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

nytimes.com

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101–110 of 438 posts

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

#101

Post by scarface74 »

Coding_Cat wrote: post #92
volkk wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the worst kind of selective enforcement - random enforcement. Very similar to the way police behave w/ regards to speeding tickets. Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. But then also sometimes choose random people to screw over when it's the end of the month and they need to hit their quotas.

>Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. I doubt people really speed because the limits have been set too low and the people know better what is an ideal speed limit. I think people_think_ they know better what the speed limit is, and/or reason "well if 60mph is okay, 75 mph can't be that bad, I'm barely speeding and I'm in a rush". At least, that's the attitud…

http://www.sehinc.com/news/truth-about-speed-limits-explaine...

There is no guarantee that a speed limit will have any effect on driving behaviors. The fact is, when driving, most motorists choose a speed in which they personally feel both comfortable and safe.

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

#102

Post by oriolid »

icedchai wrote: post #78
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…

This would be nice, but they may not actually have all of the data: itemized deductions being one major missing piece.

In the countries where the system is place, you get to check the pre-made filing and add missing deductions.

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

#103

Post by ljm »

kartan wrote: post #51

I have paid taxes in Sweden and Spain. In both countries, I get a preliminary tax form with all my data. If I don't want to change anything I just need to go online. Click Accept. And pay with my credit card the difference between what my employer pays to the government monthly and the total, around 100$. It is very efficient. I have the feeling that apart from lobbying USA loves to hate taxes. To make paying taxes o…

I was slightly bothered after moving to Spain from the UK because I had to submit the IRPF and similar. You never have to think of such a thing in the UK unless you see the wrong code on your payslip, and that is always in order to get a refund.

People of the US won't trust a damn thing the government does, probably for pretty good reason, and the whole country suffers for it. IRS can adequately track and report your taxes, even refunding them if they're too high? HELL NO, gotta blow most of that potential refund on a tax adviser to prove that I could get refunded! HMRC can adequately track and report your taxes? Actually, most of the time yes. No need to file unless it's a more complicated setup.

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

#104

Post by fimdomeio »

Ftuuky wrote: post #32

In my country (Portugal) they do prepare my taxes and so far I can't complain. Even if something wrong happens you can file for appropriate compensation. Any payment is concluded in less than 2 weeks.

Last year the state introduces fully automated tax filling. It's beautiful. It took me 2 minutes. On the other hand, if I remember correctly its still a java app running on the browser where you have to accept an unsigned certificate and doesn't run on my mac. :/

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

#105

Post by SilasX »

xsmasher wrote: post #75
phonon wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you see that? https://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/Federal%20Pled... EDIT: OK, found this https://www.atr.org/taxpayer-advocates-issue-joint-free-file... https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/files/ba148cd5babdda39... https://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/041111lt-wycoa...

Presumably in the "reduction or elimination of deductions and credits" - simplifying the tax code would require those kinds of changes.

Seriously? That's the basis of saying that the anti-tax pledge prohibits IRS tax prep?

The number of deductions and credits is orthogonal to whether the IRS can save you the effort of collecting the information about what they think you owe.

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

#106

Post by craftyguy »

jedberg wrote: post #76
craftyguy wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they do, they are terrible at it. I get 'corrections' from the IRS about once a year to previous returns, all of which are basically them making an error and then sending me a bill. Not only do I have to waste time preparing my taxes, but I have to waste additional time disputing their BS 'corrections'.

Wouldn't it be so much easier if they just sent you all the corrections first so you could just dispute them once? :)

That would, in the best case, still require as much effort as filing in the first place or, in the worst case, require as much effort as I have to do now because the disputes are a lot of back/forth/waiting with the IRS.

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

#107

Post by gruez »

slededit wrote: post #38
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.

but don't you still have to fill out a tax form? in that case, isn't that the same as in US?.

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

#108

Post by gamblor956 »

rb808 wrote: post #43
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!

Lower taxes? In France the bracket for a family for €104,120 to €279,132 is only 30%. Sure if you live in Oaklahoma you might pay less than that but CA/NY state taxes plus property taxes, plus fewer investment tax free options, I think US taxes are now similar or higher. Ie 28% federal + 10% state + 10% property taxes equals nearly 50%. Sure sales tax is lower. Plus - you still have to pay for your medical care, and…

In France, that 30% tax is on your gross income without deductions, and doesn't include a number of other taxes on your income that were already taken out as payroll taxes, usually about 10-20% of your wage income.

In the US, you face a 24% or 25% tax on your gross income after deductions, not including additional credits that may also apply. Payroll tax deductions are also much smaller in the US.

Not aware of any state which has a 10% property tax and an income tax. I am aware of some states having high property taxes but no income taxes...

Finally...we do have a safety net. It's a safety net, not a dole like the European model.

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

#109

Post by quasse »

Coding_Cat wrote: post #92
volkk wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the worst kind of selective enforcement - random enforcement. Very similar to the way police behave w/ regards to speeding tickets. Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. But then also sometimes choose random people to screw over when it's the end of the month and they need to hit their quotas.

>Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. I doubt people really speed because the limits have been set too low and the people know better what is an ideal speed limit. I think people_think_ they know better what the speed limit is, and/or reason "well if 60mph is okay, 75 mph can't be that bad, I'm barely speeding and I'm in a rush". At least, that's the attitud…

> If you were to raise the speed limit to 75mph, people would just use the same logic to drive 90mph instead.

Luckily there are plenty of places that have done just that that we can learn from. WI just raised a lot of its highway speed limits to 70mph for example.

Anecdotally, people used to drive in the 75mph range before the speed limit was raised and would deal with the occasional ticket for 10 over. In the general case, the average highway speed seems to have stayed at 75mph after the change.

I've noticed something similar in South Dakota where the speed limit is 80. I rarely saw someone go more than 5 over, and would frequently encounter people driving at 75mph.

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

#110

Post by SilasX »

chatmasta wrote: post #29
ebiester wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of it more as "The IRS has prepared this return for you. Look at it. If it's what you expect, you have nothing else to do other than send a check if you owe or a bank account for your refund. If you have extra information (more income, deductions, etc) - then you are free to fill out your own forms. As such, 60-70% of the population would have nothing to do. People with multiple part time jobs would be fine. Th…

What happens when the IRS gets it wrong and the impoverished recipient has nobody to review it for them? (Still I suppose that may be an improvement over the status quo)

Then it's still significantly easier and less confusing and intimidating than what those impoverished recipients have to deal with right now.
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