Stores gearing up for rebate season

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The National Retail Federation estimates tax rebates will put $43 billion into cash registers across the country and stores are gearing up for the splurge.

The tax rebates should put between $600 and $1,200 in the hands of most taxpayers.

The concept hasn't been lost on store chains, which are preparing sales and marketing approaches to lure in taxpayers with rebate money in hand.

JCPenny is considering opening a check-cashing service to streamline the process from receiving a tax rebate check to cash-register activity, CNNMoney.com reported Monday.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Ullman said stores would "obviously compete vigorously" for a share of the taxpayers' rebate checks.

Wal-Mart and Circuit City are putting together strategies to draw in customers for what retailers say will be a bigger payoff than Valentine's Day and Mother's Day.

Retailers predict the rebate season will rank behind Christmas and back-to-school as the third-biggest sales event of the year.

Lowe's is kicking off a spring sale -- "Welcome Back Spring" -- three weeks early to try to lure in customers with rebate money to spend.

"We want to get people excited about spending this spring and summer," Lowe's spokeswoman Chris Ahearn said to CNN Money.com.