Behavior Encouragement: Increasing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Uptake

Last registered on January 14, 2020

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Behavior Encouragement: Increasing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Uptake

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0005223

Initial registration date

December 30, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

January 03, 2020, 2:42 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

January 14, 2020, 2:50 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Massey Whorley

Affiliation

Virginia Department of Social Services

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Gloria Stout

PI Affiliation

Virginia Department of Social Services

PI Name

Dayanand Manoli

PI Affiliation

Internal Revenue Service

PI Name

Jeff Price

PI Affiliation

Virginia Department of Social Services

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2020-01-20

End date

2020-10-30

Keywords

Finance & Microfinance, Governance, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Earned Income Tax Credit

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

VDSS’ commitment to triumphing over poverty extends beyond the direct anti-poverty programs we administer with our local partners to include free tax prep sites and performing outreach for the federal and state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC). The EITC has been shown to a very effective policy tool for lifting people out of poverty, and promoting it is directly aligned with our mission. VDSS is statutorily mandated to conduct annual EITC outreach to our customers who are likely eligible. In a 2006 finding by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that only 13 percent of VDSS customers who were eligible for the EITC in 2003 claimed it. The impact of VDSS' current outreach is unclear. The proposed study intends to conduct a randomized control trial to test the effectiveness of different types of texts on tax filing outcomes. Our theory of change states that providing customers relevant, needed information (i.e. location/access to tax preparation services, amount of estimated refund) through communications channels they regularly use (i.e. text messaging) will directly influence their decision to file and claim the EITC. Therefore, we hypothesize that sending our customers text messages related to the EITC will have a statistically significant impact on the number of people who file taxes and claim the EITC. After contacting all identified customers we plan to compile responses, use those responses to understand which method of communication is most effective in getting our customers to file their taxes and claim the EITC, and improve our outreach plans.

External Link(s)

J-PAL North America announces five new partnerships with state and local governments

Registration Citation

Citation

Manoli, Dayanand et al. 2020. "Behavior Encouragement: Increasing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Uptake." AEA RCT Registry. January 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5223-1.1

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of text messaging reminding eligible Virginia Department of Social Services customers to file a federal tax return and claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Intervention Start Date

2020-01-20

Intervention End Date

2020-04-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Eligible Virginia Department of Social Services customers filing a federal tax return and claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The Office of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives in conjunction with the Office of Research and Planning within the Virginia Department of Social Services proposes to conduct a randomized control trial to test the effectiveness of different types of texts (e.g. generic vs. stating an amount vs. using a geolink vs. using a direct link to services) on tax filing outcomes. Our theory of change states that providing customers relevant, needed information (i.e. location/access to tax preparation services, amount of estimated refund) through communications channels they regularly use (i.e. text messaging) will directly influence their decision to file and claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Therefore, we hypothesize that sending our customers text messages related to the EITC will have a statistically significant impact on the number of people who file taxes and claim the EITC.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Each individual in our sample will be randomly assigned to the control group or a treatment group.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

300,000 to 400,000 individuals

Sample size: planned number of observations

300,000 to 400,000 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

60,000- 80,000 control, 60,000- 80,000 treatment A (generic text), 60,000- 80,000 treatment B (dollar amount), 60,000- 80,000 treatment C (geolink), 60,000- 80,000 treatment D (code for America link).

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB