You do realize you are completely and totally wrong. Or at least I hope you do.

As Hoodoo has stated, if you get money back at the end of the year, you made an interest free loan to the Gov't. If you owe them money at the end of the year, they made an interest free loan to you. The links above explain it better than I can.

Ideally, however, you would want to get zero back at the end of the year, and owe zero. The reason is thus: if you get zero back, you did not make any interest free loans to the gov't. If you owe them money, you might not be in the correct financial stuation to pay it right then. Also, if you owe them too much (not sure of the percentages), you can face penalties for underestimating your taxes/withholding.

However, you are more than welcome to continue making loans to the gov't. In fact, if you really like to do that, you can send me some money, and I will pay it back exactly the same amount 1 year from now. In the mean time, I will invest it, maybe in the stock market, maybe in a nice safe cd. PM me for my paypal address. I also take checks.

I love how so much misinformation gets spread around the internet

Dave

 

On a side note, I am getting a very large refund back this year, but thats because I spend the majority of my year in a tax free zone (Iraq) and my income averaged with my wifes means we get back most of what she had withheld as income tax.

However, thats a special case, and if you have a predictable income, you should be able to maipulate your withholding so that at the end of the year, you get nothing back and owe nothing, or close to nothing.

Dave