I have mine done and e-filed today. What do I win?
Nothing. You lose.
If you’re expecting a refund you lose because you essentially let the government borrow money from you that you never owed them in the first place.
If you owe the IRS you lose because you just paid them money back you could have continued borrowing interest free till April.
The winner is the person who pays back what they owe at the latest date possible.
I’ve never been a good saver, so I look at my refund as the government helping me out. I do understand your point, though. Plus, I get back waaaaay more than I ever pay in, so I’m not sure how that would work. Should I not be paying any income tax throughout the year?
The current rate on savings accounts being paid by banks is less than 1%. Even if the OP “loaned” the government $1,000, that would mean the total interest he lost out on through all of 2011 amounts to one very fancy coffee from Starbucks.
Big friggin’ hairy deal.
I just don’t understand why some people get so worked up about others who don’t mind forgoing $5 or $10 and would rather have a sizable refund at the end of the year.
Well uncle Sam and I are pretty tight. As long as he gets it back to me in a reasonable amount of time I’m OK with loaning him a few bucks. 
I’ve heard this before and while true, it doesn’t really matter to me. I view it the same way I do when I find ten dollars in my jacket. Yes, that money was mine the entire time and was not doing a single thing for me the entire time it was in my jacket, but I’m still happy to have it.
Because taxes are automatically taken out I consider my refund “fuck around” money. Usually I just put it towards savings but I always buy myself something nice that I never would have otherwise.
Like a jacket.
If you can file by the 5th, you don’t have much going on financially. “A man who owns little is little owned.” Congratulations.
I agree with the sentiment. But …
Even if he owes money and e-filed today he is under no obligation to pay the balance due prior to Apr 15th. So he can have his cake of early filing & eat it too by earning the (admittedly derisory) interest on his balance due for the next 3-1/2 months.
Unless you’re a working poor person with kids, and you get a massive Earned Income Credit.
Out of curiosity, what site/program did you use to e-file your taxes? The IRS website shows that they aren’t taking electronic files until January 17, 2012. Was it one of those free e-file sites that has a link on the IRS website? Or maybe the software you used is going to hold it until the IRS opens for e-filing?
On second thought, the site or software you used could’ve used the same format as business returns, although I thought that was still down for several more days. I work for a company that makes tax software, so it’s interesting to see what other software does.
I have to wait around until all the 1099’s come in. Usually late.
I’m not even expecting all the forms I need to arrive until mid-February.
Yup. I’m such a tax nerd I have a list of all the things I’m expecting.
I was going to ask this same question.
Last year, I had everything ready to go, and had to sit on it for a few weeks until the IRS was ready to go.
Granted, it moved quickly once it opened up, but I believe I had to wait until the last week of January before I could file.
For many people the refund is a method of forced savings. Yeah, there’s no earnings involved but at current interest rates, who cares?
TurboTax holds your return until the IRS is ready to accept it. I suspect other software can do that too.
Tell me about it…my employers are both pretty good at getting my my W-2’s before the end of January (which I think is a federal requirement?) but there’s no chance I’ll get all three of my 1098-E’s before mid February…one year, it took one of them until mid-March to get it to me!
Yep, I used TurboTax. I know technically it won’t be filed until January 17, but it’s done and waiting in line!
Ding ding ding!! lol
We can’t e-file until mid-February 