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TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

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Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#51

Post by gdulli »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #28
neya wrote: post #9

Just curious, is there any value to making a clone of H&R Block / Intuit and making it open source (with also hosted somewhere)? It probably takes only a weekend for me to do this and I'll be happy to do it if there is significant interest from my fellow HNers. Besides, fuck Intuit, never been a fan of them for the exact reasons mentioned in the article.

> It probably takes only a weekend for me to do this Seriously? I know there are "10x" developers out there (I actually have worked alongside one extensively) but the PDF export of all the forms and IRS eFile integration alone seems like it would take a little longer than a weekend, even for an extremely prolific developer.

In my opinion what makes a 10x developer are things that are (ironically) not quantitative.

It's the wisdom and experience to keep yourself from going down the wrong track. Not progressing down the same track faster or better.

For example, the humility, if nothing else, that would prevent you from taking seriously an instinct that you could replicate a huge business so casually. That's more valuable than any technical skill.

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#53

Post by asdff »

danso wrote: post #14

FWIW, Turbotax/H&R's hiding of their Free File site pages was discussed here about a week ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19758126 They have since made their pages discoverable by search engines and have denied that it was intentional obfuscation. But the news in TFA is that apparently someone at (or formerly at) H&R leaked internal documents with explicit guidance: > “Do not send clients to this Web Site u…

Is there even a reason we have to file? My understanding is that if you don't file, the IRS knows about your W2 or 1099s anyway and will punish you, so what's even the point of filing yourself? Just have the IRS send a check or bill in the mail in April and end this nonsense industry.

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#54

Post by asdff »

notTyler wrote: post #22
arachnids wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit karma lets you file both federal and state for free . CreditKarma's filing service is pretty new, so there are lots of edge cases they don't handle well or at all (for example the UI to enter stock trades is awful). I put my numbers into TurboTax and CreditKarma to make sure they match for validation, then filed with CreditKarma. You give them a lot of data about you that they then use to sell you insurance an…

I used CK the past two years and started getting a ton of robocalls and credit card offers. Not to mention my college that never had my phone number previously started calling me on a weekly basis hounding me for donations.

Robocalls have been on the rise the past few years for everyone.

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#55

Post by OrgNet »

neya wrote: post #47
tstrimple wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the spec. It's only 289 pages and changes almost every year. Good luck! https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

Thanks, so I did over-estimate my ability here. Where I live, taxation works differently, so I never assumed it would be this complex.

Covering most of the population could possibly still be very easy

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#56

Post by huehehue »

spiznnx wrote: post #48
neya wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do I really need to deal with IRS? I know several softwares hand you over a filled out form that you submit online to IRS. Won't that be good enough for a alpha or v0.1?

>that you submit online to IRS Do you have pointers on how you do this? I cannot find any self e-file on the IRS website. I thought it was either use eFile enabled software, or print and mail.

I believe you can only file certain forms, and even that varies based on whether you're filing for other people, whether you're self-employed, whether you make over $10M, etc. (https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/e-file-for-business-and...)

If you want to write e-file-enabled software for others I think you need to become an Authorized e-file Provider (https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/become-an-authorized-e-...)

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#57

Post by the_watcher »

neya wrote: post #9

Just curious, is there any value to making a clone of H&R Block / Intuit and making it open source (with also hosted somewhere)? It probably takes only a weekend for me to do this and I'll be happy to do it if there is significant interest from my fellow HNers. Besides, fuck Intuit, never been a fan of them for the exact reasons mentioned in the article.

Credit Karma already offers a truly free and competitive product.

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#58

Post by jefftk »

neya wrote: post #47
tstrimple wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the spec. It's only 289 pages and changes almost every year. Good luck! https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

Thanks, so I did over-estimate my ability here. Where I live, taxation works differently, so I never assumed it would be this complex.

For what it's worth it's even worse than this, since I count 629 references to other IRS publications in that guide.

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#59

Post by brianpayne2 »

asdff wrote: post #53
danso wrote: post #14

FWIW, Turbotax/H&R's hiding of their Free File site pages was discussed here about a week ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19758126 They have since made their pages discoverable by search engines and have denied that it was intentional obfuscation. But the news in TFA is that apparently someone at (or formerly at) H&R leaked internal documents with explicit guidance: > “Do not send clients to this Web Site u…

Is there even a reason we have to file? My understanding is that if you don't file, the IRS knows about your W2 or 1099s anyway and will punish you, so what's even the point of filing yourself? Just have the IRS send a check or bill in the mail in April and end this nonsense industry.

This is how many of the countries around the world treat it. You can thank the folks that lobby the government on behalf of tax prep companies for this convoluted mess we have. The more confused we are, the more money they make.

Re: TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat

#60

Post by jcranmer »

ineedasername wrote: post #50
neya wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give me a specific example of something that you think would be very complex? Just to make sure I'm not missing out on something obvious.

I think someone has already mentioned just how long the tax code actually is. But there's also state taxes. That's another 50 systems to implement.

Don't forget the crazy complications of multi-state taxes. One year, I ran into the issue that one state (of which I was nonresident) wanted me to compute the state taxes of my state of residency before I could compute its taxes, while my resident state wanted me to compute nonresident state taxes first. I only broke the cycle by noticing that one of the extra schedules had listed in the instructions to use that schedule if you were trapped in said situation, but such information was not listed elsewhere in the instructions.

To be fair, though, I think my situation was the single worst possible pairing for multi-state tax situations.

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