Survey: Tax Season Is a Dating Vibe Check – Here’s How Young Americans Feel About It

Tax season isn’t just about forms and deadlines. Turns out, it also says something about who you are – and who you might want to date. Love is complicated. Taxes are, too. Combine them, and things get interesting.

Hily surveyed 2,300 Gen Z and Millennial American daters to find out how tax season intersects with their dating lives. From profile bios to dealbreakers, the results show that financial responsibility has a quiet but real presence in modern romance.

Here are some key findings from our survey:

• Dating life stresses Gen Z and Millennial daters 10 times more than tax season
• For about 1 in 5 young daters, seeing “I already filed my taxes” in someone’s bio makes them more attractive
• About 1 in 3 daters say finding out a match hasn’t filed taxes for several years would be a dealbreaker
• 1 in 4 Gen Z daters think offering to do a date’s taxes is a romantic gesture

Adulting Is the New Attractive

A tax reference in a dating profile sounds niche. But for 1 in 5 young daters, it actually moves the needle. Seeing something like “I already filed my taxes” in someone’s bio reads as a signal of responsibility – turns out, filing on time is a personality trait. Nothing says ‘I have my life together’ quite like not owing back taxes.

Some people bring flowers. Others, apparently, bring a W-2. 1 in 4 Gen Z daters think offering to do a date’s taxes is a romantic gesture, compared to just 1 in 10 Millennials. It’s a generational gap worth noting. Romantic gestures are evolving; Flowers are out, TurboTax is in.

Late Filer, Early Exit

Tax avoidance isn’t just a legal issue…it’s a dating one, too. About 1 in 3 daters say finding out a match hasn’t filed taxes for several years would be a dealbreaker. Financial habits, it turns out, aren’t something people are willing to overlook when they’re deciding whether someone is worth their time. 

Some daters take it further. 1 in 5 Gen Z daters say they’d actually bring up the topic of filing taxes with a match directly – asking who they’d prefer to handle returns when in a relationship. It’s an unconventional conversation starter, but not an unserious one. 

And for many, the answer matters. Among women, 43% of Gen Z and 33% of Millennials say they’d stop talking to a match if the answer didn’t line up with their expectations, compared to 39% of Gen Z and 26% of Millennial men. A dealbreaker used to mean bad texting habits. Standards have expanded.

It’s Complicated (Filing Status May Apply)

Preferences around filing taxes in a relationship break down along both gender and generational lines. 41% of young men prefer to handle their own returns, compared to 26% of Gen Z women and 36% of Millennial women. Independence around finances looks different depending on who’s answering.

On the more lighthearted end: roughly 1 in 10 Gen Z daters and Millennial men say they’d agree to a date solely because someone offered to help with their taxes. It’s a small number, but it’s not zero.

Stressed, But Not About the Government

For all the overlap between taxes and dating, they’re not competing equally for people’s attention. Dating life stresses Gen Z and Millennial daters 10 times more than tax season. The IRS, apparently, is the least of their worries.

Love and Taxes: Both Due Eventually

Taxes aren’t the most romantic topic – but they’re more connected to dating than most people would expect. From bio green flags to financial dealbreakers, how someone handles their taxes is shaping how they’re perceived as a potential partner.

For young American daters, responsibility shows up in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it’s in a first message. Sometimes it’s in a bio. And sometimes it’s whether someone got around to filing by April 15. The most romantic four words of the year? ‘I already filed mine.’

The methodology

Hily’s research team surveyed 2,300 Gen Z and Millennial daters in the United States to explore how tax season influences dating attitudes, attraction, and relationship expectations. The study examined how financial responsibility shows up in modern dating, including perceptions of tax-related references in dating profiles, attitudes toward filing habits, tax-related dealbreakers, and whether helping with taxes is seen as a romantic gesture.

About Hily

Hily (pronounced like ‘highly’) is a dating app designed to connect singles with new people while supporting them in remaining authentic. Short for “Hey, I Like You,” it invites users to have fun and not look for a perfect match.

By encouraging everyone to date as they are, Hily is breaking one of the biggest curses of online dating—feeling pressured to hide your true self. Praising self-exploration, self-acceptance, open-mindedness, and inclusivity, the app helps people put real connections first and keep competition at bay by unlocking their unique, fabulous selves. With features like icebreakers, compatibility checks, messaging, Major Crush, and zodiac synastry, Hily helps users express who they really are and connect in genuine ways.

Launched in 2017, Hily has become one of the top 10 dating apps in US app stores, with over 42 million users worldwide.