31–40 of 90 posts
Intuit's PolOps are also continuously trying to keep the US Tax system complex, so they have a reason to exist that isn't the case in other countries: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/business/24digi.html?_r=0 http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/turbotax-maker-funnels-mill... If you want something evil to disrupt, disrupt this.
I've been using TaxACT ever since I became an "adult" and started filing my tax returns. I can't really compare it to TurboTax, which I've only used for business taxes, but I can't imagine anything else being easier or cheaper. It amazes me how some people who have really simple tax forms still pay accountants..
>It amazes me how some people who have really simple tax forms still pay accountants.. My W2 is "simple" (single, no kids, etc.) but I give it to an accountant anyway. Costs $30 or so but the accountant knows certain tricks to maximize my tax return. Not illegal, but she knows how broad exemptions can be. For example, I work from home some days. I built a new computer. Technically, it's exempt because it's a work exp…
The Canada Revenue Agency introduced an API this year that enables us to auto-fill much of the return: https://help.simpletax.ca/questions/how-to-use-afr.
I switched this year from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA, as I we fed up paying $90 for a simple return, constantly getting up sold, and supporting an evil company. FreeTaxUSA was $12 for state and federal, and worked just fine if you understand how tax forms work and don't mind manually entering your 1099 data from your brokerage firm (turbotax can login to your broker in order to automatically populate this data, and is ad…
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There's a fair bit of sleaze when you use TurboTax, at least this year: * If you enter any IRA contributions, including Roth IRA, it suggests you update to Deluxe to get "your biggest refund" even though Roth IRA contributions don't qualify you for deductions. * They plaster "e-filing your federal returns is free!" everywhere while obscuring the fact that they want $20 to help you e-file a state return * The audit st…
To add on to that, if you qualify for the free tier and used TurboTax in a previous year, they make a point of showing you all the information they can prefill from your last tax return. Then, they tell you that they will delete this information unless you upgrade to a paid version. Way to reward loyal customers. I found another provider to do my taxes this year.
Maybe they know their little niche will face decline and they need to squeeze whatever they can out of it now.
FWIW, we're taking on TurboTax in Canada, https://simpletax.ca . The Canada Revenue Agency introduced an API this year that enables us to auto-fill much of the return: https://help.simpletax.ca/questions/how-to-use-afr .
Intuit's PolOps are also continuously trying to keep the US Tax system complex, so they have a reason to exist that isn't the case in other countries: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/business/24digi.html?_r=0 http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/turbotax-maker-funnels-mill... If you want something evil to disrupt, disrupt this.
Has anyone tried to make an open source version? Any 18f or USDS folks around who want to save us from Intuit and H&R Block?
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Yep -- this is some pretty evil rent-seeking. Unfortunately, disrupting it (i.e. automatic filing) requires political action rather than tech. For people with a single wage/salary job, the IRS already has a good idea what they owe thanks to their employers' reporting. IRS could simply mail them "we think $X is what you made, and $Y is what you owe," and they could either say "okay" if they agree, or fill out the form…
Pretty much how it works in most of europe. Not even mailed, during the filing period log into the tax authority's site, check that the pre-filled declaration looks OK and validate.
Take line 39b, multiply it by your age as determined by worksheet 6689. If you are between 41 and 43 years of age, enter '0'. If you were not subject to the Railroad Act of 1938's exempt dependent pension clause (this is not common), add 13 to this number in hexadecimal, else, subtract 2 and multiply by 1.388688. If you did not have healthcare for more than 14 minutes during the prior year and line 17 is 4 or greater and you live in a zone designated as "clown free" by your local municipality, draw a unicode snowman on this line and prove Fermat's theorem in the margins of Schedule Q...
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Curious, did you review your filing documents before submitting? Was it something inconspicuous?
I did not. I filed electronically. I might have caught it if I'd reviewed everything but it was a pretty complex return. Fortunately the audit was simple once I realized what had happened and explained it, but it was overall very time consuming.
FWIW, we're taking on TurboTax in Canada, https://simpletax.ca . The Canada Revenue Agency introduced an API this year that enables us to auto-fill much of the return: https://help.simpletax.ca/questions/how-to-use-afr .
When do you guys think you'll tackle Quebec? There's a tech scene here, tons of people would jump on-board instantly (as well as help develop it).