SaveYourRefund offers incentives for saving

    For many low- and moderate-income Americans, it does not take many unexpected expenses to put them into crisis mode. A recent survey found that 62 percent of surveyed households had experienced at least one financial crisis in the last year, and 51 percent lacked any emergency savings to help them cope. The majority of Americans do not have enough savings to survive for two months if faced with a financial crisis such as loss of income or unexpected medical bills.
    There is an innovative, prize-based and proven campaign that can help solve this challenge. SaveYourRefund is an incentive-based promotion that encourages tax filers to save a portion of their refund and potentially win cash prizes. America Saves and Commonwealth are offering SaveYourRefund as a simple, innovative and fun program focused on a crucial and universal, but often stressful, moment in people’s lives — filing taxes.
    The annual federal tax refund is the largest sum of cash many American households receive all year, often amounting up to 20 percent of annual household income. More than 40 million tax filers received an average refund of $3,120 per filer in 2015, with over $124 billion total refunded. Each tax filer has a unique opportunity to put money into savings with this inflow of cash at tax time.
    Tax time is also a moment when filers are primed to be thinking about their financial decisions. This is a great time to add to an emergency fund, with the goal of having money set aside to cover at least three months of household expenses.
    The IRS has created a specific form built right into the tax filing process that enables all American tax filers to automatically save a portion of their tax refund with one simple step. IRS Form 8888 enables this seamless and near-universal opportunity to save.
  

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