Here's something you don't see every day -- a good idea from the government. This one has to do with allowing income tax filers to split the accounts that receive their tax refunds. The benefit of this is that filers can now have some of the money sent to them to spend and can also set aside a portion for savings -- such as in a Roth IRA or even a basic money market account. Hopefully this will have some positive impact on people's finances as at least some of the money that's (usually) spent around tax refund time is now socked away for a rainy day. And since refunds last year averaged more than $2,260, we're talking about a decent amount of money that could be put away.
If you're interested in this idea, here's how to do it:
Iwry said consumers can split their refunds for deposit in up to three accounts by attaching IRS Form 8888 "Direct Deposit of Refund to More Than One Account" to their tax return. They could include an emergency savings account and an Individual Retirement Account, he pointed out.
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