Tax Season Takes Over the Workplace
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This time of year likely has more business professionals seeing red (and less green). In fact, 61% of business professionals think the overall amount they pay in taxes is too high, according to a new Office Pulse study.
Forking it over to Uncle Sam
Many business professionals aren’t satisfied with their tax payments. Baby Boomers (80%) overwhelmingly feel that their overall tax payment is “too high.” On the other hand, the younger generation is almost evenly split over how much they have to pay. 51% of Millennials feel their overall tax payment is too high, while 45% say “it’s just right.”
Interestingly, half of male professionals (51%) say the amount they pay overall for taxes is “just right,” while just 24% of females feel that way. A whopping 73% of women feel their taxes are “too high.”
More than half of business professionals (57%) won’t have to pay at tax time. Those that do have to pay, however, won’t need to fork over too much; 15% of professionals said they will have to pay less than $1,000. Slightly more females (18%) than males (11%) expect to pay less than $1,000 to the government during tax time.
What do you plan to do with your tax refund?
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To save or not to save
Many business professionals are fiscally responsible when it comes to handling their tax refund, electing to stash it away rather than let the extra cash burn a hole in their pocket.
64% of business professionals expect to receive a refund this year. Of those, more than 1 in 3 (35%) plan to save or invest the money. Junior managers (41%) were more likely to invest or save their tax refund than any other occupation level.
No taxation without a little procrastination
Many business professionals are ahead of the game; 31% filed their taxes in February. We can’t all be early filers, though. 5% of professionals wait to file their taxes until ‘the last possible day.’
Men aren’t as fast as women when it comes to filing taxes; 32% of male workers wait until April to file their taxes, while 32% of females file them in February.
Honesty is the best (tax) policy
Most business professionals are honest when it comes to filing their taxes – 84% say they have never lied on their taxes. 10% of workers have, however, embellished or fudged a little, while 6% admit to flat-out lying on their taxes.
More male professionals (12%) admit to lying than their female colleagues (1%). 10% of Millennials say they’ve lied on their taxes, where only 4% of Gen Xers and 1% of Baby Boomers have admitted to lying on their taxes.
Business professionals’ penchant for honesty may in part be driven by fear of what will happen if they stretch the truth. Half of all professionals (50%) said that their biggest fear when filing their taxes is getting audited.
Other insights include: