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Taxes Done Early
For the first time ever, I did my taxes as soon as I got all the documents I needed. There are two good reasons for this that I can think of at the moment:
- Despite the existence of my spiffy little filing bin under my desk, things are destined to disappear. It’s like socks in the dryer. Even though the dryer door was closed, and nobody was around, you’ll still have put an even number of socks in there only to come up with an odd number when you fold them later.
- It’s bad enough that the government got this money from me interest-free from the time I earned it. Why let them hang on to it for a few more months when I can use it now?
The damage? A $620 refund that I could’ve used most of last year for better purposes. Heck, it’s even profitable, depending on how you look at it. My total tax obligations were $351. A total of $570 was withheld from paychecks, yet I “overpaid” by $620. Neat. What I really like about TurboTax is that they give you your effective tax rate, rather than making you figure it out on your own (not like it would be that difficult). Last year, my effective rate was 2.44%, this year it’s 2.39%.
In any case, this refund (coming in 8-14 days, supposedly) won’t be going anywhere special. It’ll go in the budget just like any other income, and probably end up towards the car/truck/what-have-you savings.
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Related posts:
- Oops – Refiling State Taxes
- I Just Did My Taxes and Wish I Hadn’t
- Christmas Sucks
- Taxes Paid
- Doing My Own Taxes Was A Big Mistake
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I just got my W-2 yesterday. Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? However, I have to fill out a 1099…something. I’m gonna go with Schedule D- it’s something for investors that sold stock. I don’t know if I have to calculate that myself or if I need to wait for a form. I’m going to just pull it from online and pray to goodness that I don’t make a mistake on the calculator…
Ugh, it’s still better than owing. I just paid $300 in taxes, and I’m sitting here fuming about it. Note to self: don’t do taxes right before you’re supposed to go out. This just put me in the crappiest mood.
Yeah, I think I owed $170 or so last year myself. It tends to completely offset the “well at least I got to use that money all year” mentality.