Elina Tatis is the Senior Program Manager of New York City’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) within NYC’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). Elina has dedicated her career to fighting for the financial empowerment and security of New Yorkers. She does this by overseeing NYC’s annual Free Tax Prep program, which has been crucial in creating and protecting the financial health of low-income New Yorkers. Recently, Prosperity Now spoke with Elina about the OFE’s recently launched NYC Free Tax Prep for Self-Employed Filers program, specifically expanding services to small business owners and marking a key step in the protection of low-income New Yorkers.

This program recognizes the prevalence of self-employed Americans, gig workers, and small business owners in the economy, and how they are often overlooked in tax systems. Of the newly launched program, IRS SPEC Director said "We were so excited to collaborate with NYC in implementing this innovative and much needed pilot. We are thrilled with the initial outcomes from the first year and look forward to working with NYC to expand this pilot beginning in the 2024 tax season." 

Elina and the OFE envision a tax system that is fair and equitable for all. They hope that expanding free tax prep to more self-employed filers will set an example for other cities and show how tax laws and requirements can impact self-employed workers. With the creation of this expanded tax preparation assistance, Elina and the team at the OFE are doing all they can to ensure that every New Yorker has an opportunity to use free tax prep assistance and be justly included in the tax system. Read on for our full conversation with Elina.  

Tell us a little background about yourself and your role within the New York City Office of Financial Empowerment? 

I am Elina Tatis, the Senior Program Officer for the Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE). I oversee the development and implementation of the Free Tax Prep for Self-Employed Filers. I have previously launched and supported programs to connect micro-business owners to the City’s Financial Empowerment Centers for free, professional, one-on-one financial counseling and a legal support center to help owner-drivers of taxis receive relief from overwhelming debt.  

I grew up in a family that owned a small business, so I know how hard self-employed New Yorkers work to take care of themselves and their families! I know that working to build these programs and expand services to small business owners plays a vital role in creating a more equitable city, closing the wealth gap, and increasing opportunities for everyone.  

I am also a former senior financial counselor. This experience has been instrumental in identifying and recommending strategic interventions focusing on the financial health of the individual running a small business. As a result, I constantly reflect on the everyday financial barriers many entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals overcome to build assets through financial counseling.  

The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) protects and enhances the daily economic lives of New Yorkers to create thriving communities. DCWP licenses more than 45,000 businesses in more than 40 industries and enforces key consumer protection, licensing, and workplace laws that apply to countless more. By supporting businesses through equitable enforcement and access to resources and, by helping to resolve complaints, DCWP protects the marketplace from predatory practices and strives to create a culture of compliance. Through its community outreach and the work of its offices of Financial Empowerment and Labor Policy & Standards, DCWP empowers consumers and working families by providing the tools and resources they need to be educated consumers and to achieve financial health and work-life balance. DCWP also conducts research and advocates for public policy that furthers its work to support New York City’s communities. 

The annual NYC Free Tax Prep program is one of the signature activities of DCWP’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) which focuses programs and policies that support New Yorkers and communities with low incomes in building wealth and improving their financial health. DCWP OFE is the first local government initiative in the country with the mission to educate, empower, and protect New Yorkers and neighborhoods with low incomes so they can build assets and make the most of their financial resources. OFE coordinates a network of over 14 providers who deliver Volunteer Income Tax Assistance/Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE) and AARP Tax-Aide programs at nearly 150 sites throughout the city and online.  

Announced in March 2022 as part of Mayor Adam’s Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery, and launched in 2023, our NYC Free Tax Prep for Self-Employed Filers offers free tax preparation services to self-employed New Yorkers, including freelancers, gig workers, for-hire drivers, and small business owners, who often struggle to file taxes, manage financial recordkeeping, and face limited access to capital, banking services, and loans. This expansion will offer personal and business income tax filing for New Yorkers with self-employment and small business income through both annual filing and quarterly estimated tax filing, as well as educational workshops and one-on-consultations on recordkeeping and tax filing. 

What drives you to do the work you do? 

The launch of NYC Free Tax Prep for Self-Employed Filers is a vital part of Mayor Adams’s commitment to support small businesses, entrepreneurship, and a more equitable economy. This program was designed to primarily support micro- and small-businesses, freelancers and gig-economy workers who live in neighborhoods with low incomes, including Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs), and are unable to access trusted financial resources.  

Because supplying tax filing history can be a necessary component to accessing banking services, credit, and loans to sustain a business – including the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans – self-employed individuals and small business owners who do not file cannot access these resources.  

This unprecedented, nation-leading investment in free tax preparation services for small businesses builds community capacity by ensuring that small businesses thrive and grow. Not only does this program equip business owners with the resources, tools, and support to fulfill tax filing obligations, but also it prepares them to confidently and successfully sustain their business, access capital, and take advantage of other City programs. 

What challenges have you faced in program implementation?  

One challenge we faced was expanding this scope of services while maintaining the integrity and safety of services: Part of what makes the VITA program trustworthy is the IRS-provided training, certification, and oversight of the volunteer preparers. We sought to expand the scope of services to best serve self-employed filers while maintaining these critical protections for the filers and the program. Program sites are overseen by tax professionals such as IRS Enrolled Agents (EAs), Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), or licensed attorneys. While some of our providers have hired EAs to manage their programs, others have opted to support long-term volunteers in acquiring this credential.  

We were lucky to be able to build on other free and low-cost small business tax prep services, including the 2010 pilots supported by Prosperity Now (then CFED)! We received invaluable advice from Accounting Aid Academy in Detroit, Michigan, Prepare & Prosper in St. Paul, Minnesota, and CASH Campaign of Maryland. We also have benefited from the close collaboration and thought partnership of our network of providers in NYC and the IRS SPEC team – up to and including newly appointed Customer Assistance, Relationships & Education (CARE) Director Tracey Walker Carter, who at the time of the pilots launch was Director of SPEC. Catching up with Director Walker Carter last we, she was thrilled to talk about the pilot saying, "We were so excited to collaborate with NYC in implementing this innovative and much needed pilot. We are thrilled with the initial outcomes from the first year and look forward to working with NYC to expand this pilot beginning in the 2024 tax season." 

What have been some key resources, outreach strategies, and policy ideas that have been successful in the creation of the self-employed tax assistance program?  

Collaboration and open communication with a wide range of stakeholders has been key as we develop this concept, and their diverse perspectives and input have illuminated blind spots and helped shape the pilot. From the start of this pilot, we’ve coordinated with other City agencies serving freelancers and small business owners to nonprofit organizations, as well as established NYC Free Tax Prep providers.  

At the policy level, the Adams’ administration’s focus building the strength of innovators and entrepreneurs and promoting economic opportunity as key pillars of the Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery enabled the pilot. We’re excited to be a part of this inclusive and forward-thinking policy agenda.  

What innovations and other successes has DCWP utilized in New York City that are addressing racial wealth equity through the tax system or otherwise? 

NYC Free Tax Prep and the expansion to self-employed filers are strategically offered in partnership with trusted community-based organizations to ensure awareness and access by New York’s diverse communities and neighborhoods. Additionally, we ensure that sites are placed throughout the city’s five boroughs and in neighborhoods our research indicated as high-need, which often corresponds to communities where the impact of the racial wealth divide is apparent. We strove to identify partner organizations who are uniquely positioned to serve communities most likely to be either left out of or made vulnerable by traditional commercial tax preparation services.  

For example, we’re working with Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, a community-based organization that has, for nearly 45 years, provided a comprehensive range of services to families in Sunset Park, a densely populated neighborhood in Brooklyn with a large percentage of recent immigrants. Center for Family Life has integrated this pilot into its financial empowerment services to support their cooperative business development program to build economic and social justice.   

Additionally, we are working with two MWBE vendors to develop educational workshops and recordkeeping toolkits for that will soon be. It made sense for us that we would play a role in the City’s commitment to purchasing from small businesses in as many aspects of this program as possible.  

What are some broad tax-related advocacy and policy goals we should strive for? 

We envision a tax system that is fair and equitable for all. 

We hope that this project will bring greater light to how tax laws and requirements impact the range of self-employed filers from corporate structures, gig workers, and misclassified workers. While we hope that this pilot can be a national model, we also encourage the IRS to make changes to the entire VITA program so that more self-employed filers can be served through this free program. As more workers with low incomes start businesses or rely on gig economy platforms, the VITA program cannot continue to prioritize wage earners, leaving self-employed filers to fend for themselves.  

We strive to ensure that all New Yorkers, regardless of origin or immigration status, can take advantage of NYC Free Tax Prep and are justly included in the tax system. For example, our providers offer ITIN application and renewal services, and we are hopeful that the IRS will expand access to the Certified Acceptance Agent program to more VITA/TCE organizations. We additionally continue to advocate to expand eligibility for the New York State and New York City Earned Income Tax Credit to those who are not eligible for Social Security Numbers.  

Would you recommend that free tax assistance for self-employed workers be implemented elsewhere?  

Absolutely! This pilot should be replicated nationally. A 2021 study from the Pew Research Center reported that 16% of Americans had worked on a gig work platform and their ranks are growing, even while others start new independent businesses. It’s important to ensure self-employed individuals have access to free tax preparation services and educational resources so they can grow their businesses, building wealth for themselves, their families, and their communities!  

For more information about NYC Free Tax Prep, visit nyc.gov/TaxPrep. If you have questions about replicating in your own city, contact us at [email protected].