If you've done your taxes....

[StephandOwen]

did you get a bigger refund than last year? My earnings and everything was almost the same as last year (this year my income was slightly more... about $700 more). My refund is almost $1000 more than last year. I'm not complaining! Just wondering why. I did it through TurboTax (which I got to from the IRS website, the part for people who qualify for free filing b/c they are low income), same as last year.

And the second question... if you got a refund- are you spending it? Saving it? What's the plan?

We're taking ds to Disney World in May/June with part of my refund (same as we did last year). The rest will probably go into savings in case I have to quit work for the summer (I work at a daycare and I usually bring my ds with me when I work outside of school hours/days. My boss has mentioned she's not going to allow employees to do this, starting this summer, so I may just have to take the whole summer off).

[limabean]

We don't do our taxes until early February (we still haven't received all our forms), but I'll be interested to see if the refund is larger, that'd be great! To answer your second question, we usually buy season passes to Disneyland, plan a small weekend trip away, then put the rest in savings.

[EFmom]

I've done a preliminary run through and I expect our refund will be smaller. We are a dual, nearly equal income family and when the withholding was changed to reflect the most recent stimulus, this is one area where the gov't screwed up.

We do most major home repairs in the summer as dh is a teacher and does the work himself. Whatever refund we get is earmarked for new windows.

[ashleyhaugh]

i have no idea what mine will be like this year.... im filing as single for the first time in ages, and i hardly worked at all last year....

depending on how much, i need to find a dental college or something for a cleaning, some work done on my car, a little as blow money, and the rest into savings

[Hey Mama!]

Yes it about doubled. I did not work the last 3 months of the year, and we earned about $4,000 less then last year. We are using our refund to replace the income I am not earning since I quit my job to go back to school full time.

[Penelope]

I think we'll owe for the state, but get a return from the federal. Dh is unemployed and money is super tight right now, (although, ironically, we made more last year than we have in the past because it was my first calendar year of f/t work) so I think we'll file federal asap and wait until the last minute to pay for the state - hopefully dh will be employed by then.

We'll buy groceries and pay utilities with any return we do get, sigh.

[Drummer's Wife]

Ours is smaller this year, but DH upped his exemptions so his take home pay was higher. We haven't even received his w-2 yet; I'm basing this off estimating calculators.

Plan for the money includes a kitchen aid mixer (yay!), possibly a new LCD or LED TV, and some smaller, random things. Oh, all four of our kids have birthdays Feb 28-March 30th so we can always use extra money around this time of the year.

I do think we will owe the state a bit, though.

eta: I forgot, I want to get our youngest a Radian XTSL with our refund money.

[AllyRae]

Our refund this year is way way way more than last year, but we bought a house and got the $6500 tax credit, plus had another baby, so right off the bat, that's $7500 more than what we would have gotten....otherwise, it would have been similar to last year's. We're using the money to fully outfit the girls' montessori homeschool room, fence in our new yard, and pay off our only credit card in full.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Dang, I wish I had all of my W-2's! I think I am going to have to make some phone calls on a couple of them. I was let go from a job last year, and REALLY am not looking forward to talking to them, but I haven't heard anything yet and would really like to do my taxes ASAP. I also have two other jobs that I worked at very part time, and will need those as well, but they are not quite as a big of a chunk. Once I receive my main W-2's, I am going to see what it will come to. I am expecting a pretty decent refund this year.

I am planning to get passports for DS and myself, and possibly also book a vacation. I think the rest will go into an emergency fund and/or go toward student loans.

[feminist~mama]

I haven't done my yet either- I haven't even gotten my W2's! I did a online estimate a month ago or so and it looks like I'll be getting back about the same from federal- I hope I get about the same from state too!

I'm planning to wait to do my taxes though- I'm house hunting right now and would love to be able to get the credit this year as opposed to next! So it's silly to file early when we don't *need* the money...

When I do get it I'll likely spend a chunk on baby stuff that isn't given to me at assorted showers/from family. I will definitely buy a dresser for the baby... and when the baby stuff is squared away I'll likely just hold on to the rest of the $$- especially if I buy a house because it'll give me some cushion while I'm off work, which would be lovely! We're doing Disneyland in December, so some of it might end up paying for that too!

[annettemarie]

Moving to Frugality and Finances

[confustication]

Originally Posted by EFmom

Whatever refund we get is earmarked for new windows.

So is ours. We're putting it into something that should save us money in the long-run.

I files our taxes, and our refund was larger than I expected. I lost about $1000 of it to self-employment taxes though for the first time as my pay from self-employment is now beginning to outstrip income from work- which I really hadn't realized until I put it all down on paper.

[Denvergirlie]

I'm getting back $600 more than I did lsat year. However, lst year I had to pay taxes on a trip I won, so if I can take out that one time variable last year, then I am about dead even with my tax returns in 2006 and 2007 as well.

So I don't really consider this year's tax return to be any different than previous years.

[Norasmomma]

We're getting back almost $4000 more, due to a new baby, earning about the same and now qualifying for more EIC. Obviously no complaints here, we need the money really badly. We are buying a couple spoiler things DH is getting new skiis from a friend, I'm getting a laptop and a flip video. Most of the money is going to home improvement and stockpile stuff.

[Stayseeliz]

I haven't gotten all my husband's 1099's but knowing "about" what he made it looks like our refund will be around $1500 higher than last year making about the same. I'm not complaining. It was a tough year and the list of needs is a mile long!

[mnnice]

We have always actively avoided having large refunds. DH usually calculates/tried to estimate in early fall to determine if we seem to be under or over withheld so far that tax year.

This year we are ending up with the biggest refund ever (IMO isn;t a particularly good thing) mostly because DH has some income from severance which for some reason has/had a crazy huge amount withheld from it. Neither one of us had anything withheld all fall and we are still way overwithheld. I am sure our refund will just sit in savings in the short run.

[Eman'smom]

Haven't gotten the w-2's yet, but I'm just praying we don't owe.

[deditus]

Dh filed for us yesterday morning
We are getting back less - we made a lot more (more than twice as much as in 2008) and didn't qualify for as much EIC.
$ goes to pay down debt, probably fill the freezer w/local beef and pork, and a trip home to MI.

[zoebird]

we are waiting on one more form and then will be sending our stuff to our accountant. ever since i got audited in 05, i let a pro do it.

btw, audit was painless. the woman was very friendly because she said " you just filled out the forms wrong. we'll figure it out and set up a payment if you need to." turned out that the 06 tax refund exactly covered the error, and left us $45 as our refund. not too bad, so it worked out.

we generally get about $2k, and so i figure it will be about the same this year. but, i never really know until the accountant sends me his results after e-filing.

best $250 i spend all year, to be honest.

[Mylie]

I am getting just a bit less than last year...

The YMCA didn't take any federal out of me so I will have to go find out why and ammend it so it doesn't hurt me next year.

I am paying off my only credit card(my backup for emergency bills only)so I have it over this coming year if I need it..

I owe my dad alot of back rent I am going to pay him in full.

I am paying my car insurance,internet,life insurance and phone bills for the year..Give me a bit of financial breathing room this coming year..

I have a couple of old utility bills I need to pay off..

I have to finish paying off L's ear surjury bill...Finally after almost two years!!

I am getting my van maintenced so it is safe to drive for the year cause I won't have any money through the year if something happens..Brakes,tires,tune-up,belts ect...

I am also going to try and fill my pantry/freezer and really stock my cabinets..I hardly ever get to do this and sometimes this is what saves me when I virtually have no money for groceries.

I love income tax return time...Around here it releives so much stress if only for several months..But it feels good while it lasts...