Well I don't make very much money so I don't get much money back, but my tax return is going toward a 300ZX brake conversion I've decided, and SS brake lines.

 

OMG! I cant believe you are just doing your taxes. I had mine done and back to me on January 18th, 2003. Money has been spent on a 5 speed swap and I have been driving ever since.

I am already planning next years return, should be around $4k, having a family(dependents) is nice. 240sx next year.

 

No offense, but you are foolish to use the IRS as a savings account. All that a tax refund (Main Entry: 1re·fund
Pronunciation: ri-'f&nd, 'rE-"
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French refonder, from Latin refundere, literally, to pour back, from re- + fundere to pour -- more at FOUND
Date: 15th century
1 : to give or put back
2 : to return (money) in restitution, repayment, or balancing of accounts
- re·fund·abil·i·ty /ri-"f&n-d&-'bi-l&-tE, (")rE-/ noun
- re·fund·able /-'f&n-d&-b&l/ adjective ) is is giving you back money that is rightfully yours. Why give it to the Treasury in the first place if you're just going to get it back later?

Man, my goal is to own 500 to 1000 every year. It'd be more if I coudl but I don't like having big unexpected expenses.

Change your withholdings and get it down to owing $500.

 

i owed $510 this year (didnt quite break even)...so to answer the question at hand, i have been spending my tax return over the whole year.

--Paul

 

who was that directed to?

 

my tax money is going towards my VE five speed fund

 

You'll love the SS lines...

Too bad I couldnt get em off my auto and onto the 'new' 5spd

I'll have to buy new ones. But wow they make a huge difference in pedal feel

 

 

I agree with you fully man. I myself owed $248.

 

ha what tax returns, i had to pay this year

 

Nah, you have to factor in the human element, and on this forum there seems to be a desire to spend. For example, we seem to have concluded that a job at the Qwik-E-Mart does entitle everyone to drive an M3 or DB7. My best money market yields just under 1%, a credit union does 1.5%. I never bothered with that Orange ING account which pays more. Back in 2000 when my money market was nearly 6% I'd be concerned about having 6 to 7 grand owed to me by the govt. I want to be able to pay my mortgage and property taxes out of my NET pay. I don't want to rely on having a higher NET pay when my exemptions are the correct number. My property taxes and interest payments exceed 25 grand per year which causes me to get a large refund (not so when I was making money on stocks but that ended back in 2000). So be it. There were lots of people arguing back then that leasing the car was smart too because they could "invest" the cash flow savings instead. Yeah, those same people drove M Z3's and GS400's but you don't hear them talking anymore. maybe doing the CYA thing.

My advice is to let your NET pay dictate your lifestyle. If your exemptions are reported correctly, don't sweat the 0.75% (3/4 of 1 percent) annual interest you're losing because you get a tax refund.

 

Using it to help pay for my maxima...

 

i owed $610 and my parents owed $15,000

IRS --> <-- My family

 

no offense donald but that is poor tax planning. you don't want to get that huge refund. the IRS is just earning interest off of that money when you really could be. Yeah it's nice to get a check like that but having the 4k earining high interest somewhere or just having it throughout the year is just more ideal.

 

A bad injector on my third gen blew mine.

 

Yeah, I am not a planner Actually, I get low amounts, I would only be getting like $500-1500, but with a son and a gf as dependents, then all my expenses and owning a house, it comes out a little better

 

then change your W4's so they take less money out of your checks

 

Then that would be lying. What do you mean by them making interest? You mean the tax cut they take out of the refund?

 

You.

 

uhh, what tax return?! IRS?? who?? I dont work according to the government.




eric

 

You are getting a tax refund because you overpaid the government throughout the year. That is, too much money was sent in estimated payments, quarterly payments, and/or payroll deductions throughout the year. As a result, the government is getting to use your money that should be in your pocket. Come the end of the year they give the overpayment back to you.

Look at it like this. Let's say that every week, you go to the supermarket and make a purchase for $70. You always give them $80 because you cary nothing but twenties and you get no change in return. Come April 15th of the following year, you go to the store and they give you $520 in cash. Is that cool? Heck no.

Wouldn't it be better to hand them $60 per week and then that following 4/15 you give them $520 to make up the difference? Now, vs. the first scenario, you essentially get an extra $20 week.

Even if you forget about the interest factors since interest rates are so low, you do have the compound loss of inflation. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar a tomorrow or next week or next year. So if you're receiving, you want the dollar ASAP. If you're giving, you want to give the dollar as late as possible.

 

Thats a good way to look at it. But once again, I get around $700 just for my son and like $300 for my GF, then all the write offs. So I am only paying out around $1-2k per year.

 

Hmmm...I think we're somewhat miscommunicating here. Let me try my piece of this one more time. You set yourself up with various deductions on your W-2. After doing so, you receive $1,000 twice a month from your employer. At the end of the year, you take all of your credits and deductions and find out that the US Treasury is going to send you a check for $2,400. Excited? You shouldn't be.

What I propose is that you should go add a claim on your W-2 so that every two weeks your check from your employer totals $1,100. At the end of the year, the US Treasury owes you nothing and you owe them nothing but you've pocketed an extra $100 for each paycheck without any alteration to your standard of living, income, expenses, etc.

Better yet, you pay nothing to the government out of each paycheck but decide to send in quarterly tax payments to the exact point that you total 80% of what your total tax bill for the year is. Then, on 4/15, at the last possible moment, you send in your check for the remainder of what you owe. You don't cheat the government, you hold onto your money until the last minute possible, and you end up better off because of it. It's a pain in the **** and I don't do the above, but that would be the ideal means of paying.

Applying any amount of a refund towards next year's taxes is foolish as well. Even at 1% interest or growth, you are doing well. You will only pay 99% of what you actually owe 12 months later. If you give your refund to go towards next year's taxes, you are paying up to 101% of your tax bill and that's just idiotic. Now take your returns to the magical 10% mark. Would you gladly and willingly pay 110% of what the government says your tax bill is? If so, you're a democrat and I can't continue this conversation. If not, think about how you manage what you pay in throughout the year so that you owe a little come tax time.

Cheers,

JK

 

actually, getting married seems to give you a nice boost in taxes we managed getting over $1600 between state/federal this year. of course, i increased my salary last year by around 40% by the amount of overtime i worked. they take more out in taxes when i work more overtime, so i'm assuming that had a part to do in that. at least, that's what all the coworkers said. anyhoo, i think the wife is wanting to pay off some debt with this year's returns, especially with our first child due in june. nonetheless, i still want to spend at least a tad on the max

 

im only 18 and work part time, so i only get back $210, but thats going in the bank, i usually use christmas, and birthday, and such occasions to get stuff for the max

 

No offense but there's nothing wrong with that. Let me give you a real-life possibility--say I had to relocate for job purposes from Phila. to NYC, so my instead of paying 2700/mo for a mortgage I pay 2700/mo for an apt.? Any clue what that would do to my tax situation?? My itemized deductions would drop by over 25,000. Do you remember the people who always thought they could beat the market by timing even their 401k's?

Let's say you don't get 4k at the end of the year, you get $0 which is a wash. Again, the human factor--what are the odds that a person has the full 4k plus 0.75% interest on that, a whopping $30 that they lost because the govt. held the money? The avg. person would have simply absorbed the $4,030 over the year 2002 and spent it. That's why Americans like to get refunds at the end of the year. Who really cares about the $30?

 

If they did absorb it and spend it or donate it, would it be spent more or less efficiently than by the government? Anyhow, since it apparently doesn't matter, please send me $4,030 every June 1st and I will send you back a check for $4000 the following June 1st. Please recruit several of your friends to agree to the same proposal.

 

given the interest rates right now it may not matter...

but give me that scenario about 4 to 5 years ago when the economy was booming and you could easily get a 20% return on that 4k. I would much rather have the 4k in my pocket throughout the year than to get it in one lump sum in April.

 

My point is you have to be a bit practical about things. I refinanced at 5.75 for 30 yrs, and then the rate went down to 5.5. Because my mortgage is pretty much jumbo time, that's yet another 60/month for only a 1/4 point change. You think I don't care about 720/yr? Of course I do, but what odds do I have of hitting the bottom and timing when treasuries stop rallying and the market begins to do as such? I know people in my office that refi'd at 6.675 and thought a 28 yr. low was pretty good.

imho you mod your car to the tune of $500 or more and all this money theory goes out the window in a practical sense. As they say in the commercial, what's in your wallet?

Don't get me wrong, I know what you're saying. In an ideal world, you keep that extra 4 grand or in many cases 7 grand, and you pay that towards the principal on your home, and you do it every year. Before you know it, after 18 yrs your 30 yr mortgage is paid off. But how many people actually do that? We could do a poll and find out if we really wanted.

 

Sounds like a good idea. Im getting a few bucks back myself and im going to replace the bose sound system with some nice stuff. Im also looking to upgrade my brakes and the 300zx brakes seem like a good idea. Good luck.

 

I used mine for my down payment for my Maxima. I filed mine in electronicly in Jan and had my money deposited in my account about ten days later. You gotta love Turbo Tax online.

 

We got about $4300 back fed and state this year. Out planning got messed up, for a few reasons - refinanced our mortgage - started my own business and my wife graduated from college and started working.
All the money we got went straight towards buying plane tickets to go to Europe three times this year - for two of us, we're spending about $6k to get over there for weddings.

At least next year I don't have to go as all my friends and family will already be married. Maybe I can do some decent mods next year...