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Killing TurboTax

kunle.app

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Re: Killing TurboTax

#191

Post by aksss »

motbob wrote: post #126
kleer001 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Right now, the system we have is pretty good. Not compared to other countries it isn't. Not by a long shot. Video with transcript below: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dreading-taxes-countries-s... Get the heck out of here with your bull pucky

Maybe it's "bull pucky" to you, but I have vivid memories of my parents agonizing over taxes as a child. The agony they went through is much ameliorated now due to advances in technology. And thank you for the link, but this news segment basically is big on opinion, low on specifics. Feel free to link me to a detailed article on how non-U.S. countries handle self-employment or dependent tax issues and whether/how tho…

True that the US tax system used to be a lot worse and a lot more vindictive. See the hearings during the nineties that led to IRS reform. Horror story after horror story.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a great system now. I would favor dropping exemptions and moving to a lower flat tax, for instance - taxes by postcard. Probably never that way for businesses, but for 9-5ers, it should be way more straight forward than it is now.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#192

Post by clintonb »

chrisseaton wrote: post #102

Are accountants prohibitively expensive in the US? I don't use any tax software myself in the UK - I just pay an accountant $250 once a year and he does it for me (using some software I presume.) It's not really on my radar as things worth trying to automate or use software myself for, let alone building my own software! I'd have to be able to do it in just a few hours to be cost effective.

The idea of paying someone $250 when the government already has the data is ridiculous. Accountants are accessible to some, but we shouldn't need to pay someone when the government can do the calculations.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#193

Post by Muromec »

wheybags wrote: post #167

Something I never understood about us taxes - from reading discussions online, it seems like everyone needs to file taxes at the end of every year? Here it's only self employed, or people with rental or investment income. In a normal employer-employee relationship, the employer has to take care of it for you, they deduct taxes before sending the money to your account. This seems to be the way it works in most places,…

Returns. It's about returns. And taxes that are not wage-tax already payed at source.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#194

Post by 3327 »

breck wrote: post #3

I started building my own open source US tax engine, but then found https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes here on HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26138446 ) and decided to throw my efforts with them instead. Check it out!

Kill turbotax with fire and kill it again.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#195

Post by lotsofpulp »

artificialLimbs wrote: post #183
lotsofpulp wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s pretty simple to do your own taxes unless you have your own business and partnerships and whatnot. Spend a couple hours reading the instructions, use the IRS free fillable forms website, and you do it once and every year after it’s quick and easy. Things don’t change much year to year. If you don’t understand, post a question a personal finance forum and someone will pipe in with an answer.

> Spend a couple hours reading the instructions... lol bro, I'm employed and married with 2 kids. I guess that's considered a partnership. ;)

I used to do it myself when I was a W-2 employee, and I remember spending a few hours on it the first or second year, but after that it’s pretty quick since the process and forms don’t change much. Kids are just a couple credits and maybe a form for dependent care deductions.

But I also had a few hours to burn. I understand preferring to spend that time with kids instead. But it is worth noting that it’s a much smaller time commitment after the first couple years.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#196

Post by ghaff »

runako wrote: post #171
ghaff wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- stock sales (your broker may not know your basis) This used to be a real nightmare especially when there were acquisitions in stock, splits, etc. There were a couple times over the years when I just said F' it and put down a reasonable number. But these days, unless you have some pretty old investments, the brokerages generally track your basis.

> the brokerages generally track your basis. Yes, but IIRC if you transfer investments between brokers you are back to tracking basis yourself (if you're lucky, the new broker will allow you to enter the basis after the transfer). But agree in the general case that it's not a problem for younger people. (Gen X and older may indeed have some of those pretty old investments lurking in their portfolios.)

That's not universally the case at least. I transferred some shares a month or so ago (in a horribly manual process I might add) and the cost basis was transferred over.

I fall into the older bucket but I guess my old 401(K) must have had basis added when it merged with an IRA and none of my other investments lack basis information.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#197

Post by PascLeRasc »

api wrote: post #2

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…

Turbotax’s website commits all the web sins we condemn regularly on here. They hijack the back button, change your scrolling, don’t allow tab-spacebar-enter navigation, don’t allow pasting in some fields, and load buttons on a fixed resolution so you can’t see everything if you aren’t on a hires monitor. It’s really not a good product.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#198

Post by djrogers »

chrisseaton wrote: post #102

Are accountants prohibitively expensive in the US? I don't use any tax software myself in the UK - I just pay an accountant $250 once a year and he does it for me (using some software I presume.) It's not really on my radar as things worth trying to automate or use software myself for, let alone building my own software! I'd have to be able to do it in just a few hours to be cost effective.

> Are accountants prohibitively expensive in the US?

No, they're not. Obviously cost will vary based on complexity (self employment, side-hustles, stock options etc) but for the most part a basic return by an accountant would be in line with what you're paying.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#199

Post by ploxiln »

wheybags wrote: post #167

Something I never understood about us taxes - from reading discussions online, it seems like everyone needs to file taxes at the end of every year? Here it's only self employed, or people with rental or investment income. In a normal employer-employee relationship, the employer has to take care of it for you, they deduct taxes before sending the money to your account. This seems to be the way it works in most places,…

Employers do withhold some income for federal and state taxes, and for social-security and some other odds and ends.

But the tax system is very complicated, with multiple tax brackets (income above a threshold is taxed at a higher rate), deductions, exemptions, exceptions, alternative-minimum, and more. There are deductions and exceptions for things like mortgage payments that go to interest (on only one residential property), donations to certified charities up to a limit, green energy incentives, travel to start a new job, who knows what.

So, we have to settle-up with lots of complicated forms each year, and I've tried alternatives to Turbo Tax, but didn't have enough confidence with the alternative's handling of all the complexity, they just were noticeably worse at handling all the complex details. Not that I like Turbo Tax or the overall situation, but for me it's either Turbo Tax or pay a more expensive accountant.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#200

Post by ndiddy »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #180
chrisseaton wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s pretty simple to do your own taxes So why do people complain about it so much? To the point where they're writing their own custom software (?!) to do it?

I don’t know. But if you’ve opened up the IRS free fillable forms website, and put up the accompanying instructions on your second monitor, and know how to read English, I don’t see how it’s difficult, if you’re income is from a W-2. Everything is kind of labeled and laid out for you.

I believe that's only for filing a federal tax return, and for filing your state tax return you still have to either use a tax preparation website or do it on paper.
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