§ 371 — Definitions

§ 371. Definitions. For the purposes of this article:\n (a) "Facilitator" means a person who individually or in conjunction or\ncooperation with another person: (i) solicits the execution of,\nprocesses, receives, or accepts an application or agreement for a refund\nanticipation loan or refund anticipation check; (ii) serves or collects\nupon a refund anticipation loan or refund anticipation check; or (iii)\nin any other manner that facilitates the making of a refund anticipation\nloan or refund anticipation check. This term excludes any employees of a\nfacilitator who provide only clerical or other comparable support\nservices to such facilitator.\n (b) "Tax preparer" or "preparer" means a person, partnership,\ncorporation or other business entity, that in exchange for consideration\nadvises or assists or offers to advise or assist in the preparation of\nincome tax returns for another.\n (c) "Refund anticipation check" means a check, stored value card, or\nother payment mechanism: (i) representing the proceeds of a tax refund;\n(ii) which was issued by a depository institution or other person that\nreceived a direct deposit of the tax refund or tax credits; and (iii)\nfor which a fee or other consideration has been paid for such payment\nmechanism.\n (d) "Refund anticipation loan" means a loan that is secured by or that\nthe creditor arranges to be repaid directly or indirectly from the\nproceeds of an income tax refund or tax credits. A refund anticipation\nloan also includes any sale, assignment, or purchase of tax refund at a\ndiscount or for a fee, whether or not the amount is required to be\nrepaid to the buyer or assignee if the internal revenue service or the\ndepartment denies or reduces the amount of the tax refund.\n (e) "Department" means the department of taxation and finance.\n