Virginia prepares with prepaid for tax year 2013

The Commonwealth of Virginia is going paperless for the disbursement of tax refunds. Beginning in tax year 2013, Virginia residents who are not signed up to get refunds electronically direct deposited to bank accounts will automatically be issued prepaid debit cards in lieu of paper checks. Virginia said the move to prepaid is a cost savings initiative mandated by its budget for the years 2012 through 2014.

The Virginia Tax Refund Debit Card is a MasterCard Worldwide-branded, non-reloadable prepaid card. Virginia contracted with Xerox State and Local Solutions Inc., formerly Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (acquired by Xerox Corp. in 2010), to manage the program. Virginia taxpayers will activate tax refund cards via Xerox's Go Program web portal.

Tax refund cardholders get fee free balance checks, online bill payments and transaction alerts. Cardholders also get one free monthly cash withdrawal and balance inquiry at MasterCard MoneyPass ATMs. Fees range from $2.50 for a cash withdrawal from an out-of-network ATM to $5 to replace a card.

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