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Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

nytimes.com

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Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#31

Post by ars »

zacharycohn wrote: post #17
forgotmypw wrote: post #10

I stopped filing my taxes starting in 2011 for 2010. I had always hated the process, but in 2010 I had switched jobs several times, and had misplaced one of the stubs mailed by an employer. I have almost always worked as an employee, not a contractor or business, so I did not owe money--they probably owed me. I decided that rather than get the couple hundred bucks I would receive as my return, I will forgo the stupid…

You may want to consult a tax attorney, if you haven't already...

If the IRS owes him money nothing will happen other than a reminder letter.

He won't get in trouble or anything.

They will calculate a substitute return and mail it to him. If it shows a refund he can chose to accept, reject, or ignore it.

Accept: They'll send him money. But not as much as if he had done the return himself.

Reject: You do that by filing a correct return.

Ignore: Then he's giving a free gift to the government. Which is his choice I guess.

PS. He may regret his decision later if he wants to get a loan, or apply for government services.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#33

Post by isostatic »

sologoub wrote: post #2

Colleagues from the EU countries who relocate to the US generally tend to have a two-fold reaction - excitement at the lower tax rates and dismay at the filing complexities. Would be amazing to have the cake and eat it too - lower taxes and a simple filing system!

I guess "lower taxes" depends what the extra $200 a month in taxes (on a $70k salary in CA rather than UK) gets you in terms of services. Apparently the average health care cost is $1300 a month, making taxes and other essential expenditure $500 per person per month more in CA than in the UK for a 2 income family on $70k each.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#34

Post by teej »

clarkevans wrote: post #12
chatmasta wrote: post #6

“Your taxes” is such an overloaded term that it’s almost comical to refer to it as if it means the same thing for everyone. There is basically one straight-forward case where the IRS preparing taxes makes sense: that of full time employees whose only income is from their job which issues W2s. For everyone else — which includes: - People working multiple part time jobs - People with non-standard investment portfolios…

Everyone else is, what 10% of filers? If you're in the 10% you'll know it and you'll do private preparation.

Just back of the napkin, but there are 28 million small businesses and 130 million full time employed adults in the US. So no. It’s likely much higher than 10%.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#35

Post by ars »

canadaj wrote: post #25
zacharycohn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to consult a tax attorney, if you haven't already...

I second this. Uncle Sam isn't going to just overlook 4+ years of un-filed tax returns.

If the returns show a refund, then yes, they will.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#36

Post by hobs »

forgotmypw wrote: post #10

I stopped filing my taxes starting in 2011 for 2010. I had always hated the process, but in 2010 I had switched jobs several times, and had misplaced one of the stubs mailed by an employer. I have almost always worked as an employee, not a contractor or business, so I did not owe money--they probably owed me. I decided that rather than get the couple hundred bucks I would receive as my return, I will forgo the stupid…

If it wasn't already clear, this is insanely bad advice, and flagrantly disregarding the IRS is an easy method to attain huge fees and possibly jail time.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#37

Post by jonnycomputer »

canadaj wrote: post #25
zacharycohn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to consult a tax attorney, if you haven't already...

I second this. Uncle Sam isn't going to just overlook 4+ years of un-filed tax returns.

You are not required to file if you earn under around $10k as an individual. That could be the case for this person.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#38

Post by slededit »

stephengillie wrote: post #3

I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute. Instead, we play this game where the IRS provides a bunch of complicated documents, I guess which ones to fill out and submit, then wait 3 years to see if I was randomly chosen to see if I was correct. So it's very easy to make a mistake for dozens of years, then suddenly be penalized at random. It's the worst kin…

Canada sends you an assessment after you file letting you know their initial thoughts on how much you owe. You can still get audited to see if there were any omissions or factual errors - e.g. Your home office isn't really an office.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#39

Post by ritchiea »

rndmize wrote: post #9

13 million in lobbying over five years to prevent more efficient tax filing for an entire nation and protect your business model. Sounds like an amazing deal for a company with 5 billion in revenue. I'm consistently amazed at just how little money it takes to buy off the government effectively.

It's not just that, anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist has outsized interest on the right and he gets republicans to sign a pledge to not raise taxes, and if they violate the pledge Norquist raises money and campaigns against them. The problem is, the pledge also requires signees also do not support legislation to make paying taxes easier.

The radical anti-tax groups are so anti-tax that they see making it easier to pay taxes as support for taxes. So they want it to be difficult to pay taxes to make it easier for them to argue against taxes entirely.

The system is broken in so many places trying to approach it with any rationality gives you a headache.

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