Are You a Tax Procrastinator? Doubtful If You Live In Washington

It's been said that death and taxes are the only two certainties in this life. Most of us try to push them back as long as possible but, when it comes to filing our federal tax returns, it appears, we Washingtonians seem to get the inevitable over with as soon as possible.

For my wife and I, we try our best to get everything together and off to our accountant right when we get them so we have time to prepare if we do end up owing more to Uncle Sam. That said, we also try to be right around $0 (zero) every year as I don't want the feds making interest off of our money all year so we're usually plus or minus $100 when our tax forms are completed. That puts us in the majority with other taxpayers in the state of Washington.

As it turns out, Washingtonians are the fifth fastest state when it comes to filing according to a recent survey done by personal finance company Upgraded Points. According to the data that they collected from over 2,500 respondents, a whopping 52% of us in the Evergreen State file immediately after receiving our tax forms! Only Wyoming (#1 at 58%), Florida (54.9%), Arizona (52.9%) and Wisconsin (52.8%) have a higher percentage than us! I guess that's a good thing?!?!

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Conversely, the worst states i.e., the percent of folks who file ON or AFTER tax day (April 15th) North Dakota, Utah, Maryland, California and at numero uno... Texas.

Because some of the tax code was changed due to the coronavirus pandemic and my wife having tax withdrawn at the time from her unemployment benefits (she's a cosmetologist - one of the industries harder hit by COVID-19) we just found out today that we will actually be getting back (refund on overpayment) about $1,000!

I hope you get good news like that when you file!