Our taxes fund essential public services such as our highway network, Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid. To better understand the opinions of the Latino community in the United States regarding taxes, we launched an in-depth survey that had surprising results! Read on to see what we found out.
A vast majority of our community pays their taxes
Some people may think that they can’t pay taxes until they normalize their immigration status. This is a misconception! Not only will paying your taxes save you from future problems; it can also help you in your immigration regularization process.
Fortunately, the vast majority of the people who took our survey said they file their taxes in the US.
If you belong to the 16% who don't file their taxes, and the reason behind this is that you don't have a Social Security Number (SSN), we have a solution for you. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can issue you an ITIN, which is an identification number that allows you to file your returns even if you do not have legal immigration status. In fact, we found that 70% of our respondents paid their taxes using an ITIN! Don’t hesitate to get your ITIN, if you haven’t already (find out more here).
Most Latinos hire professionals to file their taxes
Anr interesting fact that we discovered was that most of the people in our community don’t file their taxes by themselves, but instead use professional services. Only 8% do it by themselves!
However, a whopping 74% of those surveyed said they would file their taxes themselves if it were possible. The good news is that it is! The IRS provides a tool called Free File that allows you to file your taxes for free without the need of professional assistance.
What do we spend our tax refunds on?
Did you know that if you file your taxes, you might get a tax refund instead of having to pay?
You might be aware that your employer withholds part of your salary from each paycheck as part of the taxes you pay the IRS. However, these amounts are often overstated, so you may be paying more taxes than you should. If what you paid during the year exceeds the taxes you owed based on your income, the government will refund you the difference!
According to our survey, most people use this money to pay off their debts.
It is worth mentioning that you can choose to have your tax refund deposited directly into a bank account instead of waiting for a check to be delivered by mail. Two-thirds of the people we surveyed receive their money that way! If you want to get your tax refunds quickly and securely, we suggest that you get a PODERcard.
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As you can see, the surveys we conduct at our Rewards center are essential for us to achieve one of our primary goals: understanding the Latino community and providing you with quality information and services.
If you're already enrolled in our Rewards Center, we greatly appreciate your contributions and encourage you to keep checking your account for the latest surveys! If you don't have an account yet, what are you waiting for? SABEResPODER will pay you for your opinion and the registration process is quick and free of charge.
