Fast!

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I e-filed my taxes using TurboTax, and asked for my refund to be deposited directly into my account. I filed late on the night of 4/14.

It took less than 10 days for my state refund to be deposited in my account, and less than 11 for my Federal refund. (Really more like 8 and 9 days, respectively, given that the governments in question didn't actually receive the returns 'til the 16th, and the deposits were made early in the morning.)

That's remarkably fast. Perhaps no faster than in previous years, I dunno. But I'm impressed anyway. Maybe there's something to this idea that computers make things faster after all.

Heh—maybe magazines should measure their response time relative to governments. If the time it took to get my refund is 1 GRTU (Government Response Time Unit), then F&SF's average response time would be less than 1 GRTU; SH's would be about 3 GRTUs.

. . . Okay, I suppose a GRTU really ought to be the average response time of governments to stimuli, which probably means it's on the order of months or years. So never mind.

3 Responses to “Fast!”

  1. Jay Lake

    GRTU is a FUM, or Fortean Unit of Measurement. Like when the news says “an iceberg the size of three Rhode Islands.” Although in purely fictive terms, it ought to be a “Gordon Response Time Unit,” on account of F&SF being the standard bearer for ripping quick rejections.

    And hasn’t SH slowed down in the last six months or so?

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  2. Jed

    Good point re “Gordon Response Time Unit.”

    SH hasn’t slowed down significantly. Our average response time over a period of a couple of months has been as low as 20 days (it was around 22 for our first year or so), and as high as about 25 days; it’s been hovering at around 23-24 days for quite a while now. Our average over the life of the magazine was 23 days last time I checked it, about a year ago. So we’re very slightly slower than we once were, but only slightly.

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  3. Mel Melcer

    Jed,

    1. I guess you should have “positive” and “negative” GRTUs–governments tend to get back to you much faster if they want your money than when they owe you…

    2. GRTUs would be country specific, too. I live in Belgium, and the Positive GRTU=18 months… That’s much better than SH–at least I hope, only subbed to you once…

    Mel

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