
These Louisiana Taxpayers Will Wait Longest for Their Refund
It's happening at businesses big and small in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette. In other communities, individuals in Abbeville, Crowley, Cankton, and Church Point are doing it too. What are these businesses and individuals all doing? Probably the same thing as you, gathering all of those important tax documents you've saved over the year so you can either complete your own return or get a professional to prepare your tax return for you.
For a lot of people, the motivation to get their W-2 from their employer and begin filling out the electronic or paper forms is the promise of a refund. I think we all love to get a large tax refund but the truth is a large refund means you don't have your tax strategy fine-tuned. All of that money that "you're getting back" is your money that you haven't been able to use. Meanwhile, the federal government has been using your money interest-free. See, a large refund isn't a good thing.
But if you have one coming back, I can understand why you're thrilled. A lot of us use that refund to pay down credit card bills, make car payments, buy new stuff, or sock away for a rainy day. The two big questions concerning refunds are, "How much am I getting back", and "When am I getting the money"?
The "How much am I getting back" question depends on how much you had withheld during the year. Again in a perfect world, that refund number should be closer to zero as opposed to being a large figure.
The "When am I getting the money" question depends on a couple of factors. One of those is how you filed. If you filed electronically with your refund going into a direct deposit account you could get your money back in as soon as 21 days. If you used the paper forms to submit and file your taxes you can expect that to add several weeks to your refund processing.
But those who can expect to wait the longest, whether they file the old-fashioned way or electronically are individuals who claim Additional Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit. The earliest your refund could be processed and approved is March 3rd but that is only if you opt for direct deposit. Most who file for those credits will have to wait substantially longer.
If you'd like to check the status of your refund, the IRS has a great online tool called the Where's My Refund Tool. But please be patient more than 140 million of us are expected to file a federal return this year. The deadline for filing your return is April 15th, as of yesterday, the IRS began accepting and processing tax returns so the ball is officially in your court.
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Gallery Credit: Aubrey Jane McClaine