Oh no , once every 30 days you have to hit a single button twice , oh my god , that ' s so terrible , HOW DARE THEY MAKE YOU HIT A BUTTON TO MAKE SURE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION IS STILL VALID ? !<| sep |> Yes taking pretax deductions reduces your taxable income and therefore reduces your taxes owed . Now whether that results in a refund depends on if you are paying too much in taxes throughout the year . But yes , a traditional IRA or traditional 401 k deferred those income taxes until you retire and take the money out of those accounts . However socking that money away for later won ' t put more money in your pocket today for buying groceries and paying rent . I think the real answer here is that IF you do get a big tax refund I ' m not certain you will , I think you are just adjusting to big boy taxes and paychecks , put that money into the bank and use it to supplement your checks thru the year .