During the 2008 filing season the Federal government processed over 105 million tax refunds.  Of these, only about 66 million were sent to tax payers by direct deposit.  This means that the Federal government mailed over 40 million paper checks.  Direct deposit has numerous advantages over receiving a paper check including:

• Helping the Environment: The elimination of paper checks means reducing carbon emissions, saving energy and saving trees.
• Convenience: Direct deposit payments can be received at anytime and there are no checks to cash
• Safety: Paper checks may be lost in the mail or stolen
• Cost Savings: Direct deposit means no traveling to cash checks and no check cashing fees

Using the Paper Footprint Calculator and www.payitgreen.org, we estimated that if the 40 million checks sent by the Federal government were converted to direct deposit that over:

• 1 Million pounds of paper would be saved
• 13 trees would be saved
• 19 Million pounds of greenhouse gases would be prevented
• 10 Millions gallons of waste water would not be dumped in lakes, rivers and streams
• 362 Thousand gallons of gasoline would be saved

If your your customers do not have a bank account or don’t want to use their bank account to receive tax refunds, the Green1040 prepaid tax refund card is a good way to help save money and the environment by helping them (tax payers) receive tax refunds by direct deposit.