Before offering Refund Advantage bank products to your clients, you must complete and submit the ERO Enrollment Application located in your TaxSlayer Pro Account Hub. A new application must be filled out prior to the start of e-file each year. To locate the Refund Advantage ERO Enrollment Application, first log in to your TaxSlayer Pro Account Hub.
Select Bank Product Information from the left side navigation pane and then select BEGIN APPLICATION on the Refund Advantage Tile:
If you applied to offer Refund Advantage bank products last year, many of the bank application fields will pull forward and populate last year's information in the current year bank application fields. It is important to review each field in each section of the bank application for accuracy and update any information that has changed.
Step 1 - Bank Info
The Refund Advantage Bank Info section stores your personal banking account information (the bank account where your preparation fees will be deposited), your office setup information, your filing experience, return volume information, security question and ERO agreement.
Bank Setup Information - Enter your account/bank name, your bank account routing number and your bank account number. Also answer the question, "What is the bank account primarily used for?" Business or Personal.
Make sure you have verified all of the information in the Bank Setup Information section as this is where Refund Advantage will deposit your preparation fees.
Office Setup Information - Enter your tax ID (EIN or SSN) and indicate whether it is an EIN. Also enter your formal registered office/business name, and your company website (if you have one).
Filing Experience - Fill in each of the fields in this section:
Years of Filing Experience - How many years have you been filing tax returns professionally?
Years at Current Address - How many years has your business operated at it's current address?
Years Doing Bank Products - How many years have you offered bank products as a refund option to your customers?
Years doing e-Files - How many years have you been electronically filing tax returns?
Return/Volume Information
RT Volume Projection Next Year - How many bank products do you anticipate processing in the upcoming year?
Total Number of Returns Last Year - How many tax returns did you prepare in the previous year?
# of Principals in the Office - How many business owners does the office/company have?
# of Office Staff - How many office employees will be discussing Refund Advantage bank products with customers or will have access to customer information as it pertains to tax preparation services? This number should include owners.
Security Setup/Agreement
Security Question and Answer - Select a security question from the pre-filled dropdown list and enter the correct answer in the field provided. Refund Advantage will use this information in order to verify your identity when needed.
ERO Agreement - Carefully read the Refund Advantage ERO Agreement. When you have read and understand the ERO Agreement, sign the document by entering your full name in the Terms of Agreement Signature field.
After all information has been entered in the Bank Info Section of the application, select Save and Continue at the bottom of the page. If any required fields are blank, you will be prompted to fill in the information before continuing.
Step 2 - Additional Information
The Additional Information section of the bank application stores information about which bank products you want to offer to your clients, as well as information about your office and location and bank product history.
Would you like to offer card disbursements? Refund Advantage offers refund disbursements via Faster Money Discover Pre-Paid debit cards. Select Yes if you would like to offer this product to your clients.
Would you like to offer check disbursements? Refund Advantage offers instant issue checks that you print in your office. Select Yes if you would like to offer this product to your clients.
Does this EFIN wish to offer Pre-Ack Advances? Refund Advantage offers Pre-Ack Taxpayer Advance Loan options that your clients can apply for, giving them the opportunity to receive a portion of their refund prior to the return being accepted by the IRS. Select Yes if you would like to offer this product to your clients.
What is the usage of the location your office is in? Is your office a residence or a store front office? Select the option that best describes your location.
What is the type of your organization? Select the option that best describes your company type.
Is this EFIN shared in multiple locations? Select Yes or No.
Address where Pathward should mail exception checks - In the event that the bank needs to print a check for a taxpayer, where should it be mailed? Select Office Address to have the check mailed to you or Taxpayer to have the check mailed directly to the taxpayer.
Would you like to offer advances/loans? Refund Advantage offers Taxpayer Advance Loan options that your clients can apply for, giving them the opportunity to receive a portion of their refund prior to the return being funded by the IRS. Select Yes if you would like to offer this product to your clients.
What is the type of your office? Select the option that best describes your office type.
What was the bank used as the Bank Product Provider in prior Tax Season? If you offered bank products last year select the bank product provider from the list. If you did not offer bank products last year, select None.
Has a bank refused to renew your contract to offer any tax related bank products in the past 5 years? Select Yes or No.
All of the fields in the Additional Information section of the bank application are required. When you have answered each of the questions in this section, select Save and Continue at the bottom of the screen. If any required fields are blank, you will be prompted to fill in the information before continuing.
Part 3 - Additional Fees
The Additional Fee Agreement section of the bank application allows you to opt-in to two additional fees that will be subtracted from the taxpayer's refund in addition to your preparation fees.
Would you like to add to your transmission fee? By default, TaxSlayer Pro charges a $6 transmission fee and an $18 Technology fee on all bank product returns. If you would like to increase the amount charged for the transmission fee, select Yes and select the dollar amount that you want to add. Read the added fee agreement and sign the document by entering your full name in the Signature Name field.
Document Prep Fee - If you would like to charge a document prep fee on bank product returns, enter the amount of the additional fee. The document prep fee will be taken out of the taxpayer's refund and added to your preparation fee. This fee cannot be changed once you start transmitting current year tax returns.
When you have finalized your fees in the Added Fees section, select Save and Continue.
Part 4 - Partner Products
The Partner Products section of the bank application gives you the opportunity to increase your revenue and product offerings to your clients. Visit our website's Product Partnerships page to learn more about each of the available partner products.
If you will be offering audit protection or identity protection services to your clients, select Yes in the I want to offer this product field. Read the license agreement, opt-in to receive advertising materials and sign up by entering your full name in the Signature field.
Note - You can only opt-in for one audit protection product. If you opt-in to offer Audit Maintenance Pro, you will not have the option to opt-in for Protection Plus and vice-versa.
When you have finalized your partner product options, select Save and Continue.
Part 5 - EFIN Owner
The EFIN Owner section of the bank application stores general information, contact information, driver's license information and address information about the owner of the office EFIN. This information can be pulled from the Company Information section of Account Hub by clicking the icon next to EFIN Owner:
All fields in this section are required. Verify that all of the information is correct and select Save and Continue at the bottom of the screen.
Part 6 - Principal Owner
The Principal Owner section of the bank application stores general information, contact information, driver's license information and address information about the person with the highest percentage of ownership of the business. If the business owner is also the EFIN owner, this information can be pulled from the EFIN Owner section of the bank application by clicking the icon next to Principal Owner:
If the principal owner of the business is different than the EFIN owner, fill in all fields of this section before selecting Save and Continue and the bottom of the screen.
Part 7 - Control Person
The Control Person section of the bank application stores general information, contact information, driver's license information and address information about the individual who is physically present and working in the office handling the day-to-day business operations. If the contact person is also the principal owner, this information can be pulled from the Principal Owner section of the bank application by clicking on the icon next to Control Person:
If the control person is different than the principal owner, fill in all fields of this section before selecting Save and Continue at the bottom of the screen.
Part 8 - W9 Information
The W9 Information section of the bank application stores the information of the individual or business that will be issued Form 1099-MISC for any rebate amount received by TaxSlayer Pro. This amount is also reported to the IRS and must be included on the individual's or business tax return.
The information in this section of the bank application pulls from the TaxSlayer Pro Sales database, based on information you provided. Review the information for accuracy. If changes need to be made, contact your sales manager at 888.420.1040.
Part 9 - Lock and Submit Application
After you complete sections 1 through 8 of the bank application, click on lock and submit application. You will be prompted to confirm you are ready to submit your application to the bank:
The bank application will remain locked until Refund Advantage sends a response. After submitting your bank application, you can check on the status by viewing the Banking Information tile from the main page of Account Hub:
Additional Information:
How Can I Check My Bank Enrollment Status?