A family member did Turbo Tax this year and said they are only getting back $2000 They made about $40,000 with 2 kids (4 people total), they also have a home and they carried their kids all year. That doesnt sound like much of a refund. Maybe H&R block or Jackson Hewitt would have been more? And before I get a bunch of answers saying “It depends on their situation” I was just curious if that was the average amount of your refund? And if its better to go to a professional than to try to do them yourself with Turbo tax or Tax Cut.
I know my husband has his sister do his income tax with a tax program as well.We file seperatly and my dad who is an accountant does mine.
Anyways he never gets much when his sister does it with the program on her computer last year he took H&R block and received triple of what he ever gets back with the tax program
A tax refund is nothing more than getting change back, just like at Wally World or any other store. You buy $30 worth of stuff and hand the cashier a $50 and get $20 back. If you gave them a $100 you’d get $70.
A tax refund is no different. If you overpay your tax liability you get some change. If you under pay it you have to pay the difference. What someone else gets back at filing time is totally irrelevant to your situation. The only difference is that with the IRS you’d have to wait up to 16 months for your change. If Wally World did that, you’d NEVER give them that $50 for $30 worth of stuff, you’d give them the exact change every time! Why do people think it’s OK for the IRS to be any different from Wally World??
People who get a large refund are not planning their finances properly. They give the government an interest free loan for up to 16 months. That’s just plain DUMB. Someone getting a $5,000 refund could have had an extra $100 in their pocket EVERY WEEK throughout the year. And from my observations many of the folks getting that $5,000 refund DESPERATELY needed that extra $100 per week in their hand. That is double-dumb, IMHO.
To answer your question, I don’t get refunds. If I get a refund it means that I’ve screwed up BADLY somewhere. I want MY money in MY hand for as long as the law allows me to keep it in MY hand. As long as my debt to the IRS on April 15th is less than $1,000 (among other safe harbor exceptions) there are no penalties for me to pay.
Last year I sold some real estate and had to write a check to the IRS for over $25,000 when I filed. The 100% safe harbor exception for the prior year avoided any penalties and I made an additional $4,000 in profit off of that $25,000 for ME by holding off until April 15th to pay them.
Note to other posters: If you get different numbers from different tax programs then you’re screwing up somewhere. Ditto for the tax prep mills. There should never be any difference on a simple return. Complex returns involving challenges to the IRS’ interpretation of the law would be different but for the average wage earner there’s no difference among the several methods of tax preparation, even doing it yourself if you read the instructions carefully.
I went through a place that my husband goes through for one of his loans.. Last years was 6500… This year it was 5900… The only thing that changed was me not workin for those few months n we were payin state tax. This year I wasnt workin n no state tax (texas)… We have one child.
I think that amount sounds about right. I don’t know about Jackson Hewitt, but I used H&R Block twice when I was younger (once under duress) & they were expensive & made mistakes that ended up costing me refund $$. I’ve also used local CPA’s (just look in the phone book) & had much better results, so if they want someone else to do the preparation, I would suggest that method. However, I’ve used Turbo Tax for the last several years & wouldn’t change a thing. It asks questions based on the info put in & then at the end asks a few more questions. It’s suggested items that I never heard about from the people who’ve done my taxes. So Turbo Tax gets the big thumbs up from me.
Do people really think like this? She writes they are “ONLY” getting back $2000. Do people not understand the concept of withholding and what you get back is an overpayment on your part. I try to get a refund of $0 because that means I did not loan the government any money. People that need the government to act as a savings account all year at 0% interest need to be more financially responsible. I love how people think they will make more money by using a different tax service. As if one is trying harder than the other. They all follow the exact same laws. If there are any differences it is because somebody is doing something illegal.