All offers / Money apps / TaxAct
TaxAct's referral discount only ever arrives by personal email invitation. No website, this one included, can hand it to you.
Whatever a live offer shows you, it cannot legitimately be less than the floor TaxAct's terms set: a discount "of no less than 20% off". It can be more. It cannot be applied to a free return or to a TaxAct state return.
What pays what
| You, invited by email, buying a paid federal DIY return | At least 20% off |
|---|---|
| The same discount applied to a TaxAct state return | Excluded |
| You, if you file on TaxAct's free product | Nothing |
| You, if the invitation was forwarded to you by somebody else | Not valid |
| This site, for writing this page | Nothing |
Every line above is from TaxAct's own two pages, read on July 25, 2026.
Why you cannot get this discount from a website
TaxAct's terms describe the mechanic like this: when you supply the required information, "your friend will receive a special invitation" containing "the unique link provided in the email invitation", and the offer is "only valid for the intended email recipient" and "cannot be combined with any other offer". The discount does not live in a code or a URL that can be copied out and shared; it is generated for one email address and tied to it. So the useful action is a request: somebody who has used TaxAct opens the refer-a-friend area while signed in, enters your email address, and TaxAct sends you the invitation. That is the only route in.
Do this, in this order
- Get the invitation from a person, into your own inbox. It is generated for one email address, and the terms say the offer is "only valid for the intended email recipient", so a forwarded invitation is a dead end. Give the person the address you actually check, and buy through the link in that email.
- Check that you are new enough, or lapsed enough. TaxAct defines a "new" customer as anyone who did not file with TaxAct previously, and a "returning" customer as anyone who did not purchase or use TaxAct products or services in the previous tax year. Used TaxAct two years ago and something else last year, and you can still be invited. Used it last year, and you cannot.
- Buy a product that actually qualifies. The terms name them: the do it yourself federal consumer 1040 online 2025 Deluxe, Premier, Self-Employed or All-Inclusive products. Free returns do not qualify, and "The Program does not apply to the purchase of TaxAct state returns", repeated on the discount side too.
- File the return, and file it before October 31, 2026. Buying the software is not the qualifying act. The terms require you to "file their return" using the unique link from the invitation "on or before October 31, 2026". An extension filer who drifts past that date has missed the discount's own condition.
The fine print that can still cost you the discount
You can be invited properly, qualify properly, buy the right product, and still end up with nothing if you miss a step. These are the clauses that decide it, all from the referral terms unless noted.
Every step, or no reward. "Failure to comply with all required steps herein shall result in no rewards." Buy the right product but file somewhere else, or file past October 31, and you have qualified for nothing.
Verification is at TaxAct's sole discretion. The terms reserve the right to "delay, cancel, revoke, or prevent payment of rewards" in any suspected case of fraudulent use or misuse. You do not have to have done anything wrong for a reward to be held.
No published geographic exclusions. The terms name no country restriction and no excluded US states. That is an absence, not a permission; nobody should read eligibility out of silence.
Disputes go through Texas, not you. The referral terms are governed by Texas law with venue in Dallas County and a jury trial waived, and TaxAct's main Terms of Service carry an arbitration clause with a 30-day opt-out.
Skip this offer if
- You file for free. The free product does not qualify, and buying software you did not need in order to unlock 20% off it is not a saving.
- You used TaxAct last year. A returning customer, defined as anyone who purchased or used TaxAct in the previous tax year, does not qualify.
- Most of your bill is state returns. The exclusion is written plainly: the discount does not apply to the purchase of TaxAct state returns, so that portion is full price regardless.
Is it worth your time?
If you were going to pay TaxAct to file a federal return anyway, then yes, comfortably. At least 20% off a paid product for the cost of asking a friend to type your email address is one of the better returns on two minutes in this directory. The catch is that you cannot go and get it; it has to be sent to you.
If you already use TaxAct and want to refer others yourself, the reward is an Amazon.com gift card, issued by ACI Gift Cards, Inc. and not redeemable for cash, valued at no less than $20 per qualifying friend who buys and files, capped at $599 per calendar year according to TaxAct's binding terms, one dollar below the $600 line at which a US payer generally has to file an information return for miscellaneous payments; TaxAct never says the two are related. Its own help centre contradicts that terms page in three places: it caps referrals at 20 per tax season rather than by dollar amount, which is only $400 at the $20 floor; it says card value "depends on the offer at the time of referral" rather than promising the $20 floor as a fixed amount; and it warns rewards are "not guaranteed to be delivered within a specific timeframe" where the terms promise 30 days. The terms are the document you would be held to. TaxAct can also change or stop the program at any time, with its maximum liability to you capped at $100, and it bans self-referrals and unsolicited-email prospecting. Separately, TaxAct runs a publisher affiliate program through Commission Junction with commission rates that are not published anywhere public and an affiliate FAQ that, as read July 25, 2026, still asks when the program will begin accepting publishers for the 2021 tax season; it pays out of a different pot entirely and gives a reader nothing.
