Tax-time saving and the earned income tax credit: results from online field and survey experiments

Tax refunds are an opportunity for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients to build emergency savings. Randomly assigned behavioral interventions in 2015 and 2016 have statistically significant impacts on refund saving take-up and amounts among EITC recipients who filed their taxes online. From a survey experiment, we also find that EITC recipients have a 49 percent and 59 percent increased likelihood of deferring 20 percent of their refunds for six months when hypothetically offered 25 and 50 percent savings matches (p < .001), respectively. These findings can inform policy development related to encouraging emergency saving at tax time.

Encouraging Tax‐Time Savings With A Low‐Touch, Large‐Scale Intervention: Evidence From The Refund To Savings Experiment

Low‐ and moderate‐income households often struggle to save, but the annual tax refund represents a prime opportunity for these households to save toward their financial goals or build their emergency savings. This paper presents the results of a randomized, controlled experiment embedded in a free tax‐preparation product offered in 2013 to low‐ and moderate‐income households. […]

The role of choice architecture in promoting saving at tax time: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment

Tax refunds give many low-and moderate-income (LMI) households a rare opportunity to save for unexpected expenses. We conducted three experiments aimed at increasing tax-time savings by LMI consumers. In a large field experiment, the most effective intervention increased the average savings deposits by about 50%. Delivered as people filed taxes online, this treatment consisted of […]

Use of Alternative Financial Services Among Low- and Moderate-Income Households: Findings From a Large-Scale National Household Financial Survey

Despard, M. R., Perantie, D. C., Luo, L., Oliphant, J., & Grinstein-Weiss, M. (2015, November). Use of alternative financial services among low- and moderate-income households: Findings from a large-scale national Household Financial Survey (CSD Research Brief No. 15-57). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.

Refund to Savings: Creating Contingency Savings at Tax Time

Grinstein-Weiss, M., Comer, K., Russell, B. D., Key, C., Perantie, D., & Ariely, D. (2015). Refund to Savings: Creating contingency savings at tax time. In J. M. Collins (Ed.), A fragile balance: Emergency savings and liquid resources for low-income consumers (pp. 87–106). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Refund to Savings 2013: Comprehensive Report on a Large-Scale Tax-Time Saving Program

Grinstein-Weiss, M., Perantie, D. C., Russell, B. D., Comer, K., Taylor, S. H., Luo, L., Key, C., & Ariely, D. (2015). Refund to Savings 2013: Comprehensive report on a large-scale tax-time saving program (CSD Research Report No. 15-06). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.