I’m getting back a $9,000 tax refund. Woo hoo — right? Wrong.
The taxman got to use $9,000 of my money last year costing me about $1,400 that I could have avoided in interest charges on credit card debt.
Not next year. By then I will have set aside a tidy sum in an interest bearing account that I can use to pay for any tax shortfall. And today I adjusted my withholding so I will have a bit more each month for my own expenses.
What is now obvious today before wasn’t even a thought. Now that I’m getting my priorities straight, everything looks so different.
So, no, my friends, you do not want a big tax refund — though you do need to be prepared to pay for any shortfall by April 15.
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Caveat: for self-employed folks, do not take this advice too far. If you don’t make adequate quarterly payments for more than one year you’ll get penalized.