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

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

#191

Post by pedasmith »

scarface74 wrote: post #117
icedchai wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They could. I envision a one time use token for each charity you give to. You give the charity the one time use token issues by the government, and they report your donation directly to the government. Financial institutions and other companies already give the government a copy of the form they give you for self employment income and taxable financial transactions. The states also report state taxes and property tax…

Why one time? Why can't I get an "alternate" IDs from the IRS where the IRS knows the "real" number it's associated with, and provide the charity with that?

Or heck, let me just tell the charity my email address, and then tell the IRS that all the donations for that email should be credited to me. People who want more privacy can "just" sign up for bespoke email addresses.

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

#192

Post by astura »

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.

The whole idea is the IRS would prefill all the forms with all the information they know and you'd login and add anything that's missing. 80% of taxpayers would just confirm and hit submit, the ones who need to add stuff know who they are. You can always hire someone to do it for you too.

Most people already claim the standard deduction and with the new tax reform 95%+ of tax returns are going to claim the standard deduction this year. As part of the hypothetical bill could also require more organizations (charities, local governments) to report to the IRS.

I have business income the IRS doesn't know a thing about before I fill out my schedule c, but prefilled forms for all the stuff they DO know about would still be awesome and super helpful.

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

#193

Post by MaysonL »

curiousgeorgio wrote: post #182
gamblor956 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS has actually run trials like this in the past. Very successful, at least for simply W2-based returns, since most people's taxable transactions get reported by companies anyway (i.e., mortgages/interest, other income, etc.) and most people use the standardized deduction. Inuit and Quicken subsequently lobbied to end those programs and even bar the IRS from running similar programs...

Nearly everyone I've talked to (on both sides of the political spectrum) agrees on this issue; if the IRS has the means to verify and audit the data, they might as well prepare the forms and just get authorization (+ any additional info they might be lacking) before tax returns are submitted. So how is it that lobbying alone is enough to persuade lawmakers to take the side of Intuit et al.? And which lawmakers are so…

Lobbying + campaign contributions. + the knowledge that as long as they don't change the situation, they'll be able to expect future campaign contributions.

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

#194

Post by JackFr »

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 have the feeling that apart from lobbying USA loves to hate taxes.

Of course we do! Opposition to taxes is LITERALLY the creation myth of the United States.

"No taxation without representation!" -- and we certainly weren't looking for representation.

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

#195

Post by hnarn »

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…

>I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute.

How weird is it that this is not the norm? In Sweden, this is exactly the way it works. You get a piece of paper every year saying "according to what your employer and other instances have reported, here's what we think you owe". You can dispute it, but best of all: if you have nothing to dispute, you can OK it cryptographically (look up "bank-id"), or even OK it via SMS, by sending a pre-generated code given to you on paper. If you do, you get your payout (if any) just a month or two later.

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

#196

Post by nimish »

gamblor956 wrote: post #108
rb808 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 st…

NJ has high property and relatively high income taxes.

The US safety net is anything but. It barely exists and is extremely difficult to both qualify for and live off of.

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

#197

Post by paulcole »

gamblor956 wrote: post #98
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…

The IRS has actually run trials like this in the past. Very successful, at least for simply W2-based returns, since most people's taxable transactions get reported by companies anyway (i.e., mortgages/interest, other income, etc.) and most people use the standardized deduction. Inuit and Quicken subsequently lobbied to end those programs and even bar the IRS from running similar programs...

> Inuit and Quicken subsequently lobbied to end those programs and even bar the IRS from running similar programs...

Is this true or an urban legend?

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

#199

Post by addicted »

sokoloff wrote: post #174
baddox wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. I don't know if getting rid of taxes entirely is really a goal for many of these people, but what you describe doesn't sound that unreasonable. Making paying taxes easier does sound like support for taxe…

I’d love to see the end of payroll deductions and to make annual taxes due the Monday before Election Day. Doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t have taxes, but we’d have a tight temporal and psychological link between what we pay and the selections we make at the ballot box.

Actually, the correct temporal link would not be with elections but with choices you make to use publicly funded roads, breathe clean air due to public funded regulations, etc.

That's the temporal connection that needs to be made.

The idea that there is a whole host of politicians who want to increase taxes is ludicrous. No one campaigns on the basis of increasing taxes. Further, in most of the West, taxes have dropped dramatically over the past few decades. Most politicians campaign on (1) reducing taxes or (2) providing some benefits. The dishonest politicians campaigning on #2 are teh ones who claim you can increase benefits without increasing taxes (which is occasionally true but rarely). It's only the honest politicians campaigning on #2 who add that the benefit will indeed have to be paid for by higher taxes.

The politicians increasing taxes are the good guys because they're the only ones at least thinking about paying for benefits.

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

#200

Post by kalleboo »

paulcole wrote: post #197
gamblor956 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS has actually run trials like this in the past. Very successful, at least for simply W2-based returns, since most people's taxable transactions get reported by companies anyway (i.e., mortgages/interest, other income, etc.) and most people use the standardized deduction. Inuit and Quicken subsequently lobbied to end those programs and even bar the IRS from running similar programs...

> Inuit and Quicken subsequently lobbied to end those programs and even bar the IRS from running similar programs... Is this true or an urban legend?

https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre...
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