[Peace] Refund Anticipation Loans

[Marti Wilkinson]

I took my daughter to an appointment Monday afternoon and on the way home I
stopped at Domino's on Bradley to pick up a pizza order that I had called
in. Next to Domino's is a Jackson Hewitt tax office and the place was
crowded with early filers. At this time of year many people with either
their final paystubs or W-2's end up filing taxes in anticipation of a
refund loan. The end result is the tax preparation agency ends up with a
pretty nice chunk of the refund.

I just got my W-2's in the mail and I went on the irs.gov website and filed
my federal taxes for free. Then I went to the Illinois.gov site and filed my
state taxes for free. Before I started using the internet to file my taxes I
would head on over to the local HR Block office and like many individuals
living paycheck to paycheck I used to take the "Rapid Refund" approach.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/Preparationtips/P41332.asp

For me the good news is I did end up realizing just how much my choices to
get a refund loan was costing me. However, I wonder how many of the patron
in the Jackson Hewitt office are really going to get their full refunds.

It's my understanding that legal aid does offer tax assistance to low income
individuals. Now I wonder if there are any other resources. Personally I
don't have an issue with places like Jackson Hewitt preparing tax returns
for a set fee...it's the whole concept of the "rapid refund" that I don't
like.

Marti
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