Income Tax Refund

[chezuki]

Everyone always likes to bring this up. Have money in the bank? Are they Paying you intrest? Do they charge you a fee to have the account?

If you answered no to question 1, you're providing the bank an interest free loan. If you answer yes to question 2, you're actually paying them to hold your money. Negative interest.

Most banks don't pay interest unless you have a decent chunk of change in there.

Yes.
Yes.
No.

And the bank does not demand I give them money, refuse to tell me exactly how much, and penalize me if I guess incorrectly.

My tax return goal is always zero. You do you.

 

[Leo]

Most banks don't pay interest unless you have a decent chunk of change in there.

The interest rates they are paying on regular savings is so low (.01%) that I wish they did not pay anything. I talked to the banker and they can offer me .015% if I tie my money up in their money market. As if that would make a difference. Today's bank accounts are about as profitable as hiding it in Mason jars in the garden.

My accountant pretty much charges by the line or form. The cost for making sure the government can take a portion of my interest is more than the total interest I receive.

 

[mbkintner]

Everyone always likes to bring this up. Have money in the bank? Are they Paying you intrest? Do they charge you a fee to have the account?

If you answered no to question 1, you're providing the bank an interest free loan. If you answer yes to question 2, you're actually paying them to hold your money. Negative interest.

Most banks don't pay interest unless you have a decent chunk of change in there.

Wow, I'm giving interest free loans to a whole lot of banks!!!!

 

[Super Bee]

I am not kidding, I just got my 2020 return last week. It took nearly 14 months.

I am not expecting my 2021 back until the next administration.

 

[WebSnyper]

Can check status here https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp

For federal return. For those that don't trust a link from someone on the internet (and you are right, you should not) go to IRS.gov and look for the where's my refund link.

For state of Indiana https://www.in.gov/dor/ and look for the refund status link (currently on the main page)

 

[PistolBob]

I need me some kids for that sweet sweet child credit stuff. Did taxes for a single mom, with two kids, she made a whopping 38,000 and her fed refund is in the neighborhood of $8K....because of child credits.

 

[JettaKnight]

Everyone always likes to bring this up. Have money in the bank? Are they Paying you intrest? Do they charge you a fee to have the account?

If you answered no to question 1, you're providing the bank an interest free loan. If you answer yes to question 2, you're actually paying them to hold your money. Negative interest.

Most banks don't pay interest unless you have a decent chunk of change in there.

There's these things called credit unions...



Anywho, try getting that loan from the IRS when you want to withdraw it.

I am not kidding, I just got my 2020 return last week. It took nearly 14 months.

I am not expecting my 2021 back until the next administration.

 

[JettaKnight]

I need me some kids for that sweet sweet child credit stuff. Did taxes for a single mom, with two kids, she made a whopping 38,000 and her fed refund is in the neighborhood of $8K....because of child credits.

EITC is a big thing. $38K with two kids is near the sweet spot for that, plus CTC.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Can check status here https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp

For federal return. For those that don't trust a link from someone on the internet (and you are right, you should not) go to IRS.gov and look for the where's my refund link.

For state of Indiana https://www.in.gov/dor/ and look for the refund status link (currently on the main page)

That INTIME (Indiana DOR) website is worthless. You can message them with a question and they will (eventually - like in 2 weeks maybe) answer you, but their answer is to call the phone number for INDOR. When you call the number for INDOR, you get a recording that says that all representatives are too busy to take your call and tell you to use INTIME. Total BS.

 

[xwing]

Refund? What are those? I get to write really big checks to both the US Treasury and the Indiana Dept of Revenue.

And that's why most of my liquid cash is not in the bank. We have a nice secure mutual fund that most of it is parked in, making about 6% yearly. Almost enough to not lose too much to inflation.

It's not actually "secure". While this mutual fund may have done well, and I assume it's invested in large cap & other lower-risk assets, it still has quite a bit of risk. Even though you can mitigate risk somewhat with derivates, etc, there is no investment paying any real amount that is actually "safe"... Right now the choices are "get less than 1% return" or "assume some amount of risk"...

 

[WebSnyper]

That INTIME (Indiana DOR) website is worthless. You can message them with a question and they will (eventually - like in 2 weeks maybe) answer you, but their answer is to call the phone number for INDOR. When you call the number for INDOR, you get a recording that says that all representatives are too busy to take your call and tell you to use INTIME. Total BS.

Understood, but at least there is a place to try and check status online and get some initial info in case folks were not aware.

 

[spencer rifle]

It's not actually "secure". While this mutual fund may have done well, and I assume it's invested in large cap & other lower-risk assets, it still has quite a bit of risk. Even though you can mitigate risk somewhat with derivates, etc, there is no investment paying any real amount that is actually "safe"... Right now the choices are "get less than 1% return" or "assume some amount of risk"...

Much of the emergency fund (12 months of employment income) is in treasuries, which is about as secure as you can get. If those fail, FDIC won't do your bank deposits any good.
Our investments show beta of less than one (less risk than the market as a whole) and alpha of about 2.5 (greater return than the market as a whole).

 

[1nderbeard]

CPA Here:

It's a total crapshoot this year. Some early in the season were back from my office within 7 to 10 days. Some are still waiting.

With the advance child tax payments and the stimulus payments there are tons of different variables. No one return is like another, it seems.

Check out where's my refund on the IRS website for any information. But, sometimes that doesn't always work either.

You cannot overestimate the disfunction in the IRS right now.

 

[Chalky]

Submitted electronically on 3/16 and refund direct deposited today. Owed state. Feeling fortunate and the IRS check status tool said 3/24 as well. Thanks for the link reminder above!

 

[JettaKnight]

You cannot overestimate the disfunction in the IRS right now.

Yeah, it seems worse than when Obama care came online. Oh how I hated telling people they owed money because of no insurance.

 

[1nderbeard]

Yeah, it seems worse than when Obama care came online. Oh how I hated telling people they owed money because of no insurance.

man....that was terrible...

I had a 2-3 year stretch for this particular couple. They owed b/c of the advance healthcare credit was too much; they didn't realize retirement income was in the calc. They had to take a 401k draw to pay the tax. Next year the same issue. Took 3 years to get it fixed.

Now I just have to convince people that I'm not the one holding their refund money, and I'm not the one not processing the letters we're writing. Between the post office not delivering mail and the IRS not looking at it (not to mention not answering phones) resolving issues is almost impossible.

 

[PGRChaplain]

E-Filed in Feb, had them both in 2 Weeks.

 

[xwing]

Much of the emergency fund (12 months of employment income) is in treasuries, which is about as secure as you can get. If those fail, FDIC won't do your bank deposits any good.
Our investments show beta of less than one (less risk than the market as a whole) and alpha of about 2.5 (greater return than the market as a whole).

I agree that treasuries are as low risk as you can get (although nothing is zero risk), but they aren't returning anywhere near 6%. They can't come even close to keeping up with inflation, even if you invest in 30-year notes.

Those alpha and beta are good numbers for a low risk investment portfolio, but still far from "safe". Just "safer than the market as a whole". Also, in what timeframe, though? Lots of investment vehicles can outperform the market for a short period of time (e.g. 1 or 2 years), but doing it consistently for several decades is a lot tougher.

 

[spencer rifle]

Also, in what timeframe, though? Lots of investment vehicles can outperform the market for a short period of time (e.g. 1 or 2 years), but doing it consistently for several decades is a lot tougher.

Have had basically the same investments for more than 25 years. And yes, the treasuries are not doing so well, but other parts of the fund make up for it.

No one beats the market long term. Best we can hope for is to minimize expenses.

 

[buckwacker]

It's almost August, anyone STILL waiting on a refund like me? I have family still waiting as well. I didn't plan on having a refund but found a tax credit I didn't know about. Ordinarilly I'm always writing a check.