Hooray for Tax Season!

I have to confess, I LOVE tax season.  Now, I know I am a nerd, but it most likely has to do with the fact that I get a refund every year…  I sure didn’t like it as much the one year I had to pay a huge sum while home on maternity leave! 

Now, I know they say you should file the deductions form at your work place to adjust what they keep back from your pay.  The goal really should be to have a refund or payment within $50.  I have tried, believe me!  But one of the reasons we get a refund every year is because we donate to our church .  Because this is a donation deduction, the forms would have to be resubmitted every year, special approved by the CRA and by the time the necessary permission had been given to Shawn’s employer, it would be time to start the process for the next tax year.  I looked into it, trust me, remember, I said I’m a nerd!  You also have to show that you have done this several years in a row ( with previous tax forms) and that you are on track to do it again this tax year ( with cheque copies or pre-authorized debit receipts) for the first 6 months of the current tax year.  We could do it, but as I said, it turns out to be a bit more of a pain in the butt!

So! Every year, we have a nice refund to look forward to.  I know it shouldn’t be our enforced savings or payments plan.  Each refund we get, we sigh wistfully and say something along the lines of “ Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something FUN with this, instead of paying for ( insert new bill or debt payment here)?” or “ Wouldn’t it be great if we could invest this in something?”.  And I know if that I actually did file the forms for the deductions, I would have that money in smaller instalments throughout the year.  I could put that amount on debt, and save interest.  I could invest that money and earn interest.  Hopefully, within a few years, we will be in that place!

In the meantime, I still love tax season.  I get all the papers ready, wait for any that are still outstanding and enter everything into a tax program ( I use TurboTax).  The program makes it quick and easy, even if you have small business expenses ( I used it the years I had a home business too).  I am perfectly capable of doing the math with the forms and a calculator, but I don’t mind paying the $40 or so to have the program do all the thinking for me.

This year, our refund will go a couple of places.  One, we still donate a portion to our church.  A friend of mine gave us the idea to donate it to specific “fun” causes instead of the general fund, where we would donate our regular amounts.  It feels great to contribute specifically to a cause or drive that we care about.

Second, some of it will go to fill in a (relatively tiny) hole that has come up in our finances over the past few weeks. I know, I wish none of it had to go to that!  But, at least the tiny hole won’t become a gaping one and keep us down for a couple months either.

Then, third, all the rest is going on our credit card, and I will reduce the limit! YAY!! This is the most exciting one for me.  I am so excited to get out from that high interest! Let’s be honest, it’s not fun paying the price now for things we wasted money on ages ago.  And let that be a lesson to me, not to do it again!!! 

Ahhh, I am so glad to have submitted the taxes today!! Now I can look forward to seeing that nice deposit arrive in my bank account!!!