Saving Money When Filing Taxes

This article was originally published in the Standard Journal on February 10, 2015. See it here.

Tax season is in full swing.  As a child I saw it as a time when my accountant dad became a distant memory and my mom got a lot more overwhelmed.  Now I see it as a time to hopefully get a little unexpected money in my pocket (having kids provides a variety of different blessings!).

In this world of e-filing your taxes through websites such as TurboTax or H&R Block, there are ways to maximize your refund.  I’m not talking about extra tax credits or any of that jazz.  I don’t know a thing about tax rules.  That is why I have my dad. 

No, I am talking about using cash back websites to earn up to 20% back on what you spend to e-file your taxes. 

Ebates is one of the many cash back websites that offer you a percentage of your purchase price back when you shop through their links.  It may sound complicated but it is actually very simple. 

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First, you sign up for a free Ebates account, create your profile, and then start all of your online shopping on the site.  If you need something at Walmart, first go to Ebates.com, search “Walmart” and then use their link to head over to the Walmart page.  Your purchase will be tracked and your cash back will be credited to your Ebates account.  Once a certain amount of cash back is reached then Ebates will send you a check.

ShopAtHome and SavingStar are other websites that are essentially the same as Ebates.  Stores pay these cash back companies for every customer that makes a purchase through the website links, and the company then gives the customer a percentage of that.

The best way to use these cash back sites is to compare their different cash back offers any time you want to make a purchase.  Not long ago I needed to order contacts through Walgreens, so I checked Ebates and SavingStar to see which would give me more back.  Ebates offered 4% cash back and SavingStar would give me 8%, so naturally I decided to shop through SavingStar. 

I recently started using ShopAtHome as well and have been impressed with some of the deals offered there.  Recently there was a deal that got me a whopping $12 back on a purchase of $16. That is a 75% savings!

So, what does this have to do with taxes?  Well each of the websites I have mentioned offer cash back on purchases made from Turbo Tax, H&R Block, and TaxACT.  This means that if you have to pay for using these sites to file your taxes, then you can get a percentage back of what you pay.  I just finished filing our taxes on H&R Block and had to pay about $60. When I was ready to file and pay, I made sure to first go to SavingStar.com and use its link to H&R Block because they were offering 20% back.  So in the end, I got $12 of my filing fee back!

Each site has different cash back offers and special coupon codes, and they do change periodically.  As of today you can shop through Ebates and get 10% back from H&R, 7.5% back from TaxACT, and up to 7.6% from TurboTax.  ShopAtHome is offering 12% back from H&R, 13% back from TaxACT, and 7% back from TurboTax.  SavingStar will give you back 20% from H&R and 15% back from both TaxACT and TurboTax.

Check out my blog for more in-depth instructions on how to use these cash back sites, as well as direct links to each.

Happy tax filing!