Income Tax Refunds

[Veronica]

I'm thrilled that we managed to come out pretty much even. The Fed owed us a little. We owed CA a little.

Last year we got a huge return and bought a new to us bike hauler. Since it's a 4 wheel drive SUV, we're able to plan our own trip to the North Rim for mountain biking this summer instead of going with a tour company.

Veronica

[bmccasland]

I haven't even started

But I have a wish list, mostly having to do with kitchen renovations - new counter tops, refurb my existing cupboards, new refrig. Depending on the amount of refund, if any will depend on what I get to do. Then there is saving for a vacation that involves flying out of here, thus requiring boarding the furry beasts.

[NoNo]

Sometimes I feel like I should pay to have someone do my taxes because I hear people talk about getting huge returns back and I wonder what I'm doing wrong, like I'm missing out on some deductions. At any rate, I should get a few hundred back, which will be going straight into savings. This is a huge change over the past few years when it went straight to paying off credit cards. Oh the joy of not having those dumb cards weighing me down. I'm hoping to get back to Italy this summer, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to save up enough. If that doesn't work, I'm thinking a kayak and rack for my car so I can make my own trips

[limewave]

If we get any back, which I don't think we are, it will go to paying debt.

Our salaries are still reduced, thanks to the crummy economy. We owe my parents a chunk of change (I NEVER thought I'd have to borrow money from them) and they've asked us to make good on it by May.

And our washing machine died just before Christmas. We did a 6 mos same as cash deal as we had no $$, so we need to somehow pay that off.

I'm just crossing my fingers we won't owe the government more $$ too.

[TsPoet]

Sometimes I feel like I should pay to have someone do my taxes because I hear people talk about getting huge returns back and I wonder what I'm doing wrong, like I'm missing out on some deductions. At any rate, I should get a few hundred back, which will b

I think that means you are doing it right. Tax refunds mean you've been letting the gov't hold onto your money.

[GLC1968]

I think that means you are doing it right. Tax refunds mean you've been letting the gov't hold onto your money.

Yeah, this.

We are getting a huge refund because we opted to pay extra each paycheck to cover the fact that we've owed every year since we got married. We just opted to pay TOO much. The good part is that now we know that we can live with thousands less without too much pain, but the bad part is that the government got to earn interest on that money, we didn't. It was a stupid mistake.

I'd be much happier breaking even every year like I used to when I was single.

[ny biker]

I used to owe/get back very little each year. I made changes to my withholding to keep things even. After I bought my condo I started getting bigger refunds due to the mortgage interest deduction despite the fact that I changed my withholding to try to account for it. So I just gave up.

[NoNo]

I'm sure the fact that I rent plays a large part in my numbers being smaller than other people's . I also have them take the max out of my paycheck. I should probably get an accountant anyway as I'm trying to start a business and have no clue where to start with that stuff. Don't need the IRS on my case down the road because I did something wrong now.