IRS – Low Income Tax Clinic (2015)

By NLADA on May 6, 2015 • ( 0 )

APPLICATIONS DUE: June 15, 2015

Description: The Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) Program provides matching grants of up to $100,000 per year to qualifying organizations that represent low income taxpayers involved in controversies with the IRS and educate ESL taxpayers about their rights and responsibilities as taxpayers. Representation, education, and advocacy are the primary functions of LITCs.

Beginning in grant year 2016, all grantees must provide controversy representation services to low income taxpayers. The LITC Program will no longer award grants to organizations that provide only education and outreach to the English as a Second Language (ESL) community.

Funding Title: Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

Agency Name: Department of Treasury, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

Funding Instrument Type: Grant

Express Language for Legal Aid: Yes. “Core services in federal tax controversy cases include representing taxpayers in examinations, appeals, collection matters, and litigation. Core services also include representing taxpayers before specialized units of the IRS that handle matters such as account disputes, identity theft, innocent spouse relief, worker classification, or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) processing.”

Target Population: Low income taxpayers

Expected Number of Awards: 150

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: The LITC Program is a matching grant program. All grantees must provide matching funds on a dollar-for-dollar basis for all federal funds received from the LITC Program. Only funds that are used in direct support of the LITC Program qualify as matching funds.

Grant funds received from the Legal Services Corporation are not considered federal funds and therefore can be used as a source of matching funds.

How to Apply: The application must be submitted electronically via http://www.grants.gov. Use of grants.gov provides assurance that required entries are not left blank on the standard forms and provides receipt acknowledgement when the application is received by the LITC Program Office. The grants.gov website includes a narrated tutorial and Frequently Asked Questions to help you use the system. The Funding Opportunity Number for the 2016 LITC grant application is TREAS-GRANTS-052016-001.

Currently funded grantees applying for funding for the second or third year of a multi-year grant must submit a Non-Competitive Continuation request.

Current Closing Date for Applications: Jun 15, 2015

Estimated Total Program Funding: Approximately $10,000,000

Award Ceiling: $100,000

Award Floor: $1,000

Eligible Applicants: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education; Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; Private institutions of higher education

Priority Consideration: An overriding goal of the LITC Program is to provide services to low income and ESL taxpayers in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. To that end, the IRS encourages applications from clinics located in the underserved areas shown in the chart below:

Geographic Underserved Areas in Need of LITC Services

Alabama—Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville

Alaska—Anchorage, Fairbanks

California—Los Angeles, Sacramento

Colorado—Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins

Georgia—Atlanta, Savannah, Columbus

Mississippi—Jackson, Gulfport

North Carolina—Winston-Salem, Wilmington, Raleigh

North Dakota—Bismarck, Fargo

Oklahoma—Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Lawton

South Carolina—Charleston, Columbia

Texas—El Paso, Corpus Christi, Austin

Utah—Salt Lake City

Puerto Rico—San Juan, Ponce, Mayaguez

Notwithstanding the criteria detailed above, applications or NCCs from all areas will receive serious consideration.

Policy and Regulations on Use of Funds: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3319.pdf

Current/Past Funding Recipients: 2014 2015

Link to Full Announcement: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3319.pdf

Contact Information: Potential applicants may direct questions concerning the LITC Program or the application process to the LITC Program Office via:

Email:LITCProgramOffice@irs.gov;
Phone: 202-317-6659 (not a toll-free number); or Mail:

Internal Revenue Service Taxpayer Advocate Service LITC Program Office TA:LITC, Room 1034
1111 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20224.

Current grantees should direct questions about reporting or program requirements directly to their assigned Advocacy Analyst.

Questions regarding use of grantsolutions.gov may be directed to the Program Office via email at Beard.William@irs.gov.