Pet peeve. People that say they got a tax refund.
Hello. It’s not a refund.
Its your money. Money that you sent to the IRS and did not have to. Most Americans get a refund (I mean check from the IRS) of about $2,400. That is $200 a month you sent to the IRS for free. That is a lot of money. $50 a week you could use for paying down debt, building an emergency fund, donating to church or other ministry.
Surely you can do something better with it than let the IRS have it for free all year long? See my post about adjusting your W4.
I guess you can keep doing it this way if you want to (although there is no sane reason to do so). Just don’t call it a tax refund. 
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Not only is it not a refund it is a free loan to the government. You may even get an IOU for your trouble.
Think of how broke the government would be if they owed US interest on the money we lent them for free. Kind of makes you mad if you think about it. We loan the government free money every time we get paid, and they pay 0% interest, every year, to everyone.
You are right, Arthur. People somehow have this perception that the government is “giving them money”. Wrong. The government is returning your money they have been hanging on to for a year.
One caveat: I would suggest that people have a clear plan for what they are going to do with this money (pay off debt, build emergency fund, etc) BEFORE changing their W-4s. Otherwise, the money will simply disappear. Not good.
I agree. If you are living like I use to be (not living on a budget, spending out of control, broke all the time) then this extra $50 a week in your check will surely just vanish.
[...] this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress Plugin Arthur over at FinancialBondage.org has a very valid point. When you get your “tax refund” in reality, the government is simply returning to you [...]