The Offer
- Get a bonus of up to 10% on your tax refund in the form of a merchant gift card when filing taxes with H&R Block.
- Those who file with the Deluxe and Premium plans (costs $35/$50, see below) get a 10% bonus while those who use the Free or Basic options get only a 5% bonus.
Here are all the gift card options: Amazon, Target, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Staples, Starbucks, Best Buy, Gamestop, iTunes, Delta, Groupon, Applebee’s, Hotels, Nordstrom, Office Max, REI, TJMaxx/Marshall’s.
You don’t need to put the entire refund on gift cards – just choose $100 increments and you’ll get a 5% or 10% bonus on top. Unclear if you can split up and get a partial refund in one merchant gift card and part from another, but that probably won’t work.
The Fine Print
- Only valid for e-filed returns, not print or mail returns
- Gift cards come as e-gift cards, sent to your email as soon as the refund becomes available, usually within 21-days
- If your actual federal refund is less than anticipated, your refund bonus will be adjusted accordingly
Our Verdict
Could be a really amazing deal for someone who expects a large tax refund. Two notes about maximizing this deal:
- Remember that there’s an Amex Offer of $15 off $40 for H&R; the Premium plan will be just $35 after the Amex credit.
- There’s another deal found on Slickdeals to get Deluxe at just $15 and Premium at $25, and it’s reported there that it will stack with the 10% gift card bonus as well.
We noted earlier today that TurboTax isn’t offering the 10% Amazon bonus this year as they’ve done in the past, and readers Danny and Jake pointed out that H&R does have this deal. Even better is that you get to choose from a number of different retailers, as opposed to the TurboTax deal which was just Amazon.
We’ll add this deal to the Complete List of Deals for Doing Taxes. See also our Complete Guide To Paying Your Federal Taxes With A Credit Card.
Completed and paid for my deluxe return and found there currently is no selection for gift card redemption. I called the 1-855 number on the promotion website and talked with a representative who asked for all sorts of information starting with my login. After “checking” my account, she said it was a “glitch” and there was nothing she can do if it doesn’t show up. I’ve determined this deal is no longer active, however they continue advertising it on the homepage to encourage people like me to upgrade to deluxe when they could have used the free product. I’m calling them now to cancel my payment. TurboTax seems a better deal… they don’t deceive customers.
There’s a $5,000 limit on the value of gift cards you can buy with your refund.
Thanks for the info
I’m expecting a refund of about $7,000 (federal plus state). Are you telling me I’ll get $700 bonus in the form of a gift card?
Oh I thought you’ll get the refund as cash, and just the bonus amount in the form of gift card. Guess I was wrong. I don’t think its worth putting $7,000 on a gift card.
You don’t have to put the whole amount on gc’s, just increments of $100. Still it’s not that interesting for a less than 5% gain.
For most of the retailers, you can get 10% discount of gift cards(ebay/giftcard exchange/deals) easily. I think it is better to get the cash and buy gift card on deal when you need it.
Can you point me to a place I can purchase Amazon gift cards at a 10% discount?
Agree with this.
I was thinking for Target it’s a good deal, but it’s true – not a killer deal even for Target.