Tax Preparation Pilot

Integration of Tax Preparation Into Pediatric Clinics: A Pilot Study

The goal of this study to understand what percentage of families in the pediatric clinic at Boston Medical Center (BMC) currently file taxes and use free tax preparation and would accept and use referral to a free tax preparation service. The investigators specifically want to understand which of two methods of connecting to free tax preparation (referral versus navigated connection) is more effective. Also studied will be the feasibility of using surveys on financial wellness and other health indicators to track participants' health.

These pilot findings will be used to design a larger study that aims to assess whether integrating free tax preparation services into a pediatric clinic can increase tax filing rates and, as a result, the amount of money families receive in tax refunds. Additionally, the investigators hope to understand whether receiving this service impacts parental stress as well as how parents and babies are using the healthcare system.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Financial Stress; Maternal Distress
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Referral for tax preparation services; Other: Navigator assisted tax preparation services at BMC

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 69
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02118
      • Boston Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 1 second to 5 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Guardian of a child 0-5 years
• English, Spanish, or Haitian-Creole -speaking
• Child is a Boston Medical Center pediatric primary care patient

Exclusion Criteria:

• Guardian not present at time of clinic visit
• Have no taxable income for the calendar year
• Not using BMC for pediatric primary care
• Have already filed their taxes for 2020

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Referral for tax preparation; Participants will be given contact information on financial services, including all the free tax preparation services in the city, including Boston Medical Center.	Other: Referral for tax preparation services; Printed materials will be provided with contact information for tax preparation services at BMC and other sites in the city.
Experimental: BMC tax preparation; A navigator will help the participants with using free tax preparation services located at Boston Medical Center or a service located elsewhere in the city.	Other: Referral for tax preparation services; Printed materials will be provided with contact information for tax preparation services at BMC and other sites in the city.; Other: Navigator assisted tax preparation services at BMC; A study navigator will assist the participant in accessing the BMC located tax preparation services.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Financial well being	The consumer financial protection bureau (cfpb) financial -well-being questionnaire will be used to assess financial stability. It has 5 items with scores from from 0 to 4 where 4 is the response associated with the best financial well being. Total scores can range from 0 to 16. They are interpreted with a table stratifying the participants age as 19-61 and 62+ and higher scores are more favorable.	12 months
Tax refund	A copy of the IRS tax return form will be reviewed to extract the total tax refund amount	12 months
Tax credits	A copy of the IRS tax return form will be reviewed to extract the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit amounts	12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Maternal mental health	The Beck depression inventory is a 21 item instrument with options of responses from 0 to 3. Total scores can range from 0 to 63 and are interpreted with this rubric: 1-10, these ups and downs are considered normal; 11-16, mild mood disturbance; 17-20, borderline clinical depression; 21-30, moderate depression; 31-40, severe depression; over 40, extreme depression	12 months
Maternal well being	The Flourishing Scale is a 12-item summary measure of well being. Each of the items is self-rated on a a scale of 0 to 10 where 10 is the best possible response related to well being. Total scores can range from 0 to 120. HIgher scores are associated with higher levels of well being.	12 months
Parenting skills	The 'Me as a Parent' questionnaire will be used to assess parenting skills. It is a 16 item scale where a parent is asked to rate how strongly they agree or disagree with the statements. Responses range from 1 to 5 with 1- strongly disagree and 5= strongly agree. Total scores range from 16 to 80 and higher scores are associated with stronger parenting skills.	12 months
Maternal healthcare utilization	The electronic medical record for the mother/guardian will be reviewed and the total number and types of health care utilized (eg outpatient visits and hospitalizations) will be abstracted.	12 months
Child healthcare utilization	The electronic medical record for the child will be reviewed and the total number and types of health care utilized (eg outpatient visits and hospitalizations) will be abstracted.	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Boston Medical Center
• Collaborators: BU Clinical and Translational Science Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lucy Marcil, MD MPH, Boston Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 13, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 4, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): September 4, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 17, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 21, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): October 22, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 5, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 30, 2020
• Last Verified: September 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Tax preparation service; Tax filing; Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); Child tax credit
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Financial Stress
• Other Study ID Numbers: H-38575

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No