Benefits of Offering Bank Products Through Tax Preparation Businesses
Only a portion of clients have access to a bank, so offering bank products along with tax preparation services can be a great option. According to the FDIC, more than 6 percent of American households don’t use a bank, and an even larger percentage use financial products outside the banking system. Providing additional products for underbanked clients can be a win-win situation for tax preparation businesses and customers.
What is Considered a Tax Bank Product?
Tax bank products are any software that provides fee payments without needing a client to have a bank account and are specifically available through tax preparation businesses. Many of these products offer refunds in several ways, whether electronic refund deposits, prepaid debit cards, or electronic refund checks.
These financial products allow clients to use your tax preparation services without paying upfront fees. For example, the tax prep fees are automatically removed from the client’s refund, and the money is routed from the IRS to another tax bank. Software vendors often work with various tax banks, so it’s a good idea to do some research before deciding on a service.
How to Offer Tax Bank Products?
The first step in providing tax bank products is to apply to be an authorized e-file provider. Once approved, you can choose from different bank products for tax preparers. Tax preparation businesses can then finalize the process by setting up the software to offer clients financial products.
How Tax-Refund Bank Products Benefit Both You and Your Clients
Providing financial products is beneficial to both tax preparation businesses and your clients. By offering these bank products, tax professionals qualify for additional programs to help them grow their business. These programs include pre-season loans to get their business up and running in November/December, in-season prep fee advances to help the preparer get paid sooner, and to pay staff before funding starts, as well as taxpayer advances to help attract new customers to the tax preparer’s office and to be able to compete with the big chain preparation franchises. Additional advantages of providing tax bank products include the following:
Convenience: Clients can easily schedule tax preparation services, and they don’t have to worry about incurring any out-of-pocket fees.
Faster Process: Another benefit of tax bank products is that it’s a much quicker process for receiving a tax refund payment.
Variety of Payment Options: Many different options are available for clients to receive their tax refund payment, whether it’s a debit card, direct deposit, or check.
Here are the primary ways tax preparation services can benefit from bank products.
Simple Payment Process: You will receive payment for your services much more quickly, and you don’t have to worry about tracking down payments.
Gain a Competitive Edge – Another benefit of using bank products for tax preparers is that offering these services often give you an edge over other tax preparation services that don’t offer these products.
Attract More Clients: You can also attract more clients that want to avoid paying for tax preparation services upfront.
Here are some of the bank products available from Sigma Tax Pro.
PayDash
PayDash makes it easy to provide cash advances to help tax professionals grow their companies. A strong customer service team is also available if you ever need assistance.
Tax Products Group
Tax Products Group offers a variety of financial products to match your customers’ needs best. These financial products are great for tax preparation services and independent tax professionals.
EPS Financial
EPS Financial provides flexible electronic payment systems for tax preparation services. Keeping things simple while staying up to date with the latest regulations makes EPS Financial a popular choice for tax preparation businesses.
Refund Advantage
Refund Advantage allows you to customize your account in several ways while making managing your tax preparation services easy. Creating the best experience possible is always a priority.
Republic Bank Tax Refund Solutions
Republic Bank Tax Refund Solutions has over 25 years of experience in helping clients receive their refunds quicker. Using these services is a great way to keep things simple and convenient.
Closing Thoughts
Expanding your offered services by providing tax bank products is an excellent choice for growing your business. These services offer many benefits, such as providing clients with a variety of payment options, as well as providing convenience. Offering these financial products is especially beneficial for the underbanked, as it gives access to their tax refund even if they don’t have bank access.
Now is the best time to begin applying for these tax bank products!
