Trusted Messengers' Role in Helping New Mothers File Taxes

In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) expanded the child tax credit (CTC) and automatically sent payments to eligible families based on tax returns filed in 2019 or 2020. Trusted messengers were critical to ensuring families filed taxes and received advance CTC payments for which they were eligible. Nurses working in close proximity with families at risk of missing out on the CTC, such as new parents, are a key potential trusted messenger group. This factsheet examines survey results of nurses who worked closely with new mothers through the collaboration between the National Service Office of the Nurse-Family Partnership ® (NFP) and Child First and Let’s Get Set. We find that most nurses referred some if not all of their clients to Let’s Get Set for tax-filing assistance, though some hesitated based on uncertainty about CTC eligibility criteria. Nurses’ comfort discussing taxes with clients and beliefs about the importance of discussing taxes increased after the start of the partnership with LGS. These findings stress the importance of training nurses for building their confidence as important messengers and the need to provide them with knowledge on eligibility criteria and resources to rely on if questions arise while discussing a complicated tax system.