It’s that time of year, tax time. Most people are either preparing to file, or have already filed. Maybe you’ve already gotten your refund back. Maybe you’re waiting to file because you’re going to owe. I’m going to preface this and state, I am not a tax professional.

Now, if you owe, I can’t help you there. Hopefully you have been preparing for it and have been saving up. If you owe a lot, you should probably sit down with a CPA to figure out what to do so you don’t owe so much next year.

If you’re getting a return, it’s because you had too much taxes taken out of your paychecks during the year. Some people view it as a no hassle savings account. I’ve always gotten extra taxes taken out, because I’ve always been afraid of owing money to the IRS. But honestly, you’re just giving the government an interest free loan that way. I’ve changed my views on taxes, so this year, my withholdings will be more accurate. But that leaves our 2018 return.

We are getting a sizable refund this year. We sat down together and decided what was most important for us to do with this money. Normally we’d spend most of it on ourselves, maybe get some bills up to date and “save” some. But this year, it’s all going to debt. I’ll save the exact details for when we actually do it.

Just like with your paychecks and any other money you get, you need to make a plan, otherwise you’ll spend it all and wonder where it went. This year we are being intentional with our money. We are making our money work for us, not the other way around. Here are some examples of how to spend your tax return to help you get ahead.

If you’re behind on any bills, catch those up. You need to ensure that you don’t go further into debt for life’s necessities. If you find that you are constantly behind on one specific bill, pay ahead on it. Don’t pay ahead on something and then just stop paying on it, then you will end up in the same hole you were in.

If you have debt, pay on that. Don’t just pay a little on everything, make a dent in something. If you’re following the debt snowball, apply it to your smallest debt. If that pays it off, then apply anything else to the next debt and so on.

If you have a car that you’re wanting to sell and get a used one, now would be the time. Sell your car to get out from the loan, then use your return to buy a car with cash.

If you have bad debt in collections, now is a great time to settle those. You can make settlements at a much lower amount usually, but you have to have the cash on hand. Call the debt collection company that owns the account and haggle with them. Most of the time you can negotiate the total down quite a bit if it’s with a true collection agency.

Resist the urge to spend your return on frivolous items that you’ve been wanting. If you don’t have any debt, you should save any return you get. Put it in a savings account with a good APR. if you have a good savings account built up, then invest the money. Put it in a retirement account or an ESA or 529 for kids college funds. Put it in a Health Savings Account.

Remember to be intentional. I hope this year you get ahead financially with your tax refund. Then I hope you change your withholdings so you don’t get as much back next year.