TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kopczuk,Wojciech
AU  - Pop-Eleches,Cristian
TI  - Electronic Filing, Tax Preparers, and Participation in the Earned Income Tax Credit
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11768
PY  - 2005
Y2  - November 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11768
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11768.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Wojciech Kopczuk
Columbia University
420 West 118th Street, Rm. 1022 IAB
MC 3323
New York, NY  10027
Tel: 212/854-2519
Fax: 212/864-8059
E-Mail: wk2110@columbia.edu

Cristian Pop-Eleches
The Steinhardt School of Culture,
Education, and Human Development
New York University
82 Washington Square E
New York, NY 10095
Tel: (212) 998-4500
E-Mail: cpe3@nyu.edu
AB  - In 2002 more than 18 million low-income individual taxpayers received the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Despite its size, non-participation in this program is a concern and substantial effort is devoted by the IRS, local governments and many non-profits to address it. Most of the tax returns for EITC recipients are filed electronically by paid tax preparers who often charge significant fees for their services. Using variation across states in the introduction of state electronic filing programs, we show that the introduction of electronic filing had a significant effect on participation in the EITC. Our results are robust to accounting for other welfare, EITC and IRS reforms introduced during the same period. We suggest that this effect is due to the impact that electronic filing opportunities had on the tax preparation industry, therefore providing an example of how a market-based approach can be effective in addressing the problem of program non-participation.
ER  -