Seriously, eSmart Tax is offering just that. They are subsidy of Liberty Tax Service and they are giving 2.2 million people the opportunity to file their tax returns with them absolutely free of charge. There’s a catch though (there always is right), but this catch is pretty interesting. They’re offering this free filing service to anyone with the last name “Johnson,” and as the Internets tell me, there are roughly 2,200,000 of them in the US. The Johnson clan ranks second most popular trailing only Smith.
If you head over to www.iamajohnson.com (even if you’re not, ’cause they also have good options for us less-than-Johnsons) you can apply for your free return. They’re using a bunch of social media including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. They’ve also gotten the help of a real-life Johnson, Daryl Johnson in fact, to be the face of their entire campaign. If you didn’t guess by now, that’s his lovely mug up there.
Daryl is an average guy from from Richmond, VA (who apparently has a lawn care business and loves to golf) who will be Tweeting from @thedaryljohnson (they even erected a billboard that that displays his posts live) and offering free tax advice. But here’s the kicker, he’ll also be giving out 30 free $100 visa gift cards. He started on January 15th and he’ll be doing one a day every day until he’s all out. You don’t even have to be a Johnson to win one of them. You could be a Stewart, a Steingarten, Garcia or even a Whiffin-Bonilla.
To win one of the gift cards all you gotta do is follow Daryl on Twitter and tell him what you plan on doing with your tax refund. Per eSmart Tax the average return is $2,500… I’m not saying it out right, but that buys an awful lot of Hot & Spicy Cheez-Its. So what are you waiting for? Go tweet my main man Daryl and win yourself some free loot.
