Can I offer refund advances at my tax office?
Yes, through a bank partner — you cannot lend against a refund yourself. You enrol with the bank before the season, they approve or decline each client, and the advance is repaid from the refund when the IRS releases it.
How it actually works
| Stage | Who does it |
|---|---|
| Enrolment | Your office, with the bank, before the season opens. Requires a valid EFIN. |
| Application | The client, at your desk, after the return is prepared. |
| Approval | The bank. Your office cannot approve, override or promise an amount. |
| Disbursement | The bank, usually within hours of IRS acceptance. |
| Repayment | Automatically from the refund when the IRS releases it. |
Amounts run up to $7,500depending on the estimated refund and the bank’s decision. Not every client is approved and not every approval is for the maximum.
What to say at the desk
Three sentences, every time: the bank decides, not us; if the refund comes back smaller than estimated you owe the difference; and this does not make the IRS faster. An office that says all three has a client who is not surprised in May, and being unsurprised is most of what makes somebody come back next season.
Whether it is worth offering
Advances bring in clients who would otherwise go to whoever offers them, which in most markets is the office down the street. The trade is that you are now attached to a lending product with its own disclosures, its own failure modes and its own complaints — and those complaints arrive at your desk regardless of who made the decision. Offices that do this well treat the disclosure as part of the service rather than as paperwork to get past.
This is general information about how these products work, not legal or lending advice. Your bank partner’s agreement governs the specifics.
Related questions
- Who decides whether a client is approved?
- The bank, not your office. That distinction matters when you explain it to a client: a decline is not something your office did, and promising an amount before the bank has approved it is the fastest way to lose the relationship in the waiting room.
- What happens if the refund comes back smaller than expected?
- The client is responsible for the shortfall under the loan agreement they signed. This is the part most often glossed over at the desk, and it is the part that produces angry calls in May. Say it plainly at the point of sale.
- Does an advance make the IRS pay faster?
- No. The IRS timeline is unchanged — the advance simply gives the client access to part of the money sooner, from the bank. Anyone selling it as a faster refund is describing it wrong.
- When do I have to enrol?
- Bank enrolment generally runs in the autumn and closes before the season opens, and it requires a valid EFIN. An office that decides in January that it wants to offer advances has usually missed the window for that year.