Tax Refunds 6 Reasons it Pays to File Your Taxes Early Read the Article Open Share Drawer Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Written by TurboTaxLisa Published Jan 19, 2024 3 min read As the saying goes, “the early bird gets the worm.” Or is it the tax refund? Well, whether you file early or you are a tax procrastinator, you still may get a tax refund, but here are six reasons it pays to file early. Table of Contents Get your tax refund ASAPFiling online is easySpend less on debtAvoid missing valuable tax benefitsYou may get a bigger tax refund than expectedMore time and money to do what you like Get your tax refund ASAP Last tax season, the average direct deposit tax refund was over $3,000. That’s a lot of money! You could pay down credit card debt, student loans, or save it for a rainy day. Filing online is easy Using TurboTax online is easy, accurate and saves you money. Once you have gathered your tax information, you can go online and answer simple questions about yourself and get your maximum tax refund. TurboTax searches over 350 tax deductions and credits and makes sure you get every one you deserve based on your answers. There’s no reason to stand in line at a tax store when you can do your taxes from the comfort of your own home and even on the go. Plus, you can now connect live via one-way video to a TurboTax Live expert and get your tax questions answered from the comfort of your couch. The TurboTax Live expert can also review, sign, and file your tax return. Spend less on debt If you’ve been struggling to pay off that holiday debt, filing early may certainly offer some relief since the IRS expects to issue nine out of 10 tax refunds within 21 days from accepting your tax return if you e-file with direct deposit. Receiving your tax refund earlier can help you pay down your debt and save about 2 months’ worth of additional interest. Avoid missing valuable tax benefits People who wait until the last minute to do their taxes tend to rush and may leave out information. One of the most common mistakes tax procrastinators make in a rush is including incorrect social security numbers for themselves, spouses, or dependents. Incorrect social security numbers can cause you to miss out on valuable tax credits and deductions. You may get a bigger tax refund than expected Your everyday life or life changes can lead to some nice tax deductions and credits that can save money on your taxes. Life changes, such as getting married, having a baby, starting your own business, or starting a new job can lead to some huge tax savings that may get you a bigger tax refund. More time and money to do what you like Imagine what it would be like to have more free time since you not only saved time filing online with TurboTax, but you also have some more money in your pocket to enjoy months in advance of the tax filing deadline. You could get ahead on some bills, put some money away for retirement, and enjoy the additional free time with your family. Don’t worry about knowing tax laws or forms. No matter what moves you made last year, TurboTax will make them count on your taxes. Whether you want to do your taxes yourself or have a TurboTax expert file for you, we’ll make sure you get every dollar you deserve and your biggest possible refund – guaranteed. Get started now Previous Post Child Tax Credit 101 Next Post Do You Financially Support Your Family Living Abroad? See If… Written by Lisa Greene-Lewis Lisa has over 20 years of experience in tax preparation. Her success is attributed to being able to interpret tax laws and help clients better understand them. She has held positions as a public auditor, controller, and operations manager. Lisa has appeared on the Steve Harvey Show, the Ellen Show, and major news broadcast to break down tax laws and help taxpayers understand what tax laws mean to them. For Lisa, getting timely and accurate information out to taxpayers to help them keep more of their money is paramount. More from Lisa Greene-Lewis Follow Lisa Greene-Lewis on Twitter. 16 responses to “6 Reasons it Pays to File Your Taxes Early” If you have investments, you can’t fine all that early, because your investment company doesn’t send statements till mid-February. Reply I filed my and got accepted on January 23 they said you have to wait until the 15th of February to get it . Is it possible that you can get your federal refunds on the 15th Reply if i support my girlfriends children for the entire 2014 year, what can i claim? for credits, i did read that the kids would be called a non blood relative. does this mean i can claim them as dependants and nothing else?if so how would i calculate how much money for each dependant? Reply After 9 years of successfully e-filing with TT, it took 11 attempts to successfully e-file my Fed return and I’ve wasted more time trying to e-file my MD state return (Error: “We’re having trouble processing your request.”) than it would have cost to have HR Block do it. This is ridiculous. I have 8 people (children, parents and siblings) counting on me to help them file their returns and have always used TT. The only reason we buy TT is for the E-FILE option! Without this option; your software is worthless. There are cheaper (FREE) software out there that will help you DO your taxes. But they don’t have an E-FILE option. Apparently, TT doesn’t either (at least not one that simply requires you to input your information, credit card and hit “Submit”). Need to spend a lot more time/$$$ on fixing this glaring error. Guess you didn’t know that tax season was coming around for the past 12 months. Who’s in charge of quality assurance at TT? Might want to check his credentials again… Clearly, you paid for something you didn’t get; just like the rest of us. Frustrated… Reply I typically efile my federal and mail in my state. This year I decided to pay to efile my state. So far it has been five weeks since I efiled. I received my federal refund but am still waiting for my state. They claim it has been approved and to give it another week or so for the direct deposit. I dont see why I need to efile state when it takes so long to get my refund. I won’t waste my money again next year. Reply you have already wasted your money by setting up your w-4 form to get a refund in the first place. Since you let them keep your money for a whole year, why do you care about an additional month or so? Reply Tom – true I can and will modify my w4 to reduce the money I give to Uncle Sam and the state. However, you should know that since I am retired, most of my taxes are paid at year end against required minimum distributions. So they don’t have my money for a whole year. My angst was directed towards the reported quick return on e-files which isn’t happening this year on my State return. What happened to my Refund?. Talia M Talia ________________________________ Reply My reply is above. Reply Hello I am one of your NEW customers and Turbo Tax did my Taxes for Federal and State, I owed State money and I see that they have cashed my check. But I am wondering what happened to Federal money they owe me??.Your response please. Talia M Talia. Reply the most important reason NOT to file early is that some financial institutions have later dates that they can send corrected information and when that happens, you must file an amended form. Nobody wants to file their taxes 2 times in the same year. (I am just a regular taxpayer that free files, don’t have any relations with a professional tax preparer) Reply reason 4 states, “Receiving your tax refund earlier can help you pay down your debt and save about 2 months worth of additional interest”. 2 months interest these days on $2800 is around one dollar. Someone who allows the IRS to hold their money all year does not care that they lost a dollar. Reply Hi Tom, I’m referring to if you are able to pay off a credit card or other debt with a high interest rate 2 months earlier you would be saving on that monthly interest that you would have incurred, which is more than a dollar if your credit cards have a high rate of interest. In addition, without that additional bill you can now put that money towards something else you need. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis Reply paying off a credit card could have been done earlier in the year if the person had set up their w-4 form correctly, they did not set it up that way because they wanted a large refund. People that do that are very unlikely to put the money on bills, I think Two months interest on $2800. is around one dollar. Who is your credit card company? Reply reason one is meaningless because the people who get sizable refunds have demonstrated by that very fact that they do not manage their money very well, otherwise they would have their W-4 form filled out so they did not get that big refund. The type of people that get a big refund probably will spend the bulk of it on something that makes them feel good in the short term, not something for their long term well being. 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If you have investments, you can’t fine all that early, because your investment company doesn’t send statements till mid-February. Reply
I filed my and got accepted on January 23 they said you have to wait until the 15th of February to get it . Is it possible that you can get your federal refunds on the 15th Reply
if i support my girlfriends children for the entire 2014 year, what can i claim? for credits, i did read that the kids would be called a non blood relative. does this mean i can claim them as dependants and nothing else?if so how would i calculate how much money for each dependant? Reply
After 9 years of successfully e-filing with TT, it took 11 attempts to successfully e-file my Fed return and I’ve wasted more time trying to e-file my MD state return (Error: “We’re having trouble processing your request.”) than it would have cost to have HR Block do it. This is ridiculous. I have 8 people (children, parents and siblings) counting on me to help them file their returns and have always used TT. The only reason we buy TT is for the E-FILE option! Without this option; your software is worthless. There are cheaper (FREE) software out there that will help you DO your taxes. But they don’t have an E-FILE option. Apparently, TT doesn’t either (at least not one that simply requires you to input your information, credit card and hit “Submit”). Need to spend a lot more time/$$$ on fixing this glaring error. Guess you didn’t know that tax season was coming around for the past 12 months. Who’s in charge of quality assurance at TT? Might want to check his credentials again… Clearly, you paid for something you didn’t get; just like the rest of us. Frustrated… Reply
I typically efile my federal and mail in my state. This year I decided to pay to efile my state. So far it has been five weeks since I efiled. I received my federal refund but am still waiting for my state. They claim it has been approved and to give it another week or so for the direct deposit. I dont see why I need to efile state when it takes so long to get my refund. I won’t waste my money again next year. Reply
you have already wasted your money by setting up your w-4 form to get a refund in the first place. Since you let them keep your money for a whole year, why do you care about an additional month or so? Reply
Tom – true I can and will modify my w4 to reduce the money I give to Uncle Sam and the state. However, you should know that since I am retired, most of my taxes are paid at year end against required minimum distributions. So they don’t have my money for a whole year. My angst was directed towards the reported quick return on e-files which isn’t happening this year on my State return.
Hello I am one of your NEW customers and Turbo Tax did my Taxes for Federal and State, I owed State money and I see that they have cashed my check. But I am wondering what happened to Federal money they owe me??.Your response please. Talia M Talia. Reply
the most important reason NOT to file early is that some financial institutions have later dates that they can send corrected information and when that happens, you must file an amended form. Nobody wants to file their taxes 2 times in the same year. (I am just a regular taxpayer that free files, don’t have any relations with a professional tax preparer) Reply
reason 4 states, “Receiving your tax refund earlier can help you pay down your debt and save about 2 months worth of additional interest”. 2 months interest these days on $2800 is around one dollar. Someone who allows the IRS to hold their money all year does not care that they lost a dollar. Reply
Hi Tom, I’m referring to if you are able to pay off a credit card or other debt with a high interest rate 2 months earlier you would be saving on that monthly interest that you would have incurred, which is more than a dollar if your credit cards have a high rate of interest. In addition, without that additional bill you can now put that money towards something else you need. Thank you, Lisa Greene-Lewis Reply
paying off a credit card could have been done earlier in the year if the person had set up their w-4 form correctly, they did not set it up that way because they wanted a large refund. People that do that are very unlikely to put the money on bills, I think
reason one is meaningless because the people who get sizable refunds have demonstrated by that very fact that they do not manage their money very well, otherwise they would have their W-4 form filled out so they did not get that big refund. The type of people that get a big refund probably will spend the bulk of it on something that makes them feel good in the short term, not something for their long term well being. Reply