Self-Employment Tax Initiative

Posted by on September 1, 2008

Grants for Tax Preparation and Planning for Self-Employed Start-ups and Growing Businesses

CFED-NFED’s Self-Employment Tax Initiative (SETI) is happy to announce that a Request For Proposal (RFP) to develop tax preparation services and products for start-up and growing microbusinesses is now available for downloading at SETI’s homepage (http://www.cfed.org/go/seti).

The DEADLINE for applications is September 26, 2008.  Awards are made to non-profit programs in three tracks:  Startup programs ($10,000); Scale programs ($15-20,000) and Business Campaign strategies $30,000.  Award decisions will be made by mid-October with funds available immediately to plan and implement assistance for the coming tax season.  Total amount available for awards is $250,000 thanks to the support from the Citi Foundation.

NOTE:  A “Q&A” CONFERENCE CALL will be held on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 1:00 PM (Eastern) (see RFP for more details).

Questions about this RFP should be directed to Alex Villaverde at avillaverde@cfed.org

More information:
In the US, filing business taxes for the first time is a defining event, and for all startup and growing microbusinesses, business taxation is a critical financial literacy skill that must be mastered to succeed.  Almost by definition, startups in their first year of business are not prepared for determining their business tax situation.  Unfortunately, most do not know where to turn for the kind of comprehensive tax preparation and business planning assistance they need to “get their businesses right” for the long term.  This is the third year SETI has offered grants to non-profit microenterprise, community free tax preparation programs, and CDFIs to use the country’s annual “tax day” as an opportunity to reach out to start-up microbusinesses and other self-employed households.  Check out the SETI website for additional information.