Huh? How can anyone say that the checks aren't rebates? They're sending back tax that you overpaid, this year, instead of waiting until you file your return next year. Doesn't it ever bug you that if you get a refund check, the IRS doesn't pay YOU interest? They get to use your money for months, for free. Well, they are not doing that this time, they're giving it back now.
The "next April" thing is beside the point. You don't owe income tax in April, you owe them when you earn the money. The US is on a pay-as-you-go system. If you have a salary, the employer has to deduct taxes before he pays you the rest of the money, and the employer has to put that money in a special bank account and then send it to the Feds. It's actually several separate bank accounts, there's withholding, social security, state tax, and so on.
If you own a business, you pay estimated tax quarterly. And woe betide you if you don't pay enough, because you'll owe penalty and interest.
Further, nothing prevents you from filing your tax return on January 1, except waiting for 1099s and W-2s and so forth.
So what the taxpayer is getting back is the tax he's already paid.
>>Checks being mailed are really an advance on 2001 refunds<<
I try very hard not to get refunds. I'd rather have the money in the bank drawing interest. It makes good economic sense to pay exactly the right amount as I go. People who like refunds are fooling themselves. |
