Income tax refund question.

Mom2Boyz wrote: Dh and I cannot agree on this

We will be getting back roughly $5000 this year. (WOO HOO) It will cost around $300 to file them rapid refund, and have them back within a couple of days. I say we should go for it!!!! We're completly BROKE, and have been for months. We've got shut off notices on our electric and gas bills, so I don't see any reason we should wait. We'd be able to get our bills paid, and not have to worry about them being shut off. Dh says $300 is $300 and we can use any extra money we can get. That is true, but if we mail it in there's no telling how long it will take to get it back. What do you think? Would you pay a couple of hundred to have your money quicker?

coasterqueen replied: Holy toledo! He must have lots of taxes taken out during the year not needed, huh? That's awesome, and sounds like it comes at the right time.

I don't know what I'd say. $300 is $300 and if things are really that tight it would be nice to have all you can get, right? IMO if you are sending it now you could get a refund back fairly quickly, especially if you have it put directly into your checking account. But doesn't sound like as quick as you need it. If you mail it I say at least use Priority Mail for $3.85 so it gets there a bit quicker than regular mail .

luvmykids replied: You can file online w/ the IRS for free and have it directly deposited into your account. It's not as fast as rapid refund but it is cheaper and you do get it faster than mailing it.

jcc64 replied: Ditto what Monica just said. It's how we file, and we get our refunds back fairly quickly.
Why throw $300 away. Look at it as actual paper money. Would you crumple up 3 $100 bills and throw them away in the street?

LilaGrace'sMom replied:
Ditto--or--We use Turbo Tax and E-file. We get our $$ back w/i 10 days. I didnt realize Rapid Refund was so costly.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Ick. I wouldn't. 300$ is 300$.

mom21kid2dogs replied:
When we file by early February this way we get it back in less than 2 weeks.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Nope, I wouldn't spend the $300. Like the others mentioned, we file electronically with direct deposit (actually our tax preparer does). It depends on which day you file it and you will get it the following Friday. They always make their deposits on Fridays.

That's great that you will be getting some back

C&K*s Mommie replied: I am assuming that they no longer take the money out of the refund when it comes in. A company we went to last yr, did not-- they wanted the moolah up front.

Anyhow, I agree with everyone- go some other route. Stick with the IRS if you can. You have made it this far without the extra money, a little more patience after you file will not make much difference. Except that you will not be out $300 big ones!

Kaitlin'smom replied: I agree I would not spend $300 to get it back faster, I do it myself and use e-file and have it direct deposit and I usually have it with in 2 weeks. Sometimes faster if I file early enough. $300 in my opion is way to much to throw away. Truly if your needing the money dont throw it away like that these place with rapid refund RIP people off.

Cece00 replied: We have the same debate here.

Although its not about the quickness for me- I think we need to have our taxes prepared by someone b/c of certain deductions.

DH says we should do it ourself & efile. I dont want to mess up the taxes in any way.

I need to check into the price of getting a CPA to prepare v. going somewhere like H&R Block & letting them do it...

luvmykids replied:
We use a CPA but only b/c we're business owners and it complicates our return, but I do know that H&R block has a guarantee that if anything is wrong they take responsibility and pay it. I think our CPA charges about $70 an hour so it would depend on how complicated your return is.

ammommy replied: Crystal---Dh is an accountant and he always tells people to file themselves via Turbo Tax unless you 1) own your own business or 2) have a lot of investment income that gets traded throughout the year. Just an FYI...

To the OP, I say e-file like everyone else. It's what we do and if we file in Feb or even early March, we usually get the $$ in a week or two.

TeagansMom609 replied: I spent about that last year to have mine done. I got back about $4,000. I figured $300 out of that was small change and worth getting it back quick. Its just so much easier to go somewhere, have them do it all, and get it back quick then do it yourself, and take the chance of missing something, getting back less, etc. But thats just me!

3xsthefun replied: We always go through H&R Block to have our taxes done. So we can get the rapid refund. I think it cost a little below $300 to have them do it for the rapid refund.

I'd rather they do it then for us do it ourselves. It is just alot easier on us.

3_call_me_mama replied: No I wouldnt' pay the $300 for rapid defund. Essentially all you aredoing is paying them $300 for a loan for a couple weeks. That is quite and isterest rate!! We use turbo tax and get them back in about 10 days. It's not worth teh $300 to me to get it quicker. (Although i believe you can deduct any money you spent on tax preparation this year on next years taxes) We generally get a large amount back too and it is quite temptimg to get a large amount of money back quickly.. but the thought of $300 extra if we wait a week or 2 is far more tampting

5littleladies replied: I agree with everyone else-Just e-file and do direct deposit and it should be there in 2 weeks or less. Ours were filed on Monday and I just talked to an IRS rep and he said our refund will be deposited next Friday. My hubby wanted to do the rapid refund deal and it would have cost us about $100 and since we are getting about $6000 back that doesn't seem like much but I wasn't so sure. Luckily I made a minor mistake that needed correction so we weren't able to do it anyways and now I'm glad because heck-100 bucks is 100 bucks!

My2Beauties replied: We file on H&Rblock.com and we got our refund back last year (well Brian did his that way, I went rapid and was pi$$ed that it cost $300) within 7 business days when he did it electronically. It deposited it directly into his bank account. I'll be doing that this year for us as well, it only costs $20 up front ($19.99).

CosmetologyMommy replied: If you really could use the money now I say it is totally worth it

fashionmumofboys replied: I think its worth paying the extra money and get your refund back quicker instead of waiting.

I personally always go that route.

Good luck on coming to a decision.