Tax refunds continue to play an important role for many consumers when it comes to paying holiday debt. In a recent survey conducted by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, 41% taxpayers polled revealed that they look forward to their tax refund to pay holiday bills. The same survey showed that the youngest taxpaying generation, Generation Z, is the most likely to use their tax refund to repay holiday debt, with 63% reporting that they look forward to their tax refund to pay holiday bills.

The interest in repaying holiday debt with tax refunds seems to have increased since last year. In a similar survey conducted by Jackson Hewitt last year, only 31% of taxpayers polled revealed that they plan to use their tax refund to pay holiday bills.

Accounting/​Tax Service Clients who want to utilize their tax refunds to pay off holiday debt are likely doing their research to find out the quickest way to get that money and the most reliable service to get their returns from. According to AudienceSCAN, last month, 61.5% of this audience used a search engine to research a service they were considering for purchase, likely using Google, the preferred search engine of 88.9% of this audience. However, only 18.4% will venture past the first page of search results.

Taxpayers who do not want to wait for their tax refund to arrive can apply for Refund Advances. With the Early Refund Advance, qualified Jackson Hewitt clients could get up to $400 before their W‑2 is available with only a pay stub or other income verification. Qualified clients can also prequalify now for up to $3,500 with the No Fee Refund Advance which is a no fee, 0% APR loan, or between $1,000 and $7,000 with the Go Big Refund Advance which has a 35.9% fixed APR.

"Making ends meet around the holidays can be especially tough which is why our doors opened on December 19," said Alan D. Ferber, CEO of Jackson Hewitt. "We advise our clients to stop in early this tax season to ensure they have all necessary documents and talk about how tax reform might impact them. This will ensure they are prepared to file as soon as their tax documents are available."

Accounting/​Tax Preparation Clients can be reached with messages of reliable service and fast cash a number of ways. According to AudienceSCAN, 64.4% of this consumer group took action after receiving direct mail ads last year and another 66.5% took action after seeing a TV commercial in that same amount of time. Also within the last year, 51.4% were driven to action by email ads and 42.1% were motivated by either advertisements on their mobile smartphone apps or after receiving an ad via text message. They're also 18% more likely than other adults to find advertising on social media useful to them.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.