Effects of a randomized tax-time savings intervention on savings account ownership among low-and moderate-income households

Mathieu Despard; Michal Grinstein-Weiss; Anna Deruyter; Shenyang Guo; Jane E. Oliphant; Terri Friedline

doi:10.1891/1052-3073.29.2.219

Effects of a randomized tax-time savings intervention on savings account ownership among low-and moderate-income households

Mathieu Despard
, Michal Grinstein-Weiss
, Anna Deruyter
, Shenyang Guo
, Jane E. Oliphant
, Terri Friedline

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Being unbanked makes it difficult for low and moderate-income (LMI) households to manage finances, save, and access credit. We assessed effects of an online tax-time savings intervention on savings account openings in the 6 months following tax filing among a sample of 4,692 LMI tax filers. Treatment group participants had 60% greater odds of opening a savings account than control group participants (p < .05). However, statistically significant treatment effects were found only for participants who filed early in tax season and only for 5 out of 18 specific interventions. Low-cost messages delivered at tax time can encourage early season LMI tax filers who expect larger refunds to open savings accounts. Findings lend additional empirical support for financial inclusion efforts.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	219-233
Number of pages	15
Journal	Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning
Volume	29
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1891/1052-3073.29.2.219
State	Published - 2018

Keywords

Financial inclusion
Financial services
Low-income households
Saving
Taxes
Unbanked

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10.1891/1052-3073.29.2.219

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title = "Effects of a randomized tax-time savings intervention on savings account ownership among low-and moderate-income households",

abstract = "Being unbanked makes it difficult for low and moderate-income (LMI) households to manage finances, save, and access credit. We assessed effects of an online tax-time savings intervention on savings account openings in the 6 months following tax filing among a sample of 4,692 LMI tax filers. Treatment group participants had 60\% greater odds of opening a savings account than control group participants (p < .05). However, statistically significant treatment effects were found only for participants who filed early in tax season and only for 5 out of 18 specific interventions. Low-cost messages delivered at tax time can encourage early season LMI tax filers who expect larger refunds to open savings accounts. Findings lend additional empirical support for financial inclusion efforts.",

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AU - Deruyter, Anna

AU - Guo, Shenyang

AU - Oliphant, Jane E.

AU - Friedline, Terri

PY - 2018

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AB - Being unbanked makes it difficult for low and moderate-income (LMI) households to manage finances, save, and access credit. We assessed effects of an online tax-time savings intervention on savings account openings in the 6 months following tax filing among a sample of 4,692 LMI tax filers. Treatment group participants had 60% greater odds of opening a savings account than control group participants (p < .05). However, statistically significant treatment effects were found only for participants who filed early in tax season and only for 5 out of 18 specific interventions. Low-cost messages delivered at tax time can encourage early season LMI tax filers who expect larger refunds to open savings accounts. Findings lend additional empirical support for financial inclusion efforts.

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KW - Taxes

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Effects of a randomized tax-time savings intervention on savings account ownership among low-and moderate-income households

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Keywords

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