What's everyone's plans for their Tax Refunds?

[TheOtherMe]

I was expecting to owe small amounts to both the federal and state governments. However, I have refunds coming.

The two combined should about cover the cost of new eyeglasses, which I need. Anything that is left, will go to savings.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Just as an FYI, with regards to claiming a large number of withholding allowances. I would suggest keeping it under 10 allowances.

As I recall from my days doing payroll, claiming more than 9 allowances was an automatic trigger that had to be reported to the IRS for possible review. The IRS has the authority to tell your employer what you are allowed to claim on your W-4 if they feel you are not being truthful.

I generally found that employees who used 9 allowances saw their taxes sufficiently reduced so as to get the effect they were looking for without raising an unnecessary flag with the IRS.

[dogmom]

Usually we're close to just a break even. Just finished ours this morning. We're getting a little more back than anticipated due to a loss on some stock. It's going into retirement fund.

[Deleted]

I thought we would owe but we are getting $700 back between state and feds. We had more deductions for our rental than I thought.
We are separating it, $50 to fun, $100 EF, $100 future rental, $100 moving costs, $100 (future) baby, $100 wedding, $100 future car fund and $50 towards our disability insurance we will get in May.

[sapphire12]

It goes into the acct to pay for car and home insurance and property taxes.

[seriousthistime]

I got my state refund, ~$250, already. Thank you State of Illinois! My federal refund of ~$3,100 should be coming in the next two weeks. I know I should recalculate my withholding. But after several years of lifestyle/family/income changes, it has been hard to nail down. This year I'll have to take another look and possibly try to get closer to the mark.

As many people know, Illinois residents' income tax rate was increased from 3% to 5% earlier this year. Since I itemize deductions, that deduction will be larger when I file my taxes next year. It will be offset by a slight reduction in my mortgage interest since each year the amount of each payment going to principal increases and the amount going to interest decreases. So I will have to factor all of that in. I have no idea what my property taxes are going to do, so I will probably wait until I get that bill in May before I change my withholding.

My refunds, state and federal, are going straight to pay non-racing debt.

[kimber45]

I did not have any plans for a refund as I thought we would be paying in this year, but instead we are actually getting back $470 fed and $401 state. I will probably put it towards paying down our mortgage or HELOC.

[reader79]

So I got my $63 on Wednesday, it went towards my student loan payment of $230......wooooo! And my sister - who was expecting ~$3K - got back $11K, and so far, they have spent $500 on new rims for my BIL's car (still not registered,) and $400 on my niece's birthday party. Wealth redistribution at it's best.

[upstatemom]

We will put half in EF and buy a half a cow for the freezer to hedge against rising meat costs. Should have a little left to pay for some spring projects such as painting the deck and some walkway repairs.

[TheOtherMe]

Mine paid for new glasses. They didn't cost as much as I anticipated. At the end of the month, I will put the excess in savings. I already used part of it to pay off my credit card bill that would be due in April.

[kjsh]

With the dependent credit (yay December babies!) we ended up with a refund. Technically it will go to pay for a few months of childcare, which will free up the money that was going to be used for childcare to pay for a trip to the East Coast in the summer to bring DS to see family and friends. And technically that trip was planned for too, so really it just frees up that money to be available for emergency baby expenses, like our first trip to the ER last weekend.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

We got a $1555 refund. $1300 of it went to savings and we used $200 to get DH glasses. He's been dragging his feet on it and with the refund I told him he can't worm his way out by claiming we don't have any money.

Got $559 from Nebraska and we owe Iowa $558 so it is a wash. It always works out that way. I wish I could adjust the withholdings but it's a fixed percentage of my income. At least the two cancel each other out.

[blackcard]

We carefully calculated ours. Should have a refund of about $200.00. No reason to let rich, or broke, Uncle Sam have our money all year, just to give it back to us interest free at tax time.

[blackcard]

Oh, the $200.00? I almost forgot. Pay extra against the mortgage, of course.

[shelly527in]

Well, I just had them done today. I'm getting back about $1500....a lot more than I expected. About $550 will go towards house insurance and the rest into savings.