It’s that time of year already, where everyone has to do their taxes. Most people, about 54 percent of filers in the USA, end up getting a refund. When you receive the money, you’ll need to think about what you should do with it. Since you’re a small business owner the most likely thing you should do with it is invest it into your business.

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Pay Off Revolving Credit

First things first, if you have any interest bearing loans over six percent you should pay it off. If you do you’re earning that percentage on your money. It’s a great way to stretch your income tax refund. Now that you’ve paid off high interest debt you can now invest the amount of your former payment into your business on a regular basis. With the monthly savings you can now do several things that you couldn’t do before.

• Have immediately improved credit. You can sign free with Credit Karma to find out what your credit rating is. Please, ignore the credit card ads as they are very tempting since they also tell you how likely you are to get approved.
• Invest the former monthly payment. Whether it’s $50.00 or more monthly you can put that right back into your business investing in website upgrades, software, a mastermind club, or a savings account to save up for something more expensive. You can also up the amount you’re putting in your individual retirement account. (IRA)
• Breathe. You paid off a debt and you don’t have to pay it anymore. Take a break from spending money and celebrate your smart financial move by not going into more revolving high-interest bearing debt.

Nothing can jump-start growth more than being debt free, turning around and putting that money back into your business or freeing up money that is going to debt is important. If you’re fortunate enough to get a tax refund, or find yourself with extra cash for any reason, use it wisely with thought and care.

Invest in Business Automation

If you’re one of the smart people who avoid using high-interest revolving debt and you’re debt free, you can now invest in something that helps your business by improving automation. Perhaps you need to invest in technology that improves your website, backs up your website, or makes your website better in some way like a complete rebuild and design. Of course, it depends on how much your refund is as to how far you can get with improvements.

• Mastermind Club – This is a good investment in your business because the connections you’ll make are innumerable. You may likely earn back your investment in the club due to the people you meet.
• Business Coaching – If you received a substantial refund you may decide to invest in business coaching. There are many great coaches, so be sure to pick the one that is right for you and has experience plus good reviews.
• Software/Technology – If you have a lot of websites or a very important website that is most of your income, are you protecting it sufficiently? If not then you should highly consider backing up your site. Using Dropbox.com or other file storage solutions isn’t really good enough; please consider using something like Mozy.com, BackupBuddy.com or BackBlaze.com if you use a Mac.

The important thing is that when you get a tax refund that during the time you’re waiting to receive it from the day you submit your tax return to the IRS that you sit down and give a lot of thought as to how you’ll use the cash to make it pay off today, tomorrow and well into the future. You won’t be sorry.