Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

Post by sametmax » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 2:29 PM UTC

ransom1538 wrote: post #580

Calloggs wrote: post #298

Planet Money covered tax filing a few years ago and visited it again recently: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor... My understanding is that the main opposition appears to be (1) the tax preparation lobby to protect their business interests and (2) anti-tax activists that believe that making people calculate their own taxes will make them more aware of how much they are paying in taxes. The…

The US has the most idiotic tax system. Your employer, your mutual funds, your 401k, your bank -- everyone reports what you make to the government. The government already knows what you owe (excluding those that itemize). They should just print out a summary and hand over a bill / refund.

Post by throw0101a » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 2:32 PM UTC

conanbatt wrote: post #598

RayVR wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The second argument is about raising all relevant barriers to submitting your tax return. If I were in this camp I’d be pushing for everyone to have zero withholding and carry cash to a tax filing center. Ideally, there would be very few tax filing centers so you would need to travel far and wait in line. My bet is that within the first year of this taxes would be massively reduced. Also, very few people would actual…

Yeah ,withholdings are garbage from an anti-tax pespective. Great example of that today is that most americans believe the trump tax reform didnt help them (only 17% believe it helped them) but it literally and factually increased the income for 80%. At least one reason for that is that withholding was reduced, but refunds were reduced as well. Availability bias makes people remember refunds, but not their monthly pa…

Post by SilasX » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

ensignavenger wrote: post #119

TheHypnotist wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are suitable alternatives? Aren't they the best in class, regardless of how shitty that class is?

I have used Credit Karma Tax since it came out (I think this year was 3 years) and it has been a great product and is free for both federal and state filings. Doesn't support some more complex scenarios, notably partial year and multi-state returns (you can still file your Federal return with it, though). Edited to add additional details as to what isn't supported.

Post by jason_slack » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 2:39 PM UTC

travisoneill1 wrote: post #604

lukeqsee wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strictly speaking, you're holding their money for a year without interest. The estimated payments are not prepayments—they are payments that match what most W2 employees would pay every paycheck, but isn't the case for 1099 (or otherwise self-employed) individuals, since they don't have taxes withheld from their paychecks.

And if you are due a refund they are holding yours, but good luck getting any interest on that!

Post by mcv » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 2:42 PM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #611

ransom1538 wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has the most idiotic tax system. Your employer, your mutual funds, your 401k, your bank -- everyone reports what you make to the government. The government already knows what you owe (excluding those that itemize). They should just print out a summary and hand over a bill / refund.

Which many countries do already. In France, before this year, if you were an employee, you rarely filled a tax form, you just validated a prefilled one, usually with one click on the internet. Now it's just taken every month from your salary, and you get a chance to correct it once a year.