Credit Karma today announced that Credit Karma Tax™, its new online self-directed tax preparation service, is now available for the 2017 tax filing season. Credit Karma Tax provides its members with always-free federal and state tax preparation, along with free filing. Announced on December 7, 2016, Credit Karma Tax enrolled more than one million members on its waitlist within the first two weeks. At launch the service is also accessible to the more than 60 million U.S. consumers who are currently Credit Karma members.“Our mission at Credit Karma is, and always has been, to promote and empower financial progress for everyone – for free. Credit Karma Tax is no different,” said Credit Karma Founder and CEO Kenneth Lin. “We focus on providing a great experience for consumers and understanding their needs. With the addition of Credit Karma Tax, we’ll be able to further fine tune and make even better recommendations to help our members manage their finances.”Preparing and filing tax returns is a fact of life for many American adults, but one that typically comes with a high cost or upsell, even when using online software that may be advertised as free. The new federal and state tax preparation service from Credit Karma is easy to use and completely free, regardless of income. As with Credit Karma’s current features and tools, no credit card is ever required to use Credit Karma Tax. The Internal Revenue Service begins accepting electronic tax returns today, and expects more than 153 million individual tax returns to be filed in 2017. The IRS expects more than four out of five tax returns will be prepared electronically using tax return preparation software.The rollout also comes just in time for the many Americans who prefer to file their taxes early. In November 2016 Credit Karma surveyed more than a thousand Americans about their approaches to filing taxes and found that almost half of these filers complete their tax return in one sitting, just after receiving their financial statements.To create a free Credit Karma or Credit Karma Tax account, visit www.creditkarma.com or www.creditkarma.com/tax.
Methodology: The week of November 8, 2016, Credit Karma surveyed 1,047 Americans matched to U.S. census data for age and gender using the Qualtrics platform. All data was aggregated and anonymized.
About Credit Karma
Founded in 2007, Credit Karma is a personal finance company that’s focused on helping everyone make financial progress. Whether they’re interested in getting a better deal on a loan, looking for ways to save, or simply monitoring their credit, we offer a range of tools and personalized recommendations designed to help them make the most of their money. Our business model is unique in that no matter what new products or services we introduce, we’re committed to providing a service that’s always free. With more than 60 million members, we help people gain insight into their finances and credit information – and ultimately, improve their financial standing.Learn more about how Credit Karma members are making financial progress on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.