Yesterday, President Bush signed the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut into law which calls for the bottom 15 percent tax bracket to drop to 10 percent, retroactive to January 1 of this year. As a result, beginning next month, most taxpayers will receive tax rebate checks of up to $300 for a single taxpayer, $500 for a single parent and $600 for a married couple. With the ink barely dry, the question for some becomes how to spend these unexpected dollars.
A recent online survey, conducted by Intuit, the makers of Quicken® TurboTax® software, asked taxpayers what they plan to do with their tax rebate. Of the 2,163 respondents, an overwhelming 46% said they would use the money to pay bills, another 18% said they would save it.
"Paying off bills and saving money for an emergency shows great common sense in a time of economic uncertainty," according to Baie Netzer, Certified Financial Planner and senior editor of Quicken.com. "The next step for taxpayers is to learn how to take advantage of the latest changes in our tax system."
Results of the survey, which ran from June 2 to June 5, are:
- Pay bills 46%
- Save it 18 %
- Splurge on yourself 10%
- Travel 8%
- Buy Stock 7%
- Invest in IRA/401K 6%
- Education Account 4%
- Give to Charity 1%
To get more information about how the new law affects you, click on the TurboTax tax relief estimator at www.turbotax.com TurboTax.com is the online resource for tax tips, saving tools and information.
About Quicken TurboTax
Quicken TurboTax is the No.1-selling tax preparation software program, with more than 80 percent retail revenue share this tax season, up eight points over last years figure, according to PC Data. Its web-based counterpart, TurboTax for the WebSM, is the most popular site for online tax preparation and filing services. In addition, Intuit offers TurboTax Home & Business, designed for the sole proprietor. The Automated Tax Return feature that serves as the platform for automated data entry is included at no additional charge in all of these versions of TurboTax. With 17 years of personal finance expertise, the TurboTax family of products saves time and money for more than 13 million Americans each year.
