IRS's office of Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) is reaching out to other organizations and agencies as a way to educate individual taxpayers. Its focus is to build community-based partnerships with organizations that share similar public service goals. Through these partnerships, or coalitions, groups offer tax services and products that aid people on the road to better financial health.

One service often provided is free tax return preparation. Volunteers sponsored by local groups do basic tax returns for people who cannot afford to pay a tax preparer, yet cannot do their returns themselves. For example, in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, volunteers last year prepared tax returns for more than 100,000 people who needed help to file and claim tax credits due to them. The returns were filed electronically with the IRS, meaning that refunds were quickly on their way to community residents.

The Central City Asset Building Coalition (CCABC) in New Orleans is a good example of a community-based coalition in action. Led by Neill Goslin of the National Center for the Urban Community at Tulane and Xavier Universities, members come from non-profit groups, government agencies, businesses, financial institutions and faith-based organizations. According to Goslin, "The CCABC draws its strength from its diverse and extensive membership."

"The impact," says Goslin "is that we're bringing money back into the community. During our first year, we did 250 returns and brought in $400,000 in refunds. Last year, we did more than double that number, which led to $1 million in refunds. That's money that is coming back into New Orleans."

Yet the picture is broader. In addition to offering free help with tax returns, community-based partnerships promote financial literacy and asset-building in an overall strategy for maximum taxpayer benefit.

The primary objective of the CCABC, Goslin points out "is to educate low-income families on the many different ways they can keep more of the money they earn, and how they can use the tax refund they'll be receiving to start building up their assets and working toward their financial independence."

"We use the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) outreach campaign as an introduction to changing behavior," Goslin says. "But we also want to get people interested in our other programs, like Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). These special savings accounts are our primary program. It's a statewide effort and complements the EITC and free tax help by helping these families convert their tax refunds into assets like new homes or paying for college education."

SPEC currently has 271 local coalitions in 48 states, more than double the number from last year. Nearly 50 national partner groups such as the United Way, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, National League of Cities, Community Action Partnership, and National Credit Union Administration translate to hundreds of groups at the local level working toward self-sufficiency for taxpayers.