SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Credit Karma Tax, the only major free tax preparation provider that never charges users to file, has added to the selection of features and supported forms that members would expect to pay for with other leading tax preparation providers, at no cost to them—no matter what. Now in its third year and the fifth largest tax preparer in the U.S., Credit Karma Tax is launching new features to provide members with added peace of mind when filing, including an industry-first free audit defense, a new accurate calculations guarantee and an updated maximum refund guarantee which will pay the difference if users can find a better refund elsewhere. These features are designed to simplify the tax filing process and put money back in consumers’ pockets.
In addition, consumers can now expect a more streamlined onboarding process through Credit Karma Tax’s free Jumpstart feature and members can file their taxes entirely from their mobile device.
Credit Karma members who file with Credit Karma Tax will have access to a free premium product featuring free itemization, Audit Defense, business income and stock filings that could cost over $200 when filing with TurboTax1. Here’s what all can be expected from Credit Karma Tax this season.
- Free Audit Defense: Members who file with Credit Karma Tax will receive audit defense, completely free. Audit Defense provides correspondence management and in-person representation in the event that a member gets audited by the IRS or the state. A similar offering from other tax filing services is a paid add-on and costs up to $39.99 depending on provider.
- Maximum refund guarantee: If a member files with Credit Karma Tax first, but later receives a larger federal tax refund or owes less in federal taxes when they file an amended return with another online tax preparation service, Credit Karma Tax will make up the difference up to $100.
- Mobile Filing: Last year, more than half of Credit Karma Tax filers started their taxes on their mobile device. This year, members can file their taxes, from start to finish, directly from their smartphone with every step now mobile enabled.
- Jumpstart: Relevant information from a member’s prior tax return is auto-filled into the new return, allowing them to skip certain onboarding steps. New members can jumpstart their tax filing process by simply importing their prior year’s 1040 from H&R Block, TurboTax or TaxAct.
- Accurate Calculations Guarantee: Credit Karma Tax will reimburse filers should the IRS and/or applicable state tax authority impose penalties and/or interest on them due to a Credit Karma Tax calculation error. The filer will be reimbursed up to $1,000 in the form of gift card(s).
- Error double-check: Before a member submits their tax return, Credit Karma Tax will check and re-check the return to let the user know if anything looks off.
- Personalized guidance: Once a member inputs their tax data, Credit Karma Tax gives personalized guidance to help members maximize their refund, including helping them understand the impact of taking standard or itemized deduction and their filing status.
“It’s our mission to champion the financial progress of our members. And, when it comes to taxes, that means ensuring all of our members can get their full refund, without ever sacrificing a portion of it to cover the cost of filing,” said Jagjit Chawla, GM of Credit Karma Tax. “As a challenger brand offering a premium product that is truly one-hundred percent free all the time, we hope to lead by example and show that filing taxes doesn’t have to be difficult and it doesn’t have to cost money.”
Credit Karma entered the tax industry for the same reason it got into the credit space: consumers should not have to pay to access and monitor their financial information, nor should they have to pay to file their taxes. This is a prime example of the company’s win-win-win business model. Now, when a member files with Credit Karma Tax and agrees to share their tax information with Credit Karma, they'll receive more personalized recommendations for building their credit or saving money based on the additional insights into a member’s full financial picture. If a Credit Karma member takes one of these offers, the bank or lender pays Credit Karma.
Taxpayers interested in learning about how tax reform will impact their refund can use the Tax Reform Impact Tool, available to all Credit Karma members in the U.S. By entering a few bits of information, members can quickly see how different aspects of tax reform could impact their refund and other ways tax reform could affect their 2018 taxes. For more information visit www.creditkarma.com/tax/hub.
About Credit Karma
Founded in 2007 by Kenneth Lin, Nichole Mustard and Ryan Graciano, Credit Karma is a personal finance technology company with more than 85 million members in the United States and Canada, including almost half of all millennials. The company offers a suite of products for members to monitor and improve credit health and provides identity monitoring and auto insurance estimates. Credit Karma leverages advanced data modeling to analyze and identify the best financial products for its members and has facilitated more than $40 billion in credit lines across financial products like credit cards, personal loans, mortgage refinancing, automotive financing and student loan refinancing.
Learn more about how Credit Karma members are making financial progress on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
1 When filing your federal and state returns under the regular price for TurboTax® Self-Employed Edition and adding Audit Defense under their MAX Defend & Restore add-on package.
