Dude, where's my tax refund? Federal that is.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:12 am

Well I e-filed and it's been a whole week.

Maybe if my initials were AIG I would have my money by now.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:19 am

aristide1 wrote:Well I e-filed and it's been a whole week.

They have been very slow this year. I guess they need to print the money first.

I e-filed federal and state on 1/24. State came 2/3; Federal not until 2/20.

xan_user · Post by **xan_user** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:30 am

you let the government use your money all year for free?

I rather keep my tax money during the year and put it to use , then let the gobermnet use it interest free.

I much rather pay on the 15th than get a refund.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:40 am

xan_user wrote:you let the government use your money all year for free?

I rather keep my tax money during the year and put it to use , then let the gobermnet use it interest free.

I much rather pay on the 15th than get a refund.

You're right of course, but it' not that simple. Once you have some mutual funds you get taxable distributions. There is no rhyme or reason to the distributions from my view, for the company they must distribute capital gains to share holders.

I would just as soon break even with taxes, I have enough bills. I have more taken out to cover the "usual" amount of capital gains. This year I had less, so now the Feds owe me money.

The really bad side is when distributions are so large that I owe taxes, and possibly fines or fees. That's way more than what I would get if the money was in the bank. I could have taxes taken out and paid by the mutual fund company for me, but I prefer to reinvest the distributions, when I can.

QuietOC, you're lucky your state could afford refunds. I hope mine can.

Don't forget, if the government has to pay interest to borrow money we end up paying that interest anyways.

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:16 am

My accountant told me that they are doing payments on some sort of schedule, like when you file between this date and that date, it should clear by a specific Friday 2-3 weeks later, and so on. Am I the only one who remembers the old days of filing paper forms, back before e-file existed and hoping to get my refund in less than 60 days? As for right now, I'm fine with them taking 1-2 months to process refunds. America is in crisis and the government needs all the money it can get. This is the time to slow the refund process down so they can find more of the fraud and cheating going on before just sending out free money, right? I mean it's the government's money and not yours after all.

xan_user · Post by **xan_user** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:42 am

id be willing help out by letting my taxes sit in the irs account for a few years if they payed interest. (decent interest)

Think about the political message it would send if you could support an administration you believe in by letting your tax revenue sit during their term.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:52 am

I should point out, that unlike all you "evil" rich people, I am well below the poverty line and have never had to pay federal income tax and most years don't have to pay state income tax. But I am all for not giving us "poor" people some remnants of your money after most of it has gone through the idiots in Washington and the state capitols.

Xan_user: It's too bad about your belief, but people do tend to love fascism.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:58 am

My tax software has free e-filing, but then I find out only for federal. For the state they want $20, I say no way. I e-filed with the state once about 3 years ago and then went back to paper. I am not paying them to make their job easier. That's just so much horse hockey.

xan_user wrote:id be willing help out by letting my taxes sit in the irs account for a few years if they payed interest. (decent interest)

I don't know anyone paying decent interest these days.

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:57 am

Well technically the federal government does pay interest. That is how they run deficit budgets; they sell treasury bonds which pay interest, so people pay money to fund the national debt. That's why something like 15-20% of the budget each year is spent just paying interest on the debt - they have to pay interest on all those bonds. It's a mess and if allowed to continue, we can end up in a situation where we're paying more interest than we have money to afford, requiring the issuance of new debt just to pay the interest on old debt. In reality, they'll just stop funding social security by the time we reach that point, which will be a real low point in American history and probably the nation's point of greatest vulnerability. Anybody else watch IOUSA?

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:05 am

AZBrandon wrote:... they have to pay interest on all those bonds.

Ultimately aren't we paying that interest? Every time someone figures out the national debt they divide it down to cost per individual, because the government doesn't spend their money, they spend our money.

Or in the case of AIG, they throw it into the wind.

xan_user · Post by **xan_user** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:15 am

QuietOC wrote:
Xan_user: It's too bad about your belief, but people do tend to love fascism.

too bad about what belief? there's no need to feel sorry if you disagree with someone.

aristide1 wrote:
I don't know anyone paying decent interest these days.

true- 'competitive interest rate' would have been a better choice of words.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 5:05 pm

It showed up on the 20th, which is acceptable.

I filed my state via paper & priority mail (for the cheap confirmation) just today, so on with the waiting, again.

Xan, I let the Feds keep some money again. There's another instance when I owe at the end of the year, that's when I collect unemployment, and the way things are going frankly every day I keep working has more to do with dumb luck than it has to do with my abilities or capabilities. And the only thing worse than owing them money is owing them when you don't have any.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:55 pm

It's really shitty having to pay for your governments mistakes, over expendetures and wars, its a good thing that were used to it. We dont complain bitterly every year about our tax return being late, we try not to pay the tax to start with, and when we pay, we try to underpay, so that we end up paying the government, rather than the other way round (after a few hundred years we thought you might have caught on, but here we are

).

Get yourself straight people, steal money FROM your governement, just like they do from you, but do so lawfully (tax evasion/delay's).

Andy

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:46 am

Well I agree in principal, but as I said before when I owe they may also throw in fees and interest, making it much worse. Without mutual funds I could calculate it very close.

Besides, they tax my 2% interest, and I end up paying theirs, a no win situation. Better not to have a war.

Dude, where's my tax refund? Federal that is.

Dude, where's my tax refund? Federal that is.

Re: Dude, where's my tax refund? Federal that is.