What will you do with your tax refund?

[deerhart]

I don't get it either. Some people are getting back 5000 +. With thtat money, they could have (1) avoid credit card interest, (2) put 400 + into savings each month through direct deposit, (3) made those purchases that they needed through the year or just used the money. Instead, you gave the gov't 5000 + extra, and got returned a slightly devalued currency, with no interest earned for the year.

Just for kicks, you may want to check out the withholding calculator at irs.gov. This might allow you a little extra room in some otherwise tight budgets.

Not all of us have jobs that give us the same income each year. My total income is greatly affected by bonuses, my dh's by overtime and bonuses. Also, our credits vary from year to year since we are using student loan interest, dependent care costs (which we don't know until April/May what the summer costs will be), tuition costs this year and last (again dependent on how many classes DH takes), etc..

We ALSO have to be careful because our income could fluctuate high enough to push us out of our full credits and into AMT.

Thus we end up with a decent size refund sometimes (this year was double what we normally get) due to the change in factors.

We are using our refund this year to buy a Dyson Animal (purchased), pay off my best buy card from xmas early (no interest until March and I already had it mostly paid off), to pay the money we owe in state taxes, and to pay off the Disney Trip.

 

[DaisyD]

Okay, so I think we'll do the roth. People bought up good points about being able to remove some of the original investment without penalty if we need it for an emergency. We'll be able to put about $3,000 in (as I am going to kick another $500 from due to the fact that we downgraded from poly to offsite.

We contribute to our retirement every month (have been for 22 years), so hopefully when the market recovers, so will the 401k.

Roth Ira it is.

I am sorry to all of you who aren't getting anything back or worse. We had years like that.

Don't feel sorry for us. We don't want to get any money back. We prefer to have our money when we earn it and not let the govt keep it. We try to get it so we get nothing and sometimes we do owe a little but no biggie.

 

[Ka' eo]

Don't feel sorry for us. We don't want to get any money back. We prefer to have our money when we earn it and not let the govt keep it. We try to get it so we get nothing and sometimes we do owe a little but no biggie.

I'll edit that to say "aren't getting anything back and expected to or worse, don't have a job."

As I have said, I realize there are differing philosophies on this but was specifically replying to someone who was disappointed this year.


Good for you!

 

[Donaldswife]

We are going to Disneyland in April (adults only trip!), Disney World in October, paying for our Colts season tickets and putting $1000 in our saving account. We get a big refund most years, but we do that because our income fluctuates, and we cannot predict with accuracy which tax bracket we will be in each year to avoid it. I would rather have a refund each year, than get socked with having to pay because of our income fluctuations.

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

We are getting back 7770.00 this year (way more than I thought we'd get thank you lord). This is what we are doing (at this point) with ours:

Savings 3000.00
CC debt payoff 2300.00
2 new tires 300.00

The rest we haven't fully decided on yet. I would like to put 700.00 towards Disney and get a new lawn mower though lol. It's nice to have options.

 

[charming23]

My mom is getting a nice chunk back and we will use part of that to pay for my taxes on my unemployment (not too bad at only $150 way less than I had thought). After that most will go back into savings except for a small chunk to pay for a new garden to be put in.

 

[*Seanaci*]

We're putting money into something (money market or other savings account of some sort) to start building a nest egg (so to speak) to cover any surprise expenses we might have in the future (thanks to hubby's minor car accident and a $1000 insurance deductible, scrambling to come up with the deductible kicked our butts hard for not having a significant savings somewhere). And we'll also be paying on our CC. It's what we do with it every year.

 

[mkel34]

Paid off this May's Disney trip , bought a Nikon D5000, and then paid some bills.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We used ours to buy Disney tickets!

 

[neatokimmo]

I'm getting $2500ish back (I'm not done entering everything).

You can't adjust everything out of your taxes if you are lower income. With the child credit, adoption credit, savers credit, property tax credit, etc, it all adds up.

I am dumping mine into my misc column to make my ridiculous 2010 budget a little more manageable. I am trying to live on a certain amount so I can save a big chunk of my my pay this year.

Oh ya, about $500 of it is going into my power bill column to beef it up. I hate snow.

 

[Maude4Disney]

We have been working really hard for the last year and a half to pay off our debt. Should be debt free in another year and a half, with the exception of the mortgage. ($45,000 in 3 yrs ) Even after changing our withholdings we are still getting some back, not as much as previous years, but that's ok. Anyway, we are putting about $400 to savings and taking a trip to Vegas to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Figure we're really good the rest of the time... it's time for us to celebrate us!

 

[secretpantssam]

I'm getting the first time home buyers credit and I'm also getting more back in taxes than usually since I don't have 1099s this year. I'm planning on getting some new furniture for my house and a new washer and dryer. The rest is going into savings!

 

[blanq]

My refund will be going into my emergency savings account.

 

[sweetyface77]

I claim a certain number of exemptions each week in order to maximize my check. I haven't had a large refund since 2007 when DD stopped going to Daycare. The first year I filed after DD was born, my original return was $4400 and that was before I had to amend it for forgetting a tax paper I never received (which brought home another $2200). That was A LOT of money, but I was making very little, and was claiming Single and 0. I put that all into savings and unfortunately, DH lost his job about six months later. Bye-bye savings.

I don't claim the maximum allowances because truth be told, I like knowing that I have an extra cushion in the spring. It makes sense for my family, financially to have that coming in so that we can get it, and use it to pay off what we need to or to use it towards vacation. This year, I've already filed and recieved my return and again, it was larger than usual due to me having had my son last year (another child credit and EIC). In total I had $3000, however (and seriously it's my luck) I forgot another tax paper and will have to amend my return (which will bring in an additional refund). The initial refund went to some bills, a mortgage payment and whatever was left went to our April Disney trip. This additional refund will be split between savings and my August trip with my daughter.

 

[bonoriffic]

This will be the first year that I don't come +/- within $100 of breaking even. My wife was off work on maternity leave for the last 3 months of the year and that probably threw off our projections.

For those who are interested in getting your fair share the day you earn it, the government actually puts out some decent online calculators to estimate your proper withholding. Of course it isn't fool proof, and your best option is to take your pay statement at mid-year at use the actual published tax tables from the IRS. It sounds harder than it is. It will also give you warning if you are going to owe a lot and can make additional cash withholding per paycheck so you aren't slammed at the end.

 

[ohlas]

They don't understand us either. We didn't pay in over $4000 in taxes, but that's what we got back with all these credits "the nice man" is offering. We only paid CC interest for one month ($18) - and that was actually for January 2010, not last year. We had no idea we would qualify for EIC in 2009, nor the "making work pay" credit (it's new) nor the extra money for RE taxes (new).

So, we didn't "give the government $4000 extra and get it back slightly devalued with no interest."

As of now I'm the only one working and I have a lot of exemptions claimed so very little is being taken out for taxes, and DH is collecting UC with no taxes taken out. Should my job continue past June, I will apply for EIC credits on my paychecks.

it not you dear i just hate tax time its the time to reflect on why i work so hard to give the government so much money to give it to people that make less then me so im grumpy... I love all my disers they are nicer then me.... so if im rude im sorry, its just ugh tell uncle sam you get fat from eating all the cookies and leave mine alone...

 

[LorlovesStitch]

What refund? A refund!

Jack

I second this comment! We will owe this year

 

[Kelli Pooh]

As soon as the check comes I am booking a trip to Disney to celebrate my
40th B-Day Since the year we had to pay $2500 we started having extra taken out each pay so we would never be in that position again. This past year was a tough one with my company closing and me being unemployed for quite some time but DH said that we need to celebrate!!!

 

[daisy2jae]

disney september 2010

 

[maggiew]

Were getting back $8066 combined from both fed and state returns. We are putting most of it in savings and using the rest on our Sept 2010 WDW trip. It will feel good to see our saving grow again.

Wow!!!

Maggie