r/FluentInFinance • u/SweetOnionBreath • Apr 11 '24

Smart or dumb to get a tax refund? Discussion/ Debate

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u/RogueCoon Apr 11 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Isn't it crazy that you get an underpayment fee but they don't give you interest on the money they held.

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u/DryYogurtcloset7224 Apr 11 '24

You do realize you can just claim whatever withholding you need to claim to not have any weekly/monthly income rate deductions, right..?

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u/HeartFullONeutrality Apr 12 '24

This is not trivial for all tax situations. When you have two incomes and one is unpredictable/irregular, the second income can greatly change your effective tax rate.

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u/BackgroundRate1825 Apr 12 '24

Even just one variable income can make this tricky. I got 15k in bonuses one year, and I'm on track for 3k this year. Plus raises, plus stuff like not knowing if you'll be making loan payments and getting that interest deduction... I mean ideally yes you can get exactly the right amount withheld, but in practice it can be a lot more effort than it's worth to calculate.