A Fool and His Rebate Money…
Now that the tax stimulus checks are mostly distributed, you can’t help but notice all of the companies out there trying to pry that money out of our hands. A lot of them are offering special incentives for doing so (for example, Sears is offering an additional 10% on any gift cards purchased).
While looking at all of the offers, I realized that we didn’t need anything from any of the stores offering a promotion. Then, we got a flier in the mail from grocery store chain, Kroger. Basically, they’ll add 10% to a $300, $600, or $1200 Kroger gift card.
This one piqued my interested because we shop at Kroger. I’m considering buying a $300 gift card to basically get $30 in free groceries. It seems like a good way to spend part of that money since we’d be spending it on a need — not a want. And secondly, it’s an instant 10% return on our “investment”.
Is anyone else planning on taking advantage of any of these offers? If so, which ones?
Is Welfare Unconstitutional AND Bad for Society?
In the book Does Your Bag Have Holes?, Cameron C. Taylor, in addition to financial and spiritual topics, highlights a number of points regarding the foundations of society, the intent of the Constitution and the role of government in the welfare of its people. I’d like to talk about the last point because Taylor opened my eyes to “the other side of the argument” about social welfare and who should take care of the poor and unfortunate.
The Intent of the Constitution
In the book, Taylor discusses about 2 dozen “myths” about personal finance and how God, government and our own free will play a big role in each. One of the myths reads:
Government has a responsibility to provide for the poor and needy
Well, that was always my assumption because why else would the government have instituted welfare programs, social security, or giving money to other countries to help in crisis situations? Who else would do it?
Day 79 of Idiocy: Still fighting for my Maryland tax refund!
About 2 weeks ago, I told you how I was an idiot and filed our state and federal taxes with the wrong social security number for Stacie. As I write this, I’m on the phone with the IRS to find out whether they processed my return. All I had to do back on April 15th was fax in a signature page and a W-2 for Stacie, so perhaps the return has been filed.
UPDATE! The federal return has been processed and accepted! Now back to your regularly scheduled article…
But the Maryland return is the difficult one (isn’t it always the state that causes problems, not the feds?). Apparently, Maryland has a new law this year that requires a letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to prove Stacie is who I say she is. A copy of her SS card isn’t enough. And we can’t get this through the mail; Stacie has to go to the SSA in person.
Getting closer to our Maryland tax refund [Idiot]
Back in mid-February, I filed our state and federal income tax returns, but then learned a week later that I was an idiot. I transposed 2 digits in Stacie’s SSN, and therefore caused a severe delay in getting our taxes filed and finished for the year. And they’re still not done.
Just a few days after finding out from Maryland that I filed wrong (it took many more weeks for the IRS to even get around to our federal return), I submitted an amended return through their iFile system. Alas, it didn’t help, but I didn’t find that out until this week, a good 2 months later.
So here’s a recap:
- Mid-February - Filed taxes wrong
- Late-February - Filed an amended MD return. IRS told me to wait until they processed my first federal return and sent me a letter.
- Early-March - Got the letter from MD saying I owe them $1700 (I should be getting $1400 though). Called them up and they said to just wait a few more weeks for the amended return to process.
Attention All Tax Procrastinators!!! A Few Things to Know for April 15th
Here’s another helpful tip from the folks at J.K. Lasser (with some extra links added by Clever Dude)
Need more time to file? Forget to claim deduction or report income? Want to know more about those rebate checks? Faced a foreclosure? JKLasser.com can help you navigate the last days leading up to the 15th and help you save along the way.
#1 File on Time to Get Your Rebate Check Sooner
- Persons who fail to file their 2007 tax returns by April 15, 2008 and request a filing extension may not receive rebate checks until as late as December.
- Individuals who normally do not file a tax return but must do so this year in order to receive their 2008 economic stimulus payment can use the IRS Free File program to help them file returns for 2007.
#2 How to Avoid Tax Problems
- Don’t Panic if You Can’t Pay - If you can’t immediately pay the taxes you owe, consider some stress-reducing alternatives. You can apply for an IRS installment agreement, using their new Web-based Online Payment Agreement application on IRS.gov. The Web-based application allows eligible taxpayers or their authorized representatives to self-qualify, apply for, and receive immediate notification of approval.
Tax Rebate: How Do I Get Mine?
Still confused about the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008? Who isn’t? Here’s the who, what, how and when from the experts at JKLasser.com.
Filing your 2007 tax return is more than a ticket to a refund; it is the only way to get the rebate check that can put up to $1200, or more, in your pocket. Filing on time has never been more worth it. This year, filing for an extension can delay your rebate check until December.
What Do You Have to Do to Get a Check?
- To get a rebate check, you must file a tax return; either a form 1040, 1040A or 1040-EZ federal tax return for tax year 2007.
- Persons who do not normally file tax returns, like retirees, will have to file a 2007 tax return in order to get a rebate check.
When Will the Checks be Mailed?
- The IRS will begin mailing the rebate checks starting on May 2. The Treasury estimates that it should take about 10 weeks for all the checks to be mailed.
Redraw for the Free TaxCut Giveaway!
So I had to draw a new number for the TaxCut prize. According to the random.org integer picker, the new winner is #6, Bryan! Bryan still has until tomorrow evening (3/31) to get back to me to claim the keycode.
Winner Announced for H&R Block TaxCut Giveaway
And the lucky winner is commenter number…
That’s right, number 4, which happens to be Simple Tam who is “out in the real world now” and needs some help doing taxes. Well, I hope this little gift helps!
Simple Tam has until 6pm EST on Monday, 3/31 to reply back to my email or else I will be redrawing for a new winner.
Now that I’ve done my first giveaway, be on the lookout for more as I try to clean out my bookshelves!
UPDATE: THE WINNER HAS RESPONDED AND CLAIMED THEIR PRIZE.
P.S., thanks to Random.org’s random integer generator for helping to pick the winning number.
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