A new survey by GOBankingRates, a personal finance news website has tried to obtain answers to the above question. And they got interesting results.
Predictably, the top option is to clear the debts. A majority of respondents, especially women, indicated that they would settle their debts with tax refunds. A second preferred option is to invest: 11 per cent of respondents ages 18–24 and 13 per cent of respondents ages 24–35 want to invest their refunds. Gen Xers ages 45–54 are the least likely to want to invest, with only 6 per cent choosing this option.
On average, Americans expect to receive $3,000 on their tax refund. This amount is close to the average tax refund taxpayers have received in recent years.
“It’s encouraging that the survey shows that the majority of taxpayers who expect to get a refund plan to use it to improve their finances,” says Cameron Huddleston, Life and Money Columnist at GOBankingRates. “A tax refund can feel like a windfall, but it’s important to keep in mind that it’s your money that you let the government hang onto all year. So it’s smart to use that money to pay off debt, build an emergency fund or boost retirement savings.”
