Well it’s been a long wait, but I’ve finally received the economic stimulus check. I don’t have any specific plans for the money other than to help pay for things that we’re already doing and would have bought anyway. Of course it’s always nice to get some extra cash, but it’s not going to change our spending habits or encourage us to splurge.

If you’re still waiting on your check, they’re still being sent out according to your social security number. You can check the IRS website to see the schedule and find out when you can expect your check.

By now the economic stimulus rebate checks are old news, and many if not most people have already gotten theirs. I, on the other hand, have been waiting for our check to arrive in the mail. For the 2007 tax year we actually owed money instead of getting a refund so we weren’t going to get the rebate via direct deposit, and we have to wait on a paper check.

According to the IRS’s schedule, which is based on social security numbers, we are supposed to get our check by June 6th. Well, today we finally got something in the mail from the IRS that had Stimulus written on the back flap. I was excited to finally be able to cash the check and put it to use, but to my surprise, what I got from the IRS still wasn’t a check.

It was simply another correspondence saying that we’re entitled to $1200 and that we should get the check by June 6th. I don’t understand why they took the time and spent the money to send me this on June 2nd. They should have just sent the check. So we’ll continue to wait for our stimulus check to arrive and hope that it eventually gets here.

Well, the rebate checks are finally being paid out this week. I’ve already heard from a few people who have received them, but as of yet I’m still waiting for mine. I’ll be honest though, I’m not all that anxious about it since I figure it’ll eventually get here. I also don’t plan on spending it right away either so it’s not going to matter much when it does finally get here.

The government would like for everyone to take these rebate checks and go out and spend them. This is then supposed to give the economy a boost, which I don’t disagree with. It’s not however, what I would recommend to anyone reading this. The government is perfectly alright with you thinking that it’s giving you a gift with this check. But you should remember that this is a rebate of your taxes, money that already belongs to you. You should use it in a manner that will best help your personal financial situation.

If you have debt to pay off, then pay it off. If you need to boost your savings and emergency accounts, do it. Perhaps you’d rather invest in a particular company instead of just buying the company’s products. Just don’t feel pressured to go out and spend the money on consumer items just because that’s what the government thinks it wants you to do.

I also think it’s interesting that the government wants to give people money and then tell them to just spend it. All of this spending is what has gotten people into the problems they face. Out of control spending is what leads to the average American to have some amount of credit card debt. All this spending is how people went out and bought houses that they knew they realistically couldn’t afford. At some point we need to break out of this cycle of rampant spending. Why not begin by not spending this rebate check on more unnecessary consumer spending?

Hopefully by now everyone has gotten their taxes finished and the return sent off to the IRS. If not, you’d better be looking in to filing an extension or getting down to business today. You can still get it done by e-filing, or if you prefer to mail it in the traditional way, make sure it’s postmarked by tomorrow. It doesn’t have to arrive by the 15th, you just have to prove that you sent it off by then.

Once you’re done with everything, it’s probably a relief, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re all done until next near about this time. With everything still fresh in your mind, it’s probably a good time to start planning for next year. Tax time is so much easier when you’ve thought and planned ahead and have all your records in order. You can also minimize the taxes you owe by taking the time to figure out how to handle all your financial affairs in the most tax efficient way.

So if you’re still working on last year, you’d better stop reading this and get to work. And if you’re already finished, start looking forward to next year and proactively planning.

During this time of year many people are focused on getting their paperwork organized so that they can file their taxes for last year. A lot of people have already filed and received any refund, but there are still those that have yet file. Also during this time (as you may have noticed as well) there are a lot of articles talking about various tax tips and lesser known deductions. Unfortunately, too many people can’t or don’t take advantage of some of these deductions because they didn’t know about them ahead of time or don’t have any record to substantiate them.

Don’t just be indifferent about this though; now is also the time to take note and learn how you can improve your tax situation in future years. If there’s something you didn’t know about and therefore couldn’t take advantage of this past year, plan ahead now so that you’ll be able to make use of it next year. It’s tough to keep track of something that you didn’t know you should be keeping track of. So now that you know, start keeping track of it. For example:

Charitable Mileage

I’ve always heard that you can deduct any mileage related to volunteer or charitable activities, but up until this point I never took advantage of it because I didn’t figure it would amount to much. I’m pretty active with various church assignments and activities though that I’m going to start keeping track of my related mileage. I’ve put a small notebook in each of our cars with a pen so that we can record our beginning and ending mileage on the vehicle for all charitable/volunteer activities. It’s something that I’ve learned I need to do, and now I’m keeping a record of it so that I’ll have all the needed information come tax time next year. [Note: This concept can also be applied to mileage for any other deductible reason.]

Non-Monetary Charitable Contributions

Again, this is an area that I didn’t think would amount to much and also didn’t really want to hassle with. Part of the reason I didn’t want to mess with it was because I wasn’t really sure how it worked and how to come up with the value of donated property. After talking with a friend at work and finding out how he does it, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, and it actually appears to be quite easy. So, I plan on just keeping track of all of the items that we donate (as long as they’re in good condition) and then assigning them a value at the end of the year.

These are just a couple things that I’m going to start doing now that I’ve learned that I can and should. For everyone there will be different things that are new to you, but the important thing is to learn from year to year how you can continually improve things. So don’t disregard the tax information you hear this time of year just because you weren’t prepared. Instead, make sure that you’re prepared for it next year.

It’s official now. This is the first year that I actually owe taxes rather than receiving a refund. I used to love getting the tax refund since it seemed like free money, and I wasn’t really expecting it. Of course I’m sure you’ve all heard that getting a refund is essentially giving the government an interest free loan, but most people out there don’t view it that way. All you have to do is listen to a few conversations around this time to find out how excited people are about how much they’re getting back and what they’re going to spend it on.

This last year I decided to change things so that I wouldn’t get as a large a refund. I figured there were plenty of things that I could do with the money that would be more beneficial than to let the government hold on to it for me. And all you have to do is change the number of exemptions that you claim at work on your W-4. You can also change this number throughout the year if you think an adjustment needs to be made.

I will caution you though that you shouldn’t change your W-4 and then just go spend the extra money like usual. You’re still going to owe the same amount of taxes no matter what exemptions you choose. You just have control over how much you pay when. It’s never a good scenario when tax time comes around and you don’t have the money to pay them because you spent everything during the year. If that’s you tendency then you may not want to mess with things and continue to get a refund every year.

I’m not going to say that I enjoy having to write the government a check for taxes owed, but knowing that I was able to put the money to work for me rather than for them does make me feel better.

Having grown up in Texas and gone to college in Utah, I never had to deal with Personal Property Tax until moving to Missouri. And I must say that I’m not a fan of the tax at all (not that I like any tax really). Here’s a quick rundown of how it works:

How It Works

By March 1st you have to return a Personal Property Declaration on which is listed any type of personal property that is deemed taxable. Here in Missouri this includes any vehicles, boats, recreational vehicles, and probably some other things that I’m not aware of. You have to declare anything of this type that you owned on January 1st of that year. You are then taxed at some percentage based on a third of the appraised value. That’s the basic gist of it.

Why I Dislike It

1. First of all, you’re charged an entire year’s worth of taxes based on what you owned on January 31st. I raised this question since I’ll be leaving the state to go back to school in late summer. I was told that there was no pro-ration and that you would owe the entire tax even if you only lived in the state for one day if that day was January 1st. It just seems absurd to me.

2. This tax doesn’t seem to be in place of something else. As you probably know, there are some states who have a sales tax and some who don’t. Some states have property taxes and others don’t (or are at least minimal). Some states have an income tax, and others do not. Well, not only does Missouri have all of these, it also has this personal property tax. You pay sales taxes when you buy a car here, and then you’re subsequently taxed every year thereafter just for owning it. Again, it’s simply absurd.

3. I can sort of understand property taxes on real estate. Real estate generally appreciates over time and as the saying goes concerning land, they aren’t making any more of it. The Personal Property Tax, on the other hand is a tax on items that generally depreciate and they can make any number of them. Unfortunately you have to pay both in Missouri.

These are some of the reasons that I dislike the Personal Property Tax. I’m sure I could think of more if I wanted to dwell on the subject (which I don’t). I’m also sure that there are other absurdities in the tax system in other states. What are some issues that you have with some of the taxes where you’re from?