You could earn up to $500 by referring a friend to a tax filing software — here's how

If you know friends or family members who still need to do their taxes, you can make a little extra money by referring them to one of several tax software companies. Better yet, you don't necessarily have to be an existing customer of these services to refer others. 

One thing to remember is that the referred person needs to be a new customer, but you may find that the definition of a new customer is only limited to those who didn't file with the company in the previous year.

Similar to credit card referral programs, refer-a-friend offers from tax filing software companies allow you to earn a reward for each person you refer, up to a set maximum dollar limit determined by the company. You could earn a few hundred dollars in rewards if you refer multiple people.

To receive the referral bonus, the person you refer must be a new customer of the tax software company and sign up through the link you provide. The person must complete their taxes using a paid product from the company and will receive a discount for using your referral link. Once the person you've referred has finished their tax return, you'll receive your reward as a gift card in about 30 to 45 days.

Several well-known tax preparation companies currently have refer-a-friend offers, including TaxAct, TurboTax and H&R Block. Here's how the process works with each one.

TaxAct

With TaxAct's refer-a-friend promotion, you can get a $20 Amazon e-gift card for each new customer who signs up for TaxAct and files their taxes with your referral link. The maximum reward amount you can receive is $599. TaxAct considers a "new customer" as someone who did not use the company to prepare and file their 2022 tax return.

You can generate a referral link to share with others by submitting your email address on the bonus promotion page. When the referred person clicks your link, a 20% discount will be activated for purchasing any paid federal tax products.

After the person you referred redeems the discount offer to file their taxes, you'll receive your Amazon e-gift card within 30 days.

TurboTax

TurboTax offers a $25 gift card for each new customer you refer to file their federal taxes. You can refer up to 20 friends to receive up to $500 in gift cards.

You can generate a referral link by submitting your email address on the bonus promotion page. When the referred person clicks your link, a 20% discount will be activated toward TurboTax Online or TurboTax Live federal products. The terms & conditions for TurboTax's offer do not define a new customer, but it may be worth seeing if your friend or family member qualifies for the discount offer if they did not use TurboTax in the past year.

After the person you referred redeemed the discount offer to file their taxes, you'll get an email within 45 days to claim your reward by selecting an e-gift card from their list of options. After you select your reward, another email will be sent with the e-gift card.

H&R Block

H&R Block has a slightly different referral offering as it's valid for more than just online tax prep. Instead, it has three different options, one for completing a tax return with an H&R Block tax pro or Block Advisors, one for purchasing a 12-month bookkeeping service and one for completing a tax return with H&R Block Online.

When you refer a new client who completes their return with a tax pro or purchases the bookkeeping service, you'll receive a $20 reward. The reward drops down to $10 for referrals who complete their return with H&R Block Online. The maximum reward amount that can be received is $300. H&R Block considers a "new client" as someone who did not use H&R Block or Block Advisors to prepare their 2022 tax return or use the company's bookkeeping services within the past year.

You can generate a referral link by submitting your email address on the bonus promotion page. When the referred person clicks your link, they will see the following options for discounted services:

• $25 off taxes prepared by a tax pro at H&R Block or Block Advisors
• 20% off online federal tax return filing 
• $150 off small business bookkeeping services

The tax pro and bookkeeping services each have codes that the referred person will need to screenshot or write down to present when redeeming the offer. If using the online tax service, the referred person can click "Get offer" and will be directed to the available online products.

After the person you referred finishes their tax return or completes their bookkeeping service purchase, you'll get an email within 30 to 45 days to claim your reward by selecting an e-gift card from more than 100 retailers, including Amazon, Airbnb and Lowe's, or you can get a Mastercard gift card.

As the discount offers and referral bonuses can only be activated by using your unique referral link, your friend or family member won't be able to combine their purchase with other bonuses requiring a unique link. This means they will not be able to use an online shopping portal, like Rakuten, to earn cash back or American Express Membership Rewards® points.

However, it should be possible to combine the discount with any linked offers from a credit card, such as Chase Offers, Amex Offers, Citi Merchant Offers or BankAmeriDeals. For example, if the referred person has a targeted offer of 30% back on TaxAct purchases, they should be able to use your referral link for the 20% discount, but then they'll also receive 30% back as a statement credit from American Express as long as the offer was linked to their credit card.

Compare offers to find the best savings account

Referring a friend or family member to complete their taxes is a win-win — you get a gift card and they get a discount. With so many tax preparation software providers to choose from, sometimes receiving an incentive for signing up can help make deciding which company to go with a little easier. Of course, one shouldn't solely base their decision on receiving a discount, but if it's a company they were already considering using, the discount is a nice added perk.

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