"How will you spend your tax refund?" Topic

The U.S. income tax deadline is behind us now, and some of us are getting tax refunds. If you are getting a tax refund, will you spend it on the hobby, and if so, what general kinds of things will you buy?

* rules
* minis
* terrain
* paints
etc.

Probably use my Federal refund to pay my State.

Bills.

Bills also.

No, I will invest in the higher education of my daughters.

No refund. Gotta pay.

Most of federal pays state, the little bit left over goes into savings.

No refund…No pay..even.

It's not a refund, it's your change…you over paid.
And I used the Fed money to pay my state bill.

I filed mine pre-Covid and put it aside as a vacation fund.

Filed my pre-Covid too. Paid them a pittance.

I think I paid for/bought a tire for a F-22.

By paying back taxes.

Paying off debt, anything left gets saved for a downpayment for a house.

No refund … I don't have to do taxes …

:( Had to scratch out checks for over $5 USDK. No refund bump coming my way. I'd hate to overpay in the first place.

pjm

No refund, sadly………..

Although we filed early it has still not been returned, probably because it was paper rather than electronic. If and when, we shall see.

Got my wife's car tuned up and checked out. $1,100. USD Paid off my Amazon addiction card.$1,000.

We Canadians are spared that concern

Actually since I am working I am not eligible for any of the Canadian stipends/relief programs

Like everyone else, most of it is going to pay state taxes. I usually spend around $50 USD on myself, though this year I dropped $75 USD on a model kit (sadly not wargames related, a Sh'ot ca. 1982 model kit in 1/35 scale). The remainder goes into the bank to save up for a trip to Ecuador once the quarantine ends.

Damon.

Exactly what the government doesn't want me to do with it.

Bank it.

Submitted ours April 15 and we are still waiting to get our refund.

Grelber

No refund, had to pay – mailed it last night.

But if I did get one I would buy more Ammo and maybe another gun.

Refund on state but net payout with Fed.

Got my refund in Feb. It was a pittance. I aspire to be in the group to pay them a pittance; just not there yet.

What is a tax refund?

A couple of board games, roses in the yard and hospital bills is how I spent the stimulus check. Tax refund went to pay off family credit card.

What is a tax refund?

It is a repayment by the government of an interest free incremental loan you gave to them.

Bill, shouldn't this have been posted to the Wargaming in the USA board, as you are referring specifically to the US tax system?

Etothepi nails it. A refund means that you lost money, not that you've gained it.

Property taxes

Haven't had a refund since 2001…

Yeah I still pay local property taxes … but at a lesser rate.

Are you kidding? My wife won't let me near it.

Bill, shouldn't this have been posted to the Wargaming in the USA board, as you are referring specifically to the US tax system?

I didn't assume that. TMP's next biggest demographic (and most other countries) has the same potential for a refund (rebate), if administered in a different way:

link

It is a characteristically American thing to not let the government calculate our taxes for us and to not rely on them to tell us if we are due money (or the other way around).

On the flip side, Americans are almost universally comfortable with a car seller telling us how much car we can afford.

I am always amazed at how many people have no idea what they can really afford, no idea what a reasonable price is for the car they want and trust a salesmen who works on commission to be 'fair'. Especially when the same people shop at multiple stores to get the best sale prices.

I had a small refund this year for the first time in decades due to a change in employment status. I paid off other taxes with it.

They're the same morons who think a tax refund is a good thing. You've basically given the .gov a free loan over the year. They also interchange the terms "tax refund" and "tax return". Morons!

I always prefer to owe taxes at the end and pay on the last day before penalties. Then the gov has lent ME money, for free.

I can do lots of things with that money, like pay down debt or invest in hookers and booze interest free before I have to pay it back.

Morons!

Ideally, I would reserve my own taxes and pay the government nothing, then put that money quarterly in a series of rolling 90 day government insured certificates of deposit (low yield, but no risk of losing the money I need to pay my taxes), filing for an extension and paying in the eleventh hour.

No refund this year, had to pay. I prefer to be closer to the actual amount due not loan the government my money.

Had I gotten one it would be to finish paying off our daughter's wedding.

Since this is in an active poll now …

Received a pittance this year, still on the wrong side of things.

Interestingly, I owed the Fed a bit but got that plus the aforementioned pittance back from the Democratic People's Republic of Maryland (where our state motto is, "If you can dream it, we can tax it.").

The prevailing thought is that withholding is necessary because the hoi polloi are not responsible enough to do this on their own. (The obscenely high tax rates on many are the reason this is hard to do.)

Paying the Fed and getting more back from the state was completely unpredictable. Which is why while I believe in setting my withholding to zero, I never do it. Tax laws are so Byzantinely convoluted that predicting the appropriate amount is best done by rooting through the entrails of a pig in a graveyard at midnight under a full moon.

And my wife and I do our taxes, by hand, ourselves, every year. The problem is we can't do it until the tax authority publishes their booklet for the year. Why? Because they futz with the laws during year of execution. Otherwise, they could publish the booklet at the beginning of the year. It's not technically ex post facto to change tax laws during year of execution, but it runs close to it.

FTR, I don't have a problem with actually paying my taxes. I don't agree with how much different people (including myself) pay, nor everything it goes to. But I feel I have an appropriate voice in the government that sets those laws. You win some; you lose some.

The pittance will go into savings, but I will spend more than that amount on war dolls … er … miniatures, terrain, and rules this year.

If we get a refund, we'll probably apply it to next year's tax liability. So I checked "other taxes or back taxes" in the poll. We're usually within comfortable margin of error plus or minus.

(Once many years ago when I was single on salary, I got a refund of $8 USD, which is the smallest margin of error I've ever managed.)