Finance

All about tax refunds: Average delivery time and how to check that status of your refund

Published

7 months ago

April 2, 2024

Breitbart economics and finance editor John Carney joins ‘The Bottom Line’ to discuss The Washington Post fact-checking President Biden’s tax pledge, saying it has ‘incomplete budgeting.’

Even though the processing of filing taxes can be stressful to get done, many look forward to the refund that they receive.

You aren’t going to receive the same refund, or a refund at all, each year. Whether you get a refund is dependent on a variety of factors. The main one is how much you have paid to the government in taxes in the previous year. If you have had too much of your income withheld, then you will get a refund of that extra amount you paid during the previous year.

The faster you file your taxes, the faster your refund will be on its way. Here’s everything you need to know about tax refunds.

For the fastest refund, file your taxes electronically, and opt for direct deposit. (iStock / iStock)

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1. Can I calculate how much I’m getting back?

The short answer is yes. You can calculate (approximately) how much your refund will be before you receive it.

The easiest way to do this is through the many refund calculators available online. All you have to do is fill out your financial information and a refund amount will be provided to you. While this number may not be exact, it can give you a good idea of what you can expect to get back in your refund.

Some companies that have online refund calculators are TurboTax, H&R Block and NerdWallet.

2. What are tax refunds?

A tax refund is the money that you get back after filing your taxes. You receive a refund if you had too much money withheld and overpaid your taxes the previous year.

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“Taxpayers are typically eligible for refunds if they are employees and have excess federal/state withholdings or if they are self-employed — the quarterly estimated tax payments remitted during the course of the year exceeds the tax liability,” Jason Schwitzer, a CPA and managing partner at Nathen T. Schwitzer & Associates, told FOX Business.

3. When should I expect my refund?

There is no exact answer to this question, because not everyone gets their refund at the same time. How quickly you get your refund has a lot to do with how quickly you file, how you file and how you choose to receive your refund.

It’s important to file your taxes both quickly and accurately to get your refund fast. (iStock / iStock)

The first tip is to file your taxes as soon as you can. The faster you file, the faster you can expect that refund to hit your bank account.

While the speed at which you file is important, the accuracy of your information is also extremely important. If there is any information that is not correct or further information is needed, it could take more than 120 days to process the refund, according to the IRS. If there are any issues, you will receive a letter from the IRS.

According to the IRS, filing your taxes electronically is the most efficient method.

Another important factor is choosing to receive your refund through direct deposit, in order to get a faster refund delivery time.

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“If you elect to receive your refund by direct deposit, you will receive those funds typically in two to four weeks, depending on how quickly your tax return is processed and if it is electronically filed,” Schwitzer said. “If you elect to receive your refund by paper check it can take double, sometimes triple the amount of time — especially if your address is not up-to-date and accurate.”

4. Can I check my refund status online?

Yes, you can check your refund status online or even through an app on your phone.

There is a “Where’s My Refund” tab on the IRS website where you can go to check the status of your refund. To do this, you will need to have your Social Security number, taxpayer ID number, filing status and the exact refund amount on your return handy.

There is also a way to check your refund status on the IRS2Go mobile app.

5. What should I do with my tax refund?

What you decide to do with the money you get back really depends on what your needs are at the time you receive your refund.

Many choose to pay off a debt with their tax refunds or put it into their savings. (iStock / iStock)

“It depends on what the cash flow needs of the taxpayer. There may be a need to pay down consumer debt or utilize the funds towards the subsequent year’s estimated tax payments. But really it depends on the needs of the taxpayer,” Schwitzer said.

Many elect to put their tax refund straight into a high-yield savings account or invest the cash, if they are able. If you have any outstanding debt, whether that be on a credit card, or maybe a student or car loan, putting your refund towards that also isn’t a bad idea.

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A tax refund can also be a great cushion to put away as part, or the start, of an emergency fund to protect you when unexpected expenses arise.

Finance

China’s Alibaba claims AI translation tool beats Google, ChatGPT

Published

9 hours ago

October 16, 2024

Business Finance News

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has invested heavily in its fast-growing international business as growth slows for its China-focused Taobao and Tmall business.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

BEIJING — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba‘s international arm on Wednesday launched an updated version of its artificial intelligence-powered translation tool that, it says, is better than products offered by Google, DeepL and ChatGPT.

That’s based on an assessment of Alibaba International’s new model, Marco MT, by translation benchmark framework Flores, the Chinese company said.

Alibaba’s fast-growing international unit released the AI translation product as an update to one unveiled about a year ago, which it says already has 500,000 merchant users. Sellers based in one country can use the translation tool to create product pages in the language of the target market.

The new version is based only on large language models, allowing it to draw on contextual clues such as culture or industry-specific terms, Kaifu Zhang, vice president of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group and head of the business’ artificial intelligence initiative, told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.

“The idea is that we want this AI tool to help the bottom line of the merchants, because if the merchants are doing well, the platform will be doing well,” he said.

Large language models power artificial intelligence applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can also translate text. The models, trained on massive amounts of data, can generate humanlike responses to user prompts.

Alibaba’s translation tool is based on its own model called Qwen. The product supports 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

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Zhang said he expects “substantial demand” for the tool from Europe and the Americas. He also expects emerging markets to be a significant area of use.

When users of Alibaba.com — a site for suppliers to sell to businesses — are categorized by country, developing countries account for about half of the top 20 active AI tool users, Zhang said.

Chinese companies have increasingly looked abroad for growth opportunities, especially e-commerce merchants. PDD Holdings‘ Temu, fast fashion seller Shein and ByteDance’s TikTok are among the recent global market entrants. Many China-based merchants also sell on Amazon.com.

Contextual clues

Since Alibaba launched the first version of its AI translation tool last fall, the company said merchants have used it for more than 100 million product listings. Similar to other AI-based services, the basic pricing charges merchants by the amount of translated text.

Zhang declined to share how much the updated version would cost. He said it was included in some service bundles for merchants wanting simple exposure to overseas users.

His thinking is that contextual translation makes it much more likely that consumers decide to buy. He shared an example in which a colloquial Chinese description for a slipper would have turned off English-speaking consumers if it was only translated literally, without getting at the implied meaning.

“The updated translation engine is going to make Double 11 a better experience for consumers because of more authentic expression,” Zhang said, in reference to the Alibaba-led shopping festival that centers on Nov. 11 each year.

Alibaba’s international business includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, which primarily targets Southeast Asia. The international unit reported sales growth of 32% to $4.03 billion in the quarter ended June from a year ago.

That’s in contrast to a 1% year-on-year drop in sales to $15.6 billion for Alibaba’s main Taobao and Tmall e-commerce business, which has focused on China.

The Taobao app is also popular with consumers in Singapore. In September, the app launched an AI-powered English version for users in the country.

Nomura analysts expect that Alibaba’s international revenue slowed slightly to 29% year-on-year growth in the quarter ended September, while operating losses narrowed, according to an Oct. 10 report. Alibaba has yet to announce when it will release quarterly earnings.