81–90 of 692 posts
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I was just thinking that an open-source tax engine is the way to go in the future. I would like to see it maintained by the USGOV.
Is it possible to FOIA the IRS tax-computation code itself?
Or the IRS could file our taxes for us for free.
yes, because i want someone in the irs to evaluate all of my deductions and donations
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And we all know how wonderful and easy to use government built software is.
That Americans self sabotage (and ignore obvious counter examples) doesn’t change the fact that filing taxes can and should be simplified and made less costly to the average citizen.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just thinking that an open-source tax engine is the way to go in the future. I would like to see it maintained by the USGOV.
Is it possible to FOIA the IRS tax-computation code itself?
Or the IRS could file our taxes for us for free.
TurboTax is disgusting. I used them for a few years in the past due to their great marketing and easy to use website. But they pulled a bait & switch on me last year, at the last minute (after I had done everything) I was required to pay north of $120 to actually file. The problem isn't that they want money to use their software, it's that they're not upfront about it. Free is thrown in your face about 100 times duri…
https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...
You basically type your numbers in and it does the math for you. Then you print it out and mail it in. It can't do anything complex, though.
In my experience (Minnesota), state filing is even easier, usually just copying numbers from your federal form and doing one table lookup. No reason to give the shitty companies more money.
Or the IRS could file our taxes for us for free.
Turbotax et al. lobby heavily to prevent this. Given that much of the relevant information--W2s, 1099s, etc., are already reported, you'd think that this would be easier for a very large percentage of taxpayers. But it would effectively kill TurboTax's business.
I gotta say I have a love-hate thing with Turbotax. I hate the company and its influence peddling, lobbying, and near monopoly status, but Turbotax itself is a very well designed product with a great intuitive experience that has done a great job filing taxes. So it's a rare case of a sleazy state-sanctioned (via refusal to simplify the tax code) monopoly with a decent product. Usually such monopolies have complete s…
Before Turbo Tax I sheepishly headed down to H&R Block and got reamed. Besides understanding my taxes (and taxes in general) better, I almost enjoy the process using Turbo Tax. If there is a better Turbo Tax product out there, it would have to be very compelling to get me to switch. Besides familiarity with Turbo Tax, it pulls in last years data and saves me the more tedious steps. Like you though I feel like I am lo…
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TurboTax works great, until things get a little too complicated, and it quickly becomes terrible. What is needed is a strongly typed DSL where you can copy and paste your entire tax return as a single text document/spreadsheet.
TurboTax is so full of dark patterns to get you upsold into needless add-ons, I don't think you can say it really "works great". It's intentionally obtuse and confusing for something that should be simple and straightforward for 80% of the population.
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Filing taxes should be much simpler and free for everyone, but they lobby the government to prevent that, among other things. Quick Google search result: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... .
For one, I don't blame a company for lobbying for their interests. Lobbying is protected by the first amendment. Congress has sole authority to author and vote on legislation at the pleasure of the electorate. The fact that TT (and H&R Block) have impressed upon reps that they will participate in Free File, it mitigates their need to make a government-sponsored program. Which isn't just barricaded by simply force of…
It's difficult for me to believe that my representatives actually believe it's in my best interest to pay TurboTax $100 every year, compared to having the IRS automatically file my taxes.
On the other hard, it's easy to believe that my representatives have been cheaply bought with political donations.