That $13,897 mistake

I made a big mistake on my taxes—a $13,987 mistake.

It took the IRS almost 3 months to get me my refund, so I figured that they also discovered the error. In the meantime, I sent in an amended return with the correct figures, which showed that I was supposed to get a much more realistic $797 back.

So I finally got my tax refund deposited yesterday:

Long story short, they deposited the $13,897 amount.

It’s so tempting to want to keep this money. I’ve owed the IRS before (years of freelancing makes that incredibly likely) and I know that they’re willing to work with you on making livable repayments.

I think of what I could do with that money. Most importantly, it would go a long way toward a down payment on buying a house and save me the long, tedious process of having to save up for one.

But J is surely right that this is not really our money to spend. The IRS will eventually figure out that we owe them whenever they get around to processing the amended return I already submitted, and it will be a lot easier to already have that money set aside. And at least we’ll earn a small amount of interest on it.

Still, it’s just so, so tempting to see all that money in my account and know that I can’t spend it.