When we think of “maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” we often think of things like eating healthy, exercising regularly, and staying up to date on vaccinations and annual wellness visits. But strengthening our financial health is just as important to leading a long and healthy life. Financial stress can impact mental health, leading to conditions like anxiety and insomnia, and worsen physical health, including increasing the risks of heart disease.
Addressing financial stress can be a powerful prescription that works alongside other treatments. Providing easy access to financial empowerment services can dramatically reduce financial stress and lead to improved physical and mental health.
In fact, research shows that getting important tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, is linked to both infant and maternal health improvements. That is why, since 2018, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) and NYC Health + Hospitals have partnered together to form medical-financial partnerships and provide NYC Free Tax Prep services for eligible New Yorkers.
Just last year, our joint efforts helped almost 2,000 clients file their taxes for free, saving them nearly $300,000 in tax preparation fees and building on research that highlights the return on investment for low-income New Yorkers. This tax season, New Yorkers who made $85,000 or less as a family in 2023, or $59,000 as an individual or couple without dependents, are eligible to take advantage of NYC Free Tax Prep and avoid costly tax preparation fees.
The city’s network of NYC Free Tax Prep providers helped file more than 84,000 tax returns in 2023, saving New Yorkers more than $13 million in filing fees, but we know that thousands of eligible New Yorkers and their families are not taking advantage of this service and are not getting the fullest refund possible.
Paying for tax preparation services can be costly, and run upwards of $300, preventing many families from receiving the most money possible. We also know that some paid tax preparers take advantage of consumers by promising refund anticipation loans or express refund advances to charge hidden fees and interest to filers.
Our NYC Free Tax Prep volunteers are trained by the Internal Revenue Service to provide professional tax preparation services. These dedicated tax heroes make sure that clients receive the maximum refund possible, including the NYC Earned Income Tax Credit, which Mayor Adams expanded last tax season for the first time in almost 20 years, all at no cost. There are more than 140 sites around the city and in-person and virtual options are conveniently offered through more than 20 NYC Health + Hospitals sites. Services are available in multiple languages.
In recognizing the successes of co-locating NYC Free Tax Prep services in our public hospitals and clinics, the mayor announced earlier this year at his State of the City address that DCWP will embed Financial Empowerment Center services at select NYC Health + Hospitals sites.
NYC Financial Empowerment Centers offer free one-on-one professional and confidential financial counseling services to help New Yorkers reach their financial goals. Our counselors are trained to do a full financial health assessment to help New Yorkers manage their money, establish or improve their credit, open safe and affordable bank accounts, reduce debt (including student loan debt), create spending plans, and more.
Since their inception in 2008, NYC Financial Empowerment Centers have served more than 73,000 clients, helping them to reduce their overall debt by more than $100 million and increase their savings by more than $11 million.
Expanding access to these vital financial health services at NYC Health + Hospitals sites builds on research that highlights the health benefits of providing financial counseling at clinical centers. These counselors will offer all of the services available at Financial Empowerment Centers across the city, but conveniently located where many New Yorkers receive health care.
They add to NYC Health + Hospitals’ array of interventions to identify and support patients’ social needs, such as health-related social needs screening in primary care and an emergency cash transfer program for low-income COVID-19 patients at the onset of the pandemic.
Since the beginning of the Adams administration, the mayor has challenged us to collaborate to find new and creative ways to help more working New Yorkers, and to take a holistic view to improving the health and wellbeing of our neighbors. Integrating DCWP’s financial health services at NYC Health + Hospitals ensures that patients get both the health and financial care they need to improve their lives and achieve their goals.
Learn more about DCWP’s Financial Empowerment Centers and NYC Free Tax Prep at nyc.gov/Consumers.
Mayuga is the commissioner for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). Davis is vice president and chief population health officer at NYC Health + Hospitals.
Better options for tax time: The city can help you file your return
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25.03.2024
When we think of “maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” we often think of things like eating healthy, exercising regularly, and staying up to date on vaccinations and annual wellness visits. But strengthening our financial health is just as important to leading a long and healthy life. Financial stress can impact mental health, leading to conditions like anxiety and insomnia, and worsen physical health, including increasing the risks of heart disease.
Addressing financial stress can be a powerful prescription that works alongside other treatments. Providing easy access to financial empowerment services can dramatically reduce financial stress and lead to improved physical and mental health.
In fact, research shows that getting important tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, is linked to both infant and maternal health improvements. That is why, since 2018, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) and NYC Health Hospitals have partnered together to form medical-financial partnerships and provide NYC Free Tax Prep services for eligible New Yorkers.
Just last year, our joint efforts helped almost 2,000 clients file their taxes for free, saving them nearly $300,000 in tax preparation fees and........
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