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TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

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Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#121

Post by linsomniac »

linsomniac wrote: post #37

Govt: "We need some money from you to buy things." Me: "How much?" Govt: "You figure it out." Me: "Oh, I get to pay whatever I want?" Govt: "LOL, no, we have a figure that we want you to pay." Me: "What happens if I guess that number wrong?" Govt: "You get to go to prison."

Ok folks, I get it. :-) This was a caricature of the process, and as such there are some inaccuracies. But the core of it that "makes you think", has some ounce of truth to it.

I'll agree, my interactions with the IRS have gone extremely smoothly when there have been problems.

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#122

Post by cmurf »

dontbenebby wrote: post #36
jakelazaroff wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is directly related, I think. One reason the IRS hasn't made it easier is a deal with the industry group "Free File Alliance", which essentially privatizes this (indeed, the page TurboTax is hiding here is their Free File page). However, while 70% of taxpayers would be eligible for free filing, in practice only 3% do — no doubt because tax prep companies make it so difficult to find and use this option. These co…

Edit: As a child comment pointed out, the issue was a brokerage account I opened in addition to the Roth IRA. (The Roth IRA deposit limit is smaller than the 401K deposit limit) /// The problem with that is there's often caveats. Ex: in grad school I did a summer internship, and put my profits into an IRA. Later on, I found out I could not use many free file software, because they considered handling the dividends my…

>IMHO it's not cool to nudge low income people to not save for retirement.

It's not cool to NOT nudge low income people to save.

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#123

Post by dontbenebby »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #117
asdfuadirea wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a rather big misstatement: most lower income people (most people in general actually) won't be investing post-tax, a 1099-DIV really is quite uncommon It's still a shitty and stupid situation... but that doesn't mean it's relevant for most free filers. You should be able to skip the foreign tax credit if you manually enter the 1099-DIV: simply enter foreign taxes paid field on the 1099-DIV as 0, and your tax s…

Am I correct in understanding that interest paid to deposits at a credit union get you a 1099-DIV? And wouldn't that mean virtually everyone who banks at a credit union would get that form? Also, anyone who owns savings bonds or CDs. Those are out of fashion these days, but many people still get them. Your point stands that these are still not the majority of the population, I just wanted to add some more pathways a…

That may have been what caused it as well. It was a while back and my memory is fuzzy.

I've since optimized my investment strategy (small amount in checking, rest in investments)

The IRS doesn't require institutions to generate 1099s for <10 dollars in interest.

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#124

Post by linsomniac »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #67
linsomniac wrote: post #32

I've been using TurboTax for the last 4 years or so but I'm getting pretty tired of this story. I read an article a few weeks ago that mentioned CreditKarma has free tools for tax prep, so I signed up for it and I'm planning on using it next year. I used to use an accountant because my taxes were kinda complicated, but once I sold my business they got really easy. Turbo makes it slightly easier, but honestly the IRS…

I've used Credit Karma for the past two years, and I'm planning on using them again next year. I have paid zero dollars for things like investments that TurboTax would upsell to me, and as far as I know Credit Karma doesn't do any unsavory lobbying. Highly recommend.

Can I pay Credit Karma to do lobbying AGAINST HR Block and Intuit? :-D

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#125

Post by dsfyu404ed »

cr0sh wrote: post #87
grecy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real story is the absolute travesty of government corruption that TurboTax and HR Block have perpetrated by making it illegal for the government to make tax filing as easy as it should be You know this applies to pretty much every service in the US right? A company wants to make massive profits, so it just lobbies and buys the laws it wants. Healthcare, private prisons, banking, "security" (TSA), education, tra…

I don't know why, but all of this "privatization" bugs the hell out of me. Maybe it has something to with wanting to see my taxes being used properly, rather than going to a private company's profits. Maybe it's the abstraction; that'd I like to know that the workers I see doing the work for the government are government employees, and that I am, in some small way, helping them? I mean, sure, with a private company t…

United and Sunbelt rent out basically everything you need for a construction business. Think of it as spinning up more instances in the cloud. It's actually often cheaper after taxes to rent than to own, especially if you need 10mi of traffic barrels but only for the duration of the project. Since construction is highly seasonal it makes sense that a lot of the stuff you need on a per-job basis is owned by a few central rental companies. I bet if you tracked individual items you'd see them migrate north in the summer and south in the winter.

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#126

Post by stagger87 »

fimbulvetr wrote: post #68
quantumwoke wrote: post #44

As someone who lives outside of the US, can someone please explain how the US government has not implemented its own free tax filing system? In my home country this hasn't been a thing for over 10 years.

If you print out the forms and fill them out by hand, the only cost is the the envelope & stamp to mail them in. What the US Federal Government/IRS doesn't have is a free way to e-file taxes online.

Yes they do, you can fill out all the forms digitally online for free. Search "freefile fillable forms". They have already closed for the year. I've been doing it for a few years now. The nicest thing about it is it does most of the math for you and you get your refund really fast (usually 1 day for me).

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#128

Post by cmurf »

asdfuadirea wrote: post #59
dontbenebby wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: As a child comment pointed out, the issue was a brokerage account I opened in addition to the Roth IRA. (The Roth IRA deposit limit is smaller than the 401K deposit limit) /// The problem with that is there's often caveats. Ex: in grad school I did a summer internship, and put my profits into an IRA. Later on, I found out I could not use many free file software, because they considered handling the dividends my…

I'm confused. Income in an IRA isn't taxed, so that's not relevant for taxes. If you had post-tax investments then yes it's more complicated, but that has nothing to do with IRA/401k retirement savings?

IRA/401k contributions are pre-tax and thus tax deductible, so you need to account for that deduction in the current tax year. The income produced within the IRA/401k is taxed upon withdrawal.

Roth IRA/401k are post-tax investments, and thus not tax deductible. And the income they produce within the IRA/401k is not taxed upon withdrawal.

Ergo, traditional IRAs are more complicated because you have to account for the deduction in the current year, and you have to account for income tax (as well as FICA by the way) upon withdrawal, plus there are mandatory distribution rules based on your age. The Roth IRA are less complicated, no deduction claimed therefore no deduction to prove in the current year, and no taxes to compute on withdrawal, with no mandatory distributions.

Re: TurboTax Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

#130

Post by astura »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #117
asdfuadirea wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a rather big misstatement: most lower income people (most people in general actually) won't be investing post-tax, a 1099-DIV really is quite uncommon It's still a shitty and stupid situation... but that doesn't mean it's relevant for most free filers. You should be able to skip the foreign tax credit if you manually enter the 1099-DIV: simply enter foreign taxes paid field on the 1099-DIV as 0, and your tax s…

Am I correct in understanding that interest paid to deposits at a credit union get you a 1099-DIV? And wouldn't that mean virtually everyone who banks at a credit union would get that form? Also, anyone who owns savings bonds or CDs. Those are out of fashion these days, but many people still get them. Your point stands that these are still not the majority of the population, I just wanted to add some more pathways a…

>Am I correct in understanding that interest paid to deposits at a credit union get you a 1099-DIV?

No, income from interest paid on deposit accounts is reported on form 1099-INT, not 1099-DIV.

1099-DIV is for dividend income. 1099-INT for interest income. They are are reported different places on your tax form.

Nowadays most people don't get 1099-INTs from their banks or credit unions because interest rates are so low most people are making no more than $1-$2 a year in interest because rates are so low and financial institutions aren't required to issue 1099-INTs for interest income below $10. I used to get them from my credit union back in high school when rates were higher.

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