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

TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 319 posts

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#211

Post by notahacker »

spullara wrote: post #187
cycomanic wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Sweden I go to the tax office website, log in, have a brief look at that all my salary has been correctly entered (I have yet to encounter that it hasn't) add if I possibly want to deduct some extra things (also very uncomplicated), go to file and click send (the whole thing can even be done on mobile) . The process typically takes 20min max, Australia was quite similar. I'm always amazed by tax systems which…

If your taxes are easy in Sweden / Australia they would be easy in the US.

My understanding is that if your personal taxes are moderately complicated (income from self employment and investment/property, some possible deductions) they're a lot harder in the US though.

HMRC's website in the UK is far from perfect, but its tax form covering all UK personal taxes has the features people appear to be paying for with TurboTax (Q&A format, most sections being optional, references to industry specific deductions, guidance notes) baked in.

If your taxes are "easy" in the UK they come out of your payroll without you filing a return.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#212

Post by BeetleB »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #128
lotsofpulp wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hope anyone who made it through A US K-12 education would be able to do their own taxes if all they have is W-2. Even 1099/student loan interest deductions/etc is pretty easy. I would say it only gets really complicated once you venture into dealing with equity and AMT and stuff. It’s funny though that people will scour the web and clip coupons to save money, but they won’t research how their biggest expense…

Researching how taxes are calculated takes up valuable time and mental capacity, and you have to reeducate yourself every couple years on whatever new tweaks to the tax system happened.

> Researching how taxes are calculated takes up valuable time and mental capacity

So does deal finding and coupon clipping, which is what the parent was comparing to.

If you have just a salary, no mortgage, and no stock/equity transactions, nothing has changed in 20 years, and it takes all of 10 minutes to fill the Federal form out (and I'm being generous). Every once in a while there is some extra credit, but it's usually prominently advertised. A simple hack is to look at the previous year's tax form and compare to see if anything has changed, and look up the guide related to those entries.

If you do basic stock transactions (RSU, SPP, buy and sell), then it's a bit more pain, but still easy.

Deductions are things one can easily miss, but even then, once you figure it out, you just have to keep an eye out for changes to deductions. The recent tax changes screwed it all up (although they also made taxes overall easier for those not in high COL states), but the usual deductions to watch out for are mortgage interest, state taxes, property taxes, and charitable donations.

If you have other things going on (side business, etc), then I would suggest paying for a CPA.

Worst case, just plug the numbers into TT and see if what you get is the same. If they imply you can get more, then pay someone to do it for you.

I know people like to think it will take a lot of effort, but at least for my salary, if I count the hours it takes for me to do all this, it's always cheaper than paying a CPA.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#213

Post by k9000 »

ourmandave wrote: post #162

Every year I do my taxes on H&R Block or one of the others right up to the point where I review the form and the next step is to submit. Then I write all the numbers down and file for free on Free File Fillable Forms. https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form... Thanks H&R!

Not me. I pay the $30 and go about my life while my federal and state returns go straight into my bank account. It's worth it to me.

Thanks H&R!

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#214

Post by jsmith45 »

JadeNB wrote: post #200
lotsofpulp wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I’ve been using IRS free fillable forms for over 10 years, I think, with no middleman between me and the IRS. Similar with my state taxes on my state’s revenue website.

Sorry, so, just to be clear: you've been filing your forms electronically with the IRS, not printing out the filled forms and mailing them? How? I swear I've looked, and been unable to find a way to file electronically (although I agree it's easy to find the form), except if you fall into certain income categories. I've even been told that it's intentionally legally impossible, as a way for the IRS to avoid competing…

https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/ is the site. It is technically not an IRS service, but one provided by the free file alliance as part of the IRS agreement not to build their own software.

There are no income exclusions or anything. It is possible you will be unable to use it if you have to use some really obscure forms, but it does have all the forms that paid Turbo Tax can file for you. You also might not be able to use it if you have one of those weird tax situations where the IRS instructs you to write a message across the top of your 1040.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#215

Post by carabiner »

DavidPeiffer wrote: post #34
klmadfejno wrote: post #21

I used to say turbo tax wasn't that bad, and that free filing was easy if you just ignored their promises to save you money if you upgraded. Last year however I got all the way to the end of the process where they revealed I made too much and had to pay. That felt extremely unethical, as the information required to come to that conclusion was available far earlier in the process. And yet what am I going to do but use…

>And yet what am I going to do but use turbo tax again. The perceived risk and effort of using a non-automated system to fill them out doesn't seem worth the cost. I'd suggest FreeTaxUSA.com as an alternative. Federal is always free, and state taxes are ~12/state. I don't have anything obscure about my taxes, and their forms indicate they can handle much more complicated situations than I have. I've used them for 3 y…

How well does FreeTaxUSA work with investments and other complex tax situations? Can it parse PDFs or import data from brokerages in the same way?

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#216

Post by tehjoker »

leesalminen wrote: post #206
andrewflnr wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of that is bribery, though, which was the original question.

The lobbyist is taking the representative out to fancy dinners, golf courses, family vacations. It just so happens that they’ve known each other for years.

There's also the implication that at election time their clients will help fundraise. It's a lot easier to fundraise from rich people at thousands per pop than $20 or less from ordinary people by a factor of over 100.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#217

Post by chrisseaton »

adkadskhj wrote: post #198
alistairSH wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another way to think about it is that Lobbyists have changed, i think, from the voice of a group of people to a voice instead of a group of people. Leaving many people voiceless in the face of insane capital and influence. I'm not convinced this is true. If a lobbyist is not speaking on behalf of people, who are they speaking for? After all, corporations are just legal entities composed of people - with stockholders/…

Fair - but this is an example where if money makes the wheels move more cleanly via lobbying, then those "people" will be the only ones heard. Organizing millions of poor people to financially compete with lobbyist funds seems a losing battle.

> Organizing millions of poor people to financially compete with lobbyist funds seems a losing battle.

In the UK unions run an entire political party and manage to have a lot of influence including often forming governments. It's not a losing battle.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#218

Post by tehjoker »

alistairSH wrote: post #116
adkadskhj wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often has a single (non-rich) constituents money been the cause of policy change? This is comparing a gun to a nuke. Yes, you could kill just as many people with a gun, but the nuke is hyper efficient at the job. They're not the same. Lobbyists may be akin to a policy nuke. They have an arsenal of tools from influence, to money, to unethical and sometimes illegal behavior. Their positions have become so effective…

Another way to think about it is that Lobbyists have changed, i think, from the voice of a group of people to a voice instead of a group of people. Leaving many people voiceless in the face of insane capital and influence. I'm not convinced this is true. If a lobbyist is not speaking on behalf of people, who are they speaking for? After all, corporations are just legal entities composed of people - with stockholders/…

A corporation benefits a few, is wealthy, and controls the means of production. They can make material threats and promises that ordinary people cannot by virtue of owning little except their labor.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#219

Post by gowld »

k9000 wrote: post #213
ourmandave wrote: post #162

Every year I do my taxes on H&R Block or one of the others right up to the point where I review the form and the next step is to submit. Then I write all the numbers down and file for free on Free File Fillable Forms. https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form... Thanks H&R!

Not me. I pay the $30 and go about my life while my federal and state returns go straight into my bank account. It's worth it to me. Thanks H&R!

$30 for Federal and State?

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#220

Post by astura »

ourmandave wrote: post #162

Every year I do my taxes on H&R Block or one of the others right up to the point where I review the form and the next step is to submit. Then I write all the numbers down and file for free on Free File Fillable Forms. https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form... Thanks H&R!

This is a massive waste of time, if you use TaxHawk/FreeTaxUSA (same company/software different website) you can just e-file your federal return for free without copying information to another place. Yes, it's actually free, you don't have to pay anything or even give out your credit card number.

If your state doesn't have income tax you're done, you pay nothing. If you want to continue on to e-file your state, it's only $15 (currently on sale for $13). If you want to do your state's taxes any other way (their website?), no problem, just stop after e-filing your federal return, you still pay nothing.

Taxhawk is a company that has been around for 20 years, they are authorized to e-file with the IRS, and their software is (in my subjective opinion) excellent. Been using them for a decade. I am not affiliated with the company, but I advocate for TaxHawk on HN all the time, because I'm extremely satisfied with it and apparently not many people know it's an option. My taxes are not straightforward either. (multiple W2s, 1099-INTs, 1099-DIVs, 1099-Bs, and business income)

Post reply on HN