What is a Federal Income Tax Refund
A federal income Tax Refund occurs if the tax you owe is less than the sum of the total amount of refundable tax credits claimed and the total amount of withholding paid.You can calculate it with Tax Refund Estimator. For many individual taxpayers those federal tax refunds can be obtained through Earned Income credit, a real refund of overpayment of tax, or through an overpayment from previous years. Some people really believe that getting a large income tax refund is not the greatest thing. Instead they feel that the tax refund represents a loan paid back by the government interest free. Others use their IRS tax refund as a "simple savings plan" where they are surprised to get money back each year. Always remember that it is still better to get an IRS tax refund than to owe money to the government.
Once you determine you're receiving a tax refund, there are several options for actually putting that money in the taxpayer's hands. Standard paper filing, electronic filing with direct deposit, rapid refunds, and refund are the options we have the choice of exercising, and for many refund anticipating individuals, the rapid refund or the refund is the refund of choice.
The Rapid Tax Refund, that is rapidly replacing the standard paper filing, is an electronic method used for filing your federal Income Tax Return, and allowing you to receive your refund in about 10-14 days. Much faster than the six weeks it used to take. There are usually no excess fees attached to this type of filing, and returns may be filed for free through many local, public access facilities.
The refund can be processed in as little as three hours, and back in the hand of the taxpayer by late afternoon; this is provided everything works exactly as planned. The higher interest rates charged by the bank product providers, and the higher processing fees charged by the tax preparers, equate to less money for the taxpayer, but many of these individuals don't even blink when told how much it will be to process their federal tax return, they just want the refund immediately. This is just one more example of the instant gratification upon which our society chooses to operate. Even for individuals Tax Filing with the electronic returns, and choosing to have their funds direct deposited, the turn around time is usually no more than 10 to 15 days. You would think that a turn around of less than two weeks would be quick enough for many taxpayers, but typically, the bigger the federal income tax refund, the faster the necessary return.
It would seem to me that this is just another way for the system to profit from the poor; as it is usually the poor that qualify for the earned income credit tax refunds, and these can be extremely large, especially for families with two or three dependents. In all reality, avoid refund loans if possible. They are highly expensive. Wait patiently for your federal income tax refund and keep every penny for yourself.
|
|