Intuit's Credit Karma announced that it will partner with Intuit's TurboTax to give customers a more refund-focused experience this coming tax season.
Part of this will be helping taxpayers estimate their refund and provide personalized recommendations for how to further optimize it, based on the information in their Credit Karma profile. Credit Karma members who are getting a federal refund for tax year 2022 will also have the ability to get their refunds up to five days early should they deposit them into a Credit Karma Money account or get a Refund Advance loan, which can be obtained in as little as a minute after IRS acceptance.
Members can also receive recommendations on how to spend their refunds, based on the information in their credit profile: for instance, they might get a recommendation to put a portion of their refunds into a Credit Karma Money Save account, or to open a Credit Builder plan to help improve their scores. Intuit noted that the Credit Builder plan does require the opening of a no-fee line of credit and a no-fee savings account, both provided by Cross River Bank.
"Taxes can be stressful and overwhelming for many Americans," said Varun Krishna, Intuit's consumer group general manager, in a statement. "We want to change this dynamic by making it even easier for people to file their taxes and gain faster access to the biggest paycheck of the year for many — their refund. By integrating the best of TurboTax and Credit Karma, we're making a dramatically simplified tax experience for members that makes it noticeably faster for them to get their taxes done and quickly have their refund in hand."
Eligibility does not rely on filing taxes with a particular tax preparation service, such as TurboTax. However, people will not be eligible if they choose to pay their tax prep fee using their federal tax refund or if they take a Refund Advance loan.
