Practice Management Serving Convenience and Ease to Savvy Customers Read the Article Open Share Drawer Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Written by Bianca Lee Modified Oct 17, 2017 4 min read Customers today need – and want – fast and easy access to their money, especially their IRS tax refund. That’s why Intuit® provides an alternative option for your clients to receive their refund: American Express Serve®. With this prepaid debit account, your clients can quickly and affordably access their eligible IRS refund. Additionally, with Serve, your clients receive value well beyond tax season with many great features and benefits, all for $1 per month. Serve is a low cost option for your clients and is seamlessly integrated into Lacerte® for easy use for you. Some clients prefer to use a prepaid Card like Serve as an alternative to checks because mail theft and identity theft are common. For instance, in the first half of 2013, 1.6 million taxpayers were hit by tax identity theft, compared to just 271,000 in all of 2010, reported by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. And, the IRS paid out $5.8 billion in stolen tax refunds in 2013, according to a study by the General Accountability Office (GAO).1 Taxpayers can protect their refunds by having them direct deposited into the Serve Prepaid Debit Account. Not only is this a safe way for clients to receive their refund; it’s also fast. By using up-to-date tax refund information, such as Where’s My Refund? or the IRS2Go mobile app, your clients can protect their refunds from getting stolen in the mail or sent to the wrong home address. Be sure to safeguard your funds and your identity. When you use American Express Serve, you receive benefits such as: Free ATM withdrawals at over 24,000 MoneyPass® ATMs nationwide2 Free Online Bill Pay Free Direct Deposit for easy and fast access to paychecks or government benefits Free Cash Reload across 45,000 CVS/pharmacy®, Family Dollar®, Walmart,® and participating 7-ELEVEN® locations Subaccounts for family or friends Reserve Accounts make it easy to set aside money for a large purchase or rainy day Customer Service 24/7 Manage money on the go with the free mobile app3 Track and categorize your money Send and receive money easily with P2P transfers3 All for $1 a month. From an accountant perspective, registering a client for Serve takes very little time, is easy to do and offers yet another great product option for clients to keep them coming back. Ultimately, you can build a stronger client relationship by providing options like Serve that fit your clients’ needs. Your clients will appreciate your recommendation of this product, which includes features like money management tools. Convenient Procedure. You can start the process from within your eligible Intuit tax software. Enroll your firm to provide Serve and then register your clients for Serve when you fill out their IRS return in Lacerte. Select to have their eligible IRS refund put onto the Serve Card via direct deposit. If approved, their personalized Serve Card will be mailed to them within seven to 10 days. You Can Earn $15. Plus you can earn $15 for every eligible IRS refund added on to a new Serve Card set up through Lacerte®4. However, you must be enrolled to be able to offer Serve to your clients; enroll for free today at serve.com/intuit. Save your clients time and money with American Express Serve. Increase your customer loyalty and give your clients more value with Serve – you’ll be glad you did. 1 Time, Money, March 11, 2015. 2 Transactions at non-MoneyPass® ATMs have a $2.50 American Express Serve fee. ATM operator fees may also apply. See serve.com/atm for details. 3 Data rates may apply. 4 Offer only available to valid license holders of Intuit’s ProSeries or Lacerte products. Requirements to receive $15 from Intuit: (1) successfully register with American Express via ProSeries or Lacerte to offer the American Express Serve® Card (“Card”) for tax year 2015 and (2) a direct deposit of an IRS refund totaling $15 or more must be made to an Eligible Card on or before April 15, 2016. An “Eligible Card” includes any Card you successfully registered for on behalf of a client via ProSeries or Lacerte on or before April 15, 2016, provided you have previously obtained the client’s acceptance of the Card terms and conditions and consent to submit the Card registration. Joint filers are considered a single client making you eligible for $15 only. No payment shall be made for rejected Card registrations or tax filings. Limit of $15 in total incentives per Eligible Card for tax year 2015. Refunds deposited to any American Express product other than an Eligible Card are not eligible. Intuit reserves the right to recoup amounts paid (or may elect to withhold future payments) where fraud or other illegal activity is suspected. Payment will be provided by Intuit and will be made prior to Dec. 31, 2016. Payments for cards registered after the cut-off date will be paid in the following tax year. Previous Post Money Management Made Easy and Convenient Next Post 5 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for Tax… Written by Bianca Lee Bianca is a marketing manager for Intuit® ProConnect™. She is responsible for developing strategic marketing campaigns, while partnering closely with internal and external customers to execute multi-channel marketing programs. More from Bianca Lee Comments are closed. Browse Related Articles Practice Management Money Management Made Easy and Convenient Client Relationships Provide Your Clients With Better Financial Solutions Practice Management Help Your Clients With Delayed Refunds and Audits Tax Law and News What your clients should do if they get an identity the… Client Relationships Help Your Clients Handle Identity Theft Tax Law and News IRS Urges Tax Pros to Step Up Security and Beware of Ph… Grow your practice Tax Pros Profit With Pay-by-Refund Practice Management Could There be a Silver Lining to Rising ID Theft? Tax Law and News Regulatory Bodies Continue Protecting Taxpayer From Ide… Tax Law and News IRS, States and Tax Industry Combat ID Theft and Refund…