Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 489 posts

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#151

Post by randallsquared »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #62

From the article: The addendum also expressly bars the companies from “engaging in any practice” that would exclude their Free File offerings “from an organic internet search.” Note the term "organic" which suggests the page "naturally" ranks in the first few hits. The agreement doesn't seem to prevent Intuit and others from both buying ads to populate the top of search results and SEO'ing the crap out of it to make…

> I see this as a good example of how policy makers write policy with good intentions but without a fundamental understanding [...]

I agree with your argument in the general case, but in this case that seems like what they would want: not to exclude the possibility of advertising or SEO for the other products, but to rule out doing reverse SEO (or just robots.txt to exclude it from search engines) on the Free File pages.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#152

Post by briandear »

Goronmon wrote: post #85
mkhpalm wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both parties have been very much in charge of this tax situation in America. Both parties have had many, MANY, majority rule situations over the past decades they could have done anything else about it. Nobody would have been stopping either of them at different points in time if they ever wanted to cash in on their party rhetoric.

The problem generally comes down to the fact that no Republican is for improving tax filing. So all it takes is for a handful of Democrats to be lobbied to oppose it and even a Democratic majority can't push changes through.

> The problem generally comes down to the fact that no Republican is for improving tax filing.

And that’s a lie:

https://www.tedcruz.org/postcard/

Paul Ryan also proposed something similar. However, Democrats opposed it. Basically if it’s simpler and cheaper taxes, Democrats cry foul. Auto filled forms with the current tax system is just lipstick on a pig.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#153

Post by mixmastamyk »

rb808 wrote: post #25
jjeaff wrote: post #11

There is no reason the IRS shouldn't have a simple, online fillable 1099EZ that makes the calculations and validations for you. And while their at it, match the SSN to the w2 info that they have on file. This would take care of 80% of the population. Just don't outsource it. I'm sure USDS could have it ready in less than a year.

What about States? Should the IRS make a online form that will do your state tax too?

CA built theirs ten years ago and should have twenty.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#154

Post by Shivetya »

rdtsc wrote: post #23
jjeaff wrote: post #11

There is no reason the IRS shouldn't have a simple, online fillable 1099EZ that makes the calculations and validations for you. And while their at it, match the SSN to the w2 info that they have on file. This would take care of 80% of the population. Just don't outsource it. I'm sure USDS could have it ready in less than a year.

100% agree. To me they seem to be playing this perverse game of knowing how much you owe based on your W-2s then not telling you, waiting for you to file and guess how much you owe just right. If you guess wrong tough luck, you get penalties years later.

W-2 would be an end all if not for deductions which can change throughout the year and do not apply equally to all tax payers.

the raise of the standard deduction; doubling; in effect made deductions simpler for many and transferred wealth back to those earning less

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#155

Post by briandear »

jorblumesea wrote: post #122

The both parties argument is so stale at this point. While the Dems might not be perfect, they aren't actively sabotaging our democracy. The Republicans just passed a huge tax bill and what did it do? Oh, huge handouts to the wealthy. Nice!

Sabotaging democracy? You mean like attempting to overturn a presidential election?

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#156

Post by TylerE »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #127
TylerE wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read it? Intuit lobbied....Republicans.

I suppose the lobbying could be unbalanced, but that wouldn't be consistent with the numbers when you look at campaign contributions (even if you ignore individual contributions). https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.php?id=D000026667...

$68k in contributions vs several million in lobbying. That's not apples and oranges, that's apples and coconuts.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#157

Post by briandear »

nightski wrote: post #139
rdtsc wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "penalties" are just what you owed plus interest Sure, interest after 6 years can accumulate into a nice penalty sum on top of what is owed. If IRS ends up owing you, and they discover it 6 years later, would they send you the refund with an interest as well? I am guessing they won't.

Yes the government always pays interest on money it owes you.

Not true. They don’t give you interest on your payroll withholdings. If you overpaid taxes by $5000, you get exactly $5000 back as refund, despite them having that money for a part of the year.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#158

Post by privateSFacct »

sokoloff wrote: post #36
privateSFacct wrote: post #8

Fantastic news! Now let's have the IRS start building out their free e-file program and IDEALLY put some pressure or at least summarize what parts of the tax code are the most complex so they can be simplified. A lot of the tax code complexity comes from congress messing with the logic of taxing folks on their income. And yes, simplifying the tax code would get rid of loopholes like deduction that can exceed the cost…

Do you have a reference for the deduction greater than basis loophole? I spent a few minutes looking for it on google and couldn’t find a reference. It does seem non-sensical on the face, but I’d like to read more.

Sure - look into something like a depletion deduction using the percentage method rather than cost method.

This creates a complexity nightmare - as you end up with basis changes for s corp pass-thru's etc that are not tied to anything "real" - ie, no additional contribution of assets or payment of tax on accumulated gains. This all makes things very complicated from recordkeeping, reconciliation and auditing perspectives.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#159

Post by quickthrower2 »

nightski wrote: post #139
rdtsc wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "penalties" are just what you owed plus interest Sure, interest after 6 years can accumulate into a nice penalty sum on top of what is owed. If IRS ends up owing you, and they discover it 6 years later, would they send you the refund with an interest as well? I am guessing they won't.

Yes the government always pays interest on money it owes you.

Is that interest taxed?

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#160

Post by roddds »

nightski wrote: post #133
komali2 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty disgusting. Summed up in one of my favorite tweets, which went something like > Gov: you owe us money. It's called taxes > Ctzn: oh ok, how much do I owe you? > Gov: you have to figure it out > Ctzn: oh well, then I owe you 0 > Gov: no, no, we know how much you owe, you have to figure it out, and by the way if you get it wrong you go to jail

You don't go to jail for filing a wrong number accidentally. Only if you are intentionally lying/hiding income. I know people who didn't pay tax FOR THEIR BUSINESS for several years and they settled the debt for much less than they owed and definitely did not go to jail. This is just misinformation.

It's called hyperbole.
Post reply on HN