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

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

#191

Post by jandrese »

philwelch wrote: post #180
jandrese wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an average Joe it seems like it can be pretty much impossible to figure out the rules in any number of corner cases. For example. I'm considering installing Solar Panels on my house. The entirety of the official IRS guidance (in the manuals) is this: "Qualified solar electric property costs are costs for property that uses solar energy to generate electricity for use in your home located in the United States. No c…

It may be worthwhile to consult a tax attorney. The IRS help line is just a help line, they aren't tax attorneys and they can't give legal advice, which I think this qualifies as. I'm not a tax attorney, or an attorney at all, and so this isn't legal advice, but IME if you make an honest mistake, the IRS will usually send you a letter informing you of this and you'll get a chance to make it right.

Interestingly enough, I've heard conflicting advice from different tax attorneys on this, which is one reason I was trying to research it myself.

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

#192

Post by cpuguy83 »

danschumann wrote: post #173
alistairSH wrote: post #67

In the US, we've had decades of (largely GOP) messaging that the government can't do anything properly. A substantial portion of the population believes it. As noted in a sibling comment, the IRS could pre-fill forms that would be correct for the vast majority of tax payers (who take the standard deduction/don't itemize, have a single job, and no other edge cases). These people should not be paying TurboTax either wa…

I think are more steelman'ed version of the GOP argument is: when government does things badly, they can go VERY VERY badly. It's a risk viewpoint. Whereas the progressive viewpoint letting government do more and more things. The other risk is bloat. Once a government program exists, it is very very hard to stop it and get the funds back ( from a political perspective ). It's unpopular to fire people. When government…

Competition also plays a role here... not that there should be competition in filing simple tax returns... but competition often leads to better goods/services. There is not much to incentivize a government run program to be better other than the current administration cracking the whip so they can get re-elected.

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

#193

Post by whatsmyusername »

aidenn0 wrote: post #178
hanniabu wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Voting matters Gerrymandering and voter purging matters

FWIW, The GOP control of the senate is clearly not due to gerrymandering, or at least not any gerrymandering that happened in the past 100 years. I think gerrymandering is an issue, but it's only a fraction of the reason why representation is not particularly proportional.

No, it's due to large portions of the electorate being low information, single issue, or evangelical voters.

You know, morons.

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

#194

Post by peterwwillis »

marcrosoft wrote: post #164
alistairSH wrote: post #67

In the US, we've had decades of (largely GOP) messaging that the government can't do anything properly. A substantial portion of the population believes it. As noted in a sibling comment, the IRS could pre-fill forms that would be correct for the vast majority of tax payers (who take the standard deduction/don't itemize, have a single job, and no other edge cases). These people should not be paying TurboTax either wa…

> messaging that the government can't do anything properly I would love to hear about things the government has done exceptionally better than private companies. Please go on.

  Prisons
  law enforcement
  firefighting
  warfare
  regulation of industry
  regulation of environment
  protection of civil rights
  equal opportunity employment
  employee benefits
  retirement
  healthcare
  research & development
  protection of intellectual property
  passenger rail
  postal mail
  industry standards

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

#195

Post by jxramos »

astura wrote: post #111
alistairSH wrote: post #67

In the US, we've had decades of (largely GOP) messaging that the government can't do anything properly. A substantial portion of the population believes it. As noted in a sibling comment, the IRS could pre-fill forms that would be correct for the vast majority of tax payers (who take the standard deduction/don't itemize, have a single job, and no other edge cases). These people should not be paying TurboTax either wa…

It's also anti-tax activist like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform who hate automatic filing and prefilled forms too. Their reasoning is if taxes are "too easy" then somehow Americans will blindly accept tax increases so they actually want to keep tax filing as difficult as possible.

There's actually some wisdom in that sentiment I imagine since many personal finance sources suggest putting everything on autopay be it savings, utility bills, etc because you're less likely to screw things up or deviate from the course. It's human nature to let inertia set in and have one less thing to think about. In fact there's an age old saying to this phenomena: _out of sight out of mind_.

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

#196

Post by rayhendricks »

drewg123 wrote: post #89
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.

Add in 1099s, and it would probably cover 99% of the population. I'm happy to pay my taxes. I'm very much NOT happy to collect all of my information and carry it to my accountant. And then be afraid that I forgot something. In fact, if its the accountant's lobbying against this, I'd be happy to pay $400 (what I pay for tax prep) into an accountant retirement fund or something, just don't make me collect all the infor…

Accountants make errors too. Literally had the accountant forget to take the 5500x2 ($11000) ira contribution earned income deduction on my parents taxes, until we double checked.

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

#197

Post by danans »

jxramos wrote: post #168
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

The thing people misunderstand with the government not being able to figure it out is because there's a huge variety of complexity that is truly individual based. Did you make a contribution to a tax deductible IRA? Did you make a retroactive payment to that account in the following tax calendar year? There's a ton of variables going on here, where the government doesn't have this all-seeing system where everything g…

> Needless to say all of this would be much more simple if we just pay a flat tax on all income for all people. Nothing simpler than that.

That would be a highly regressive tax system that dramatically transfers even more wealth to the already wealthy. But sure, it's definitely simpler. That doesn't make it better.

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

#198

Post by mumblemumble »

danschumann wrote: post #173
alistairSH wrote: post #67

In the US, we've had decades of (largely GOP) messaging that the government can't do anything properly. A substantial portion of the population believes it. As noted in a sibling comment, the IRS could pre-fill forms that would be correct for the vast majority of tax payers (who take the standard deduction/don't itemize, have a single job, and no other edge cases). These people should not be paying TurboTax either wa…

I think are more steelman'ed version of the GOP argument is: when government does things badly, they can go VERY VERY badly. It's a risk viewpoint. Whereas the progressive viewpoint letting government do more and more things. The other risk is bloat. Once a government program exists, it is very very hard to stop it and get the funds back ( from a political perspective ). It's unpopular to fire people. When government…

Sure, but that argument just doesn't track. Both parties are similarly aggressive about big government programs and spending. The real variables are what they want to spend money on (health care or national security or schools or the Farm Bill or whatever) and where they think the money should come from (tax the beneficiaries of these programs or tax their children and grandchildren unto the tenth gener-- er, finance it with debt).

Different stories get told during election season, of course. One of the most perplexing things about politics, though, is the way that everyone generally acknowledges that all politicians are shameless liars, but not during election season, when the person who's hawking the tastiest-looking pile of horseshit is speaking God's truth, and it's just all the other politicians who are shameless liars.

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

#199

Post by floatingatoll »

jxramos wrote: post #168
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

The thing people misunderstand with the government not being able to figure it out is because there's a huge variety of complexity that is truly individual based. Did you make a contribution to a tax deductible IRA? Did you make a retroactive payment to that account in the following tax calendar year? There's a ton of variables going on here, where the government doesn't have this all-seeing system where everything g…

> Did you make a contribution to a tax deductible IRA? Did you make a retroactive payment to that account in the following tax calendar year?

For these specific two examples, the IRS need only introduce monthly reporting requirements for all tax-affecting investments, at which point they once again have sufficient data to do your taxes for you. They already have your SSN, so there’s no excuse not to have integrated reporting.

What tax-affecting data does the IRS need to be collecting that they are not, in order to prepare viable estimates taxes for 90% of citizens?

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

#200

Post by jorblumesea »

briandear wrote: post #155
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?

I mean, Gerrymandering, voter suppression...

Hard to believe they're acting in any democratic fashion. Btw, impeachment is a well documented power of the legislative branch.

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