Advance Loans

[Alfredo1967]

Does anyone know why the Pre-Acknowledgement Advance loans are not available with ProSeries? There is an option for a Refund Advance but when I try to file one, Proseries tells me that the electronic filing season starts February 12, 2020.

[IRonMaN]

"Proseries tells me that the electronic filing season starts February 12, 2020"

That's an interesting coincidence because the IRS tells me that's when it starts too.

[itonewbie]

Oh, that's interesting.  Coincidentally, I heard that Intuit will be happy to "securely store and forward to the IRS" returns that preparers may submit from Jan 28, ahead of Feb 12.

How very thoughtful!  But I think I'd rather securely store these returns myself and not be the guinea pig trail blazer for the first batch of e-filing.

Oh, did you also hear that there'll be no advance refund while these returns are secured stored until they actually get processed?

[Alfredo1967]

But other software like Crosslink are submitting for Advance loans thru TPG.

[itonewbie]

Is Crosslink the only one?  Don't see how they can do that when the IRS' MeF is still shut down.  Would be interesting to find out how that is even possible.

[Alfredo1967]

I though that and Advance loan would be able to be transmitted before the tax season began. Then why would they call it Advance tax loan?

[IRonMaN]

Because they get their money a little bit sooner than they would waiting for the IRS to send them their refund.

[itonewbie]

If your eyesight is better than mine, you can read the fine prints.  I find it good enough just reading the explanation in regular fonts.  The IRS has to first accept the return.

Why would they call it Advance tax loan?  Because it's a loan that's advanced ahead of the IRS actually processing the refund?

https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/223622007-How-Does-Fast-Cash-Advance-Work-

[TaxGuyBill]

I can't imagine any company giving an "advance" on the tax refund would do it until you actually e-file the return.

While some companies have been accepting returns for a couple of weeks, ProSeries doesn't start accepting them until January 28th.

Whether or not Intuit and the associated third-party loan sharks will allow the loans when e-filed starting on the 28th, or if they require you to wait until the IRS accepts the return on February 12th, I don't know.

[sjrcpa]

@Alfredo1967 that's Feb 12, 2021

[Matt C]

Hi @Alfredo1967 , Pre-Acknowledgement Advance loans are not available with ProSeries. The Refund Advance program that's available is "known as a Post-Ack offering" - from https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/register-or-activate-services/help/how-do-i-enroll-in-pay-by... under the section "New for 2020..."