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IRS opens on time, reiterates dates for refund disbursement

Now that the government shutdown has been halted until at least Feb. 15, the Internal Revenue Service announced on Monday that it successfully opened the 2019 tax-filing season as the agency started accepting and processing federal tax returns for tax year 2018.

Despite the major tax law changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the IRS said it was able to open this year’s tax-filing season one day earlier than the 2018 tax-filing season.

As to what’s of particular interest to buy-here, pay-here, dealers, the IRS emphasized that refunds, by law, cannot be issued before Feb. 15 for tax returns that claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit. Officials said this stipulation applies to the entire refund — even the portion not associated with the EITC and ACTC.

While the IRS said it will process the EITC and ACTC returns when received, officials indicated these refunds cannot be issued before Feb. 15.

Similar to last year, the IRS expects the earliest EITC/ACTC related refunds to actually be available in taxpayer bank accounts or on debit cards starting on Feb. 27, if they chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with the tax return.

Officials added that the tool “Where’s My Refund?” ‎on IRS.gov and the IRS2Go mobile app remains the best way to check the status of a refund. “Where’s My Refund?” will be updated with projected deposit dates for most early EITC and ACTC refund filers on Feb. 23, so those filers will not see a refund date on “Where’s My Refund?” ‎or through their software packages until then.

“The IRS, tax preparers and tax software will not have additional information on refund dates, so these filers should not contact or call about refunds before the end of February,” officials said.

The agency reiterated this law was changed to give the IRS more time to detect and prevent fraud. Even with the EITC and ACTC refunds and the additional security safeguards, the IRS still expects to issue more than nine out of 10 refunds in less than 21 days.

“However, it’s possible a particular tax return may require additional review, and a refund could take longer,” officials said. “Even so, taxpayers and tax return preparers should file when they’re ready. For those who usually file early in the year and are ready to file a complete and accurate return, there is no need to wait to file.”

More than 150 million individual tax returns for the 2018 tax year are expected to be filed, with the vast majority of those coming before the April tax deadline. Through mid-day Monday, the IRS had already received several million tax returns during the busy opening hours.

“I am extremely proud of the entire IRS workforce. The dedicated IRS employees have worked tirelessly to successfully implement the biggest tax law changes in 30 years and launch tax season for the nation,” IRS commissioner Chuck Rettig said.

“Although we face various near- and longer-term challenges, our employees are committed to doing everything we can to help taxpayers and get refunds out quickly,” Rettig continued.

Following the government shutdown, the IRS is working to promptly resume normal operations.

“The IRS will be doing everything it can to have a smooth filing season,” Rettig said. “Taxpayers can minimize errors and speed refunds by using e-file and IRS Free File along with direct deposit.”

The filing deadline to submit 2018 tax returns is April 15 for most taxpayers. Because of the Patriots’ Day holiday on April 15 in Maine and Massachusetts and the Emancipation Day holiday on April 16 in the District of Columbia, taxpayers who live in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 17 to file their returns.

The IRS expects about 90 percent of returns to be filed electronically.

“Choosing e-file and direct deposit remains the fastest and safest way to file an accurate income tax return and receive a refund,” officials said.

AGORA now integrated with DealerCenter to facilitate bulk portfolio transactions

AGORA recently landed another industry connection to help establish itself as a prominent platform for bulk portfolio transactions.

AGORA, a Texas-based provider of technology solutions for the financial services industry, announced a joint, newly launched integration functionality relationship with DealerCenter.

“Protecting our dealers from exposing loan data when they make their portfolios available for sale and giving dealers more liquidity is the mission of AGORA,” AGORA founder and chief executive Steve Burke said.

“DealerCenter is an exceptional dealer management system, and we are excited to have them as one of our key integration partners, who enable dealers to seamlessly and securely offer their loans for sale to our 60-plus banks, finance companies and credit unions — avoiding unsafe emails of data files,” Burke continued.

“The DealerCenter integration continues to expand AGORA’s ability to help sellers sell faster, sell more profitably and sell securely,” he went on to say.

DealerCenter is a web-based dealer management system (DMS) designed specifically for independent dealers. With direct integrations with other solutions, DealerCenter’s 11,500 dealer clients can receive all relevant services through a single platform.

Through the integration with AGORA, dealerships on DealerCenter can have their loan information concurrently available on AGORA, where they can securely select loan pools for bidding or financing from more than 60 finance companies that acquire loan pools or finance them on the AGORA platform.

The entire placement, bidding and acquisition of loan pools can be completed inside the AGORA platform, without exposing private customer data, transaction activity and collection notes to outside parties.

“DealerCenter is committed to providing strategic integrations that enable our dealer customers to converge their operation into a single platform. Partnering with AGORA aligns perfectly with our focus on adding value for our buy-here, pay-here dealers,” DealerCenter senior vice president of sales and marketing Jesse Martin said.

Earlier this year, AGORA finalized relationships with other BHPH industry service providers such as Frazer, as well as Ignite Consulting Partners.

Westlake rolls out spot insurance program for California dealers

Buy-here, pay-here dealers in California who watch vehicles roll over the curb with buyers who have insurance challenges can take advantage of a new product offered by Westlake Financial Services.

The finance company recently announced a new spot delivery insurance program, which is underwritten by Knight Management Insurance Services and now available to its dealer partners in California. Westlake’s new spot insurance program is designed to provide dealers short term insurance on the vehicle they have delivered to their customer during the funding process.

The company explained spot insurance can give dealers immediate vehicle coverage, eliminating the concern when a customer’s insurance cannot be verified at the time of purchase. Spot insurance can offer temporary, flexible point of sale policies available for seven- or 14-day coverage that can mutually benefit dealerships and their customers, creating a win-win opportunity.

“We are excited to offer an insurance product for dealers that will help get their customers on the road faster with immediate protection during the funding period,” said Ralph Ontiveros, vice president of Westlake Services and Lending Solutions.

Westlake highlighted every spot policy comes with five out of the box coverages — bodily injury, property damage, medical payments, comprehensive and collision. Dealers also have the option to purchase uninsured/underinsured motorist.

Spot insurance is available in the state of California through DealerCenter.

Dealerships interested in learning more about spot insurance are invited to contact Westlake’s insurance department directly at (866) 619-2524 or online at www.westlakefinancial.com.