacq) Lainez Flanagan, and in August we added Nick Xanthopoulos, an experienced LITC attorney, to our staff.  For the return preparer project, Elaine Javonovich, former executive director of The Community Tax Law Project has been lured out of retirement to work with us, and Mandi Matlock of Texas Rio Grande Legal Services LITC has joined us on a part-time basis.  Rounding out our staff is the tireless and inspirational Dulce Mascorro, who has been with us since the summer of 2022, as our pro bono and training coordinator.  It is a small but mighty team, and I am enormously proud of them and awed by the work they accomplish every single day.

CTR is unique in that we have our feet in the communities we serve, and we make policy, legislative, and administrative recommendations that reflect our hands-on knowledge and the lived experiences of the folks we represent.  We bring a blend of direct service, administrative experience, and academic prowess.

If you’d like to be part of these efforts, let me know.  And of course, we welcome your financial donations to both the Center and other LITCs.  You can donate to the Center here, and you can find the list of all LITCs in the US here.  If you are in the US and you’d like to volunteer with LITCs, you can also sign up for LITC Connect; it’s a great way to contribute to equal access to justice for all, within the tax system.  And our deepest gratitude goes out to the volunteers for what they have contributed to date, and to all our funders, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Schusterman Family Phlanthropies.  Thank you!

All the best wishes for a peaceful holiday season and New Year ….

Nina

Nina E. Olson
Executive Director