news flash: the entire tax filing and tax payment industry, to say nothing of tax code itself, uses dark patterns to this effect.
TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
101–110 of 283 posts
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
CreditKarma is 100% free for everything. I've used them the last two years without issue, although they dramatically improved the service this last year. It was a little rough year 1.
I want to try CreditKarma's free filing, but since its free, I'm the product, and i'm not sure what that means, when handing them all my tax info yet..
Admittedly I was a little concerned by that, but since I already use them for credit monitoring I didn't feel like I was handing them all that much more information. Better to give them a little more info, than involve another company who may still use my info even after I pay them.
I do like they're at least pretty transparent about their business model:
https://help.creditkarma.com/hc/en-us/articles/202414090-Is-...
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/01081...
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#103It is way easier and faster to file your taxes using paper forms. And free! Maybe your hand isn't held as much, but for a group of people that know how to use ctrl-f, it should be pretty easy to get it done.
Now, this is certainly unfortunate. I'd prefer to submit my taxes electronically via simple forms on the IRS website instantly. But with the lobbying, this is what we're stuck with.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nah, you're missing the forest when looking at the trees. Go bigger. Why the hell is the tax code so damn complicated that it requires certified experts and special software to perform personal tax filings? I can see the case for a complex code for business taxes since there are many different industries that have different rules. But personal returns should never, ever have such complicated rules. And that doesn't m…
What complicated rules? The basic 1040 is perfectly straightforward, even if you have a few sources of income or special deductions/credits.
If you do it quick and dirty, then yeah. But I am pretty sure most people would find even the 1040 a bit intimidating. The problem is that the tax code is more than 75,000 pages long. No one knows all of it and there are parts that are up to interpretation and self-categorization. If you want to basically ignore all that (legally) you can go the quick and dirty way and just take the standard deductions and exemptions and not itemize or claim anything and the government will have absolutely no issue with that. But to do it "properly" for most people - where properly means getting the most back that you can legally get back - then it's quite cumbersome and involves a lot of reading.
For example, my tax situation is not terribly complicated. But looking at what I paid my accountant to do, there's precisely 0% chance that I would be able to do what he did and get back as much as we did without spending weeks of my life reading tons of IRS regulations and rules. This is exactly why I pay him to do it for us, and exactly the core of my point - doing it right and getting back the most is not easy at all without assistance whether that be software or an actual licensed professional.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I could see the logic of the argument "these aren't dark patterns", or (to a lesser extent) "these are dark patterns(and therefore dishonest), but dishonesty isn't bad". I'm having trouble working through your argument "these are dark patterns, but they aren't dishonest". Might a fair restatement of your argument be something like: "Reasonably informed people should know that Intuit is a profit-seeking entity, and sh…
That restatement is pretty accurate and I would agree with it. And I wasn't saying dishonesty isn't bad. I was saying the implication the article makes that they are dishonest is something I disagree with. So "these are dark patterns, but they aren't dishonest" is indeed what I'm saying - you are correct in that. I generally don't view dark patterns as dishonest. I think that's where you really took issue. I find the…
Aren't your examples an admission that dark patterns are dishonest, though? It's not like these companies are e.g. randomly coloring their buttons and just so happened to pick a misleading one. They're intentionally choosing colors that you associate with the opposite of what you want to do. The entire purpose is to trick you into performing an action you don't want to perform.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#106My tax situation was simple enough but I’ve always used a service. This year I used a few services but didn’t file, them printed out the infilled returns and was shocked at how few documents I would have to fill out if I did it on my own.
I ended up using Tax slayer and filed for free.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#107Let’s not forget this is the same company that robbed tech workers in secret do not hire pacts that included eBay, intel, apple and google.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#108Regular reminder that intuit and H&R Block lobby to keep the government from simplifying tax filings to protect their business.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#109H&R Block try to get you to pay at every other page while you are filling your return... But I still went with them because the last 2 years I filled the forms online at a couple different companies and H&R Block was getting me more back.
Taxes: Where we openly brag about finding ways to contribute less to society.
Re: TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes
#110Hey, just an FYI. You never have to pay to file taxes. Like the forms are free on IRS.gov. You can fill in the information and mail it in with any money you owe too. There are help guides that step your through the process of filling out the forms as well, like worksheets to calculate deductibles if you need it. It's very important that you go to IRS.gov and look at your options before you ever pay someone to do your…
FreeTaxUSA offers a service for $15 that saves me 2+ hours of time, and optionally offers to give me a professionally bound return for $10.
Recently I paid a small business $20 to wash my car. It probably saved me an hour out of my day.
Why is the second business's services more valid than the first? I know how to wash my car, i know how to do my taxes, but I also value my time.