Get 1000 Southwest Rapid Rewards Points for Using TurboTax

This is what I like to call “low hanging fruit” in the miles and points travel hobby. If you’re one of the approximately 40 million people who use TurboTax to file your taxes, you can earn 1000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points in the process. Let’s look at the deal more closely.

Getting 1000 Southwest Points with TurboTax

If you use TurboTax online and file a federal return between January 2 and April 15, 2019, you can earn 1000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points. You must go through the Southwest online shopping portal to enter TurboTax. You will be prompted to enter your Southwest Rapid Rewards number. If you don’t have one, you can create one here.

You must use an online version of TurboTax, not a CD, to get the points. Online versions include TurboTax Free Edition, TurboTax Deluxe, TurboTax Premier, TurboTax Self-Employed and TurboTax Live.

Points can take up to 8 weeks to hit your Southwest account after you file. I use TurboTax through this promo every year, and my points have always posted after a few weeks.

Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Is 1000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points worth using TurboTax? How far does 1000 points go?

I’m in no position to tell you to start using TurboTax if you are not currently using it. But if it’s already your go-to tax program, signing in through the Southwest online shopping portal takes maybe 30 seconds longer than signing into TurboTax on its own.

1000 Southwest points is not enough to buy a flight on Southwest. And unfortunately, these bonus miles don’t count towards earning a companion pass.

But, many times it costs fewer points to book a flight on Southwest than on the legacy U.S. airlines. I’ve purchased one-way tickets as low as 3000-4000 points during fare sales. Getting a “free” 1000 points might be enough to top off your existing points to get you enough for your next flight. So why not?