changed title/ WHAT FUN THINGS ARE YOU DOING WITH REFUND?

[livie1205]

I heard someone talking about wanting to do that the other day and I just thought to myself "why would you loose so much doing that when you can do direct deposit and have it sometimes as short as a week?".I have never done that because I have never just HAD to do that so fast that it is worth the cost but do alot of people still do it? We norm just put the money into our savings alot of the time so I guess it would not be worth it....I mean unless you are waiting for a paper check it would be best to wait.This year we will maybe use some for our wdw cruise but I am just cheap I guess because no way would I just blow through my whole refund.
If you are getting a refund do you have fun plans with it or does it go into savings? I swear one year we are going to just put it into something fun! haha I wish I was that care free lol but I am telling you one day WE WILL!until then let me live through you guys, what fun things are you doing?

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

If all you do with your tax refund is put it in your savings account then you aren't really making a wise choice either by letting the government keep your taxes all year and then send them back to you at the beginning of the next year having paid you NO INTEREST for keeping your money for 12 months.

The smart thing to do is to raise your deductions/dependents on your tax forms at work and actually get your own money given to you every week in your paycheck. THEN put it into savings and draw interest on it all year.


But most ppl don't. They like getting handed a big check in February like they hit the lotto or won some money when it was just their own money to begin with.

The same way you don't understand why someone would blow through 3 or 4 hundred dollars paying for a rapid refund I don't see how you could let the government keep your money interest free all year. It all works out in the end.

 

[livie1205]

anyway.....what are peoples "fun plans" ? This was started to be a fun thread...the rapid refund was just MY thoughts on the subject not to put anyones choices down it was so I could envy others lol I WISH I could just through caution to the wind and go have a blast with ours...I did not want to debate my bad money choices because I let the IRS hold my money since we are not borrowing from peter to pay paul and we are in a good spot I am not going to worry about that.

NOW BACK TO THE FUN....WDW ANYONE???

 

[daughtersrus]

If all you do with your tax refund is put it in your savings account then you aren't really making a wise choice either by letting the government keep your taxes all year and then send them back to you at the beginning of the next year having paid you NO INTEREST for keeping your money for 12 months.

The same is true for people that escrow their taxes and homeowners insurance with a mortgage company.

For me, we have extra taken out of DH's paycheck because I am self-employed. It's just easier for us to get a refund than to try and figure out my quarterly taxes.

I would never use a rapid refund unless there was some huge expense that couldn't be covered with an emergency fund.

 

[happily single]

I used Rapid Refund about 10 years ago. NEVER AGAIN! First I had to wait a day or two for my "rapid refund check". THEN it was a DRAFT which took 10 days to clear my bank. If I had just used direct deposit from the IRS I would have gotten my refund several days sooner. Lesson learned (I was young then)

And the cost is outrageous!

 

[3boymthr]

I know one reason people use it. Because they don't have a checking account and/or savings account for the government to direct deposit their money into.

 

[rileyreese]

I am not doing anything "fun" with my return BUT I am starting my emergency fund and my debt snowball with it by paying off everything but our vehicles and house and then buying tires!

We did change our deductions some so that we do not get quite as much back next year but we like getting a large chunk back and next year it will be Disney money so that is even better!

 

[MSLRAC]

I didn't even know that you could still do Rapid Refund because this is the second year that it has not been offered in our area. The lady at H&R Block told us last year that the government had put a stop to them. But we used to do them because we didn't know any better and were getting back a crapload ($8000+) of money each year. Live and learn! LOL

This year we didn't even go to H&R Block because they were going to charge us almost $400 and we have a basic return with a schedule C. So we're going with a CPA this year for $100.

Anyway, we're using our refund for a down payment for a new second vehicle and for our November WDW trip!!!

 

[Missy29]

I have never used rapid refund but it never seems to take to long to get direct deposited anyway. We are using half to go to Disney World in May the other half is paying off some credit card debt.

 

[bumbershoot]

anyway.....what are peoples "fun plans" ? This was started to be a fun thread...the rapid refund was just MY thoughts on the subject not to put anyones choices down

The beginning of the post was

why do people still use rapid refund?
I heard someone talking about wanting to do that the other day and I just thought to myself "why would you loose so much doing that when you can do direct deposit and have it sometimes as short as a week?".I have never done that because I have never just HAD to do that so fast that it is worth the cost but do alot of people still do it?

That does not indicate that it's to be a fun thread, but rather a "why do these people do these things" thread.

I know one reason people use it. Because they don't have a checking account and/or savings account for the government to direct deposit their money into.

That's just about the only reason people do it. I know a woman who messed up in her 30s, and in her 40s STILL couldn't get even the most basic checking or savings account because of that ridiculous company that banks use. I cannot recall the name, but she had a short period of her life where she messed up her checking account, and even though she paid all of the charges and fees and put it all right, the account was closed and she wasn't able to get one. Really messed her up; no direct deposit of her check, and she couldn't do IRS refunds in the more normal ways.

This year we didn't even go to H&R Block because they were going to charge us almost $400 and we have a basic return with a schedule C. So we're going with a CPA this year for $100.

Can I recommend that you get the instructions for the 1040 and Schedule C, and look through them. Then look at the return you get back from the CPA, and see how they did things. I had my own business for 5 years and did my own personal and business taxes and it was pretty straight forward and simple, if you read the books they give you. Could go from $400 to $100 to zero.

 

[indimom]

I'll play.

We don't do it normally, but in 2005 we used our tax return for our first WDW vacation. I'm self employed and had overestimated my taxes by a wide margain. That return was quite a surprise and we decided to use it for something FUN!

Over the 16 years of my career, we have gotten a return (of some sort) 14 years. We had to pay in on two years.

We don't base our quarterly payments on creating forced savings or getting a windfall return; and, we don't make plans for a return because we never know for certain how much it is going to be. But, I do try to actively avoid OWING. The year we owed almost $2,000 was not fun. So, I can see why people like the boost a return gives them. I may have earned some pennies on that money when it was in my savings account, but there was a real negative psychological effect to having to take that money out of savings to pay the tax bill. Once I put my money into savings, I do not like pulling it back out.

 

[livie1205]

The beginning of the post was



That does not indicate that it's to be a fun thread, but rather a "why do these people do these things" thread.




That's just about the only reason people do it. I know a woman who messed up in her 30s, and in her 40s STILL couldn't get even the most basic checking or savings account because of that ridiculous company that banks use. I cannot recall the name, but she had a short period of her life where she messed up her checking account, and even though she paid all of the charges and fees and put it all right, the account was closed and she wasn't able to get one. Really messed her up; no direct deposit of her check, and she couldn't do IRS refunds in the more normal ways.



Can I recommend that you get the instructions for the 1040 and Schedule C, and look through them. Then look at the return you get back from the CPA, and see how they did things. I had my own business for 5 years and did my own personal and business taxes and it was pretty straight forward and simple, if you read the books they give you. Could go from $400 to $100 to zero.

oh thank you for clearing that up as long as you know what I intended next time I think out loud I will make it more clear.
anyway my bff is a CPA so we pay her...we are gonna keep a little for cruise spending then put the rest away...but i am telling ya one day we are going to put it all right to WDW! lol maybe next year lol maybe I will book us a 10 night wdw trip and really have fun with it!! of course I will look here to get my nerve up haha thanks to those who posted in the spirit it was intended I hope you have fun on your trips.

 

[Allison]

The title of the thread was "why do people use rapid refund" but that's not what you want to talk about? Sorry, that's confusing.

Anyway, to answer the question that was in the title. I don't know why people would do that. If you were ok letting the government have your money all year then I wouldn't think there would be a huge hurry to get it back. That's my take on it.

 

[DawnM]

I had no idea rapid refund was HUNDREDS of dollars!

Of course, there are people who use those check cashing places for pay check advancements, so there are all sorts of people who will use a service for this.....usually preying on the poor.

Dawn

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

going on first cruise!





well, in a roundabout way...we're getting rid of some debt and putting what would have been those payments into savings, which we'll use for a December cruise

 

[girli565]

We are taking a Spring Break cruise March 11-18. It was a last minute thing because other family members were going and my husband said, let's do it!

We are paying off the last bit of Credit Card debt we have and then the rest is going to savings.

 

[MSLRAC]

Can I recommend that you get the instructions for the 1040 and Schedule C, and look through them. Then look at the return you get back from the CPA, and see how they did things. I had my own business for 5 years and did my own personal and business taxes and it was pretty straight forward and simple, if you read the books they give you. Could go from $400 to $100 to zero.

I have actually thought about that because I used to them all the time. We only started using H&R Block when things got complicated...mortgages on two homes, rented one (for a loss), two W-2's, and numerous 1099's. But now we're back to just a pretty basic return. But I do want the CPA to look at them this year because H&R Block claimed we didn't have enough to itemize and I find that hard to believe.

 

[Disfamily0405]

I am going to Target and buying the last 29 gift cards I need to pay off our 2013 cruise! I am so excited! with my husband's Employee discount, our Target Visa card, and a Pharmacy Rewards discount card I am getting $1450 worth of Disney Gift Cards for $1177.69 for a savings $272.31!!! That brings me to a grand total savings of $759.60 for $3150 in Disney Gift Cards!!

 

[ksloane]

I am going to Target and buying the last 29 gift cards I need to pay off our 2013 cruise! I am so excited! with my husband's Employee discount, our Target Visa card, and a Pharmacy Rewards discount card I am getting $1450 worth of Disney Gift Cards for $1177.69 for a savings $272.31!!! That brings me to a grand total savings of $759.60 for $3150 in Disney Gift Cards!!

That's great!

I will be paying off our disney cruise (very little left) with mine and setting aside enough for our time in NYC after the cruise.

The rest is going into savings and paying off the small balance (less than $200) I've accrued on a credit card the last couple months....

 

[furb & dez]

Let's see... I've already got my state refund - spent that on a week's worth of groceries.

For my federal return, I'm using a portion of it to pay for a trip to Disneyland (first time staying on property!). I will also be using part of it to buy another (better-fitting) tuxedo. The remainder will go into the household budget, most likely to replace the chlorine generator and sweeper for the pool.

When I get my bonus, about half will go into savings specifically to prepare for buying a car next year. Another chunk will go to pay off the rest of my upcoming cruise. The rest will go into my general savings account.