Got To Pay That Tax Bill

   We have a tax bill this year. It's not because my Spouse or I didn't withhold enough from our paychecks. We have one because I liquidated a IRA CD early and did an early distribution from my Roth IRA to pay off my vehicle last Spring. I don't regret doing this. It got rid of a huge debt and allowed us to get back on our feet financially faster. We're paying 10% penalties on each early withdrawal which equates to about three months worth of said cars payments.
    The good news is we are getting a refund from the state of Georgia. If we get that refund to help out with the tax bill before it's due remains unseen. My Spouse works on the side for a family friend once a week for a small sum of money. With the weeks remaining we can use that money to almost save up for the tax bill in full. We'll be short a little over $200 if the refund does not come through in time. So, looking at my next two paychecks I calculated that if we save $125 from each we'll have enough saved for the entire bill. The IRS is taking their money on April 15th whether it's account for or not. I've set it up to have them automatically take it on that date. I'll transfer the money for the tax bill from the Savings to Checking the Friday before on April 12th so it's all ready to go.
     Having to save $250 for the difference in the bill means we won't be able to put that toward our debt snowball for this month. But owing the IRS is certainly a form of debt, debt you do not want to ignore. The tax bill is our lowest debt, so it falls right in line with the snowball. Also, being able to save up for the tax bill and not have it be a huge financial issue is a great feeling. I did know we were going to owe the IRS when I took the money to pay off my car. So how come I didn't start saving earlier for it you might ask? Well we were still getting out financial footing from a job loss for the second year in a row. I knew the bill wasn't going to be outrageous. I did the calculations of approximately what it might be before withdrawing the money to make the pay off. I also knew that we could save for it in about two months time after we did out taxes in February. The funny thing is if we did not owe the penalties we would've been getting back $11 from Federal. Which according to some financial experts is good. You want to keep as much money in your paycheck as possible without underpaying on taxes. The money you get back in a refund is a fraction of what you've over paid over the course of a year.
       I used to get refunds every year when doing my taxes. Except for 2017's taxes when I grossly underpaid my taxes and our refund ate that up. But ever since I started doing my taxes I would usually get back around $1,000 occasionally a little more. I would always elect to have it go into my Savings account. Usually I would use it to pay off a credit card or two. Yes the same credit cards I then maxed out in later years. This year the refund from the state will go toward paying our bill. Hopefully next year if we do get a small refund we can use it to save toward something like a vacation or my Spouse and I's five year anniversary in 2021. But for now, we have to pay the tax man.