Comments on: TurboTax Premier Online Giveaway

By: KATHY

KATHY — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:49:36 +0000

We plan on using any tax refund to help pay tuition for our kids. Oh and then there are property taxes too! So I guess we will see.

By: Pamela @ Frugal Vet Tech

Pamela @ Frugal Vet Tech — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:34:44 +0000

Depends on the year. We owed taxes for a few years. Last year we got a lot back and spent some on a new laptop, some on a weekend trip, and I forget what we did with the rest so I’ll pretend we put it in savings. This year I think most of it’s going into savings. I have an (unpaid) internship coming up and we need to have money around to cover the bills. If there’s any left after my internship we’ll probably either pay down debt or get away for a weekend to celebrate me being DONE with school.

By: Carol

Carol — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:36:42 +0000

I usually get a refund, but also have big insurance bills due at about the same time – money in, money out! I’ll use the refund to repay savings fund.

By: Trevor @ Financial Nut

Trevor @ Financial Nut — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:41:53 +0000

I’m truly terrible about getting my taxes done on time. I don’t know why I wait every year- I just do!

By: CatGeo

CatGeo — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:57:00 +0000

I don’t have the program yet but I try to get advice on withholding at the start of the year.

I live in Alaska and the “permanent fund dividend” has potentially pushed me into the next tax bracket. So my withholdings carefully planned are a bust and I will owe money when I expected to have a small return of about 200 dollars.
If I get any back I will throw it all to debt.

I only have 4k out of 85k left to go!!!
I have been reading a long time and I really enjoy your perspective on life.

By: E.C.

E.C. — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:40:06 +0000

A quick run through suggests I’ll be getting a bit back. It’ll probably just get thrown into my savings account unless I decide to start a separate fund for graduate school applications next winter.

By: melissa

melissa — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:49:28 +0000

I always do my own taxes with Turbo Tax! And I have put it off this year until next week, just in the nick of time–but I don’t have my program yet.

I have no idea if I will have a refund or not this year, it was a bad financial year for us! But, usually if we have a refund we need it for some big purchase or emergency, we have never used it for fun.

By: Meg from FruWiki

Meg from FruWiki — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:23:36 +0000

We don’t budget for it per se. We try to have it so that we don’t owe anything but that not too much is withheld, either. We still always get a refund, but we don’t count it at ours till we get it. Then it usually goes to debt or into savings or maybe something that we do need. We don’t go crazy with it or anything.

Unfortunately, I’ve known a few people who do just spend it like free money and even have it spent before it comes in (at least mentally, sometimes actually using CC’s). They’re usually living paycheck to paycheck with no emergency fund, so — as you can probably imagine — their car breaks down or what not and then they realize (at least I hope they do) that they should have put it away for a rainy day.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:45:29 +0000

I’m the type of person that always filed my taxes as soon as I had everything I needed, but when I got married I turned the taxes over to my husband. He will wait until the last minute to file. It drives me crazy to wait, but I guess it beats having to actually do them myself, so I guess I can’t complain!

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:59:53 +0000

I LOVE TurboTax – I’ve been using it for years. I highly recommend it for ease of filing, unless you have a very complicated situation. It might still be great, but I don’t have experience with things like rental property, etc.

I’ve already filed & received my state refund, the federal refund should be deposited any day.

I usually get a fairly large refund. As usual I will set aside $1K for my birthday gift and xmas fund for the year.

I am considering a splurge on either a treadmill or a good bike for exercise, but I’m having a problem with allowing myself to spend at the moment, so I think I’ll hang on for awhile.

The balance will go into my emergency fund which is in good shape, until I make some investment decisions in the near future. I’m clinging to a larger-than-usual emergency fund at the moment, until I see some improvement in the economy.

In the past I used my large tax refund as an enforced savings account. Now that my finances are more stable & I’m saving regularly & earning interest I am considering changing my deductions to get more money in my paycheck & put it in an interest earning account.