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Killing TurboTax

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Re: Killing TurboTax

#271

Post by lupire »

hanniabu wrote: post #78
mattwad wrote: post #27

Try freetaxusa.com if you're looking for a free alternative that has an equally friendly user interface!

Only free for federal. Also doesn't seem to be open source so who knows if they're logging your social security number and other info.

Of course they are logging your info, same as Intuit and so many other companies. SSN isn't a secret; yours is almost certainly already leaked.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#272

Post by funkaster »

I'm Chilean. Chile doesn't have the best system by far, but the SII (IRS equivalent) has made a push to modernize for several years now. Filing taxes for 90% of the people is as easy as going to the website, check that everything is pre-filled correctly (and add anything that needs to be done manually, if for instance you didn't do electronic invoices). Submit. Takes about 10 min.

I've been living in the US for about 10 years now, I really wish we had a simpler system. Today, I just pay a tax consultant because I don't want this to be an extra thing in my head.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#274

Post by atombender »

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #189
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,…

Technically you only need to file if you owe the government money. If you have money deducted from your paycheck, you will want to file in order to get a refund, but technically you don’t have to.

This is incorrect. You have to file a federal tax return if your income is above the standard deduction, and there are other rules [1]. Anyone can use this IRS page [2] to determine if they are required to file a tax return.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/07/taxtipfederal.as...

[2] https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return

Re: Killing TurboTax

#276

Post by kmkemp »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #18
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!

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.

If the government wanted to help people do taxes more easily, they would just simplify taxes. Lobbies (from TurbTax and competitors) are standing in the way.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#277

Post by lupire »

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.

At that price point, your accountant is just charging you to do the data entry into Turbo Tax or equivalent. It's more work to coordinate, and and provide all the info, and costs more.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#278

Post by kwhitefoot »

moviuro wrote: post #178
klmadfejno wrote: post #146

The article seems odd to me. Tax filing at the push of a button still implies a middleman. You don't need to push the button.

We have the following data about you: [...] Does it look correct? [Y/n] That's how it's done in France for example.

And Norway.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#279

Post by bajsejohannes »

totaldude87 wrote: post #222

Ok am curious. Why people hate TurboTax so much ? Is it because its a monopoly (or) does it uses any predatory practices (or) kill other companies that tries to compete. Disclosure: I used TurboTax to file this year's taxes and kind of like their UI and ease of use (for top $ of course):|

Not only do they kill other companies, but they kill the government's ability to compete. As is mentioned in other threads, many countries don't have this tax filling non-sense at all. The government just says: Here's what we're basing your taxes on; let us know if there are any mistakes.

It's absurd to spend ones time and money to file taxes only to have the government punish you because you didn't get the right answer.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#280

Post by yaomtc »

xrd wrote: post #55
ed25519FUUU wrote: post #18

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.

> please don't use this software to file your taxes for the 2020 / 2021 tax season. I wonder if there is a PR that Intuit filed to add this to the readme. Seriously, I wonder how much money Intuit has spent to terrify people into using their software. Each year, I look around for alternatives so I can avoid giving them money, and each year I find some reason to grow fearful of an IRS audit and go with the company tha…

That software looks to be worked on primarily by two people in their spare time, spread out over a year, with most of the activity happening within the last couple months if I'm reading this correctly. Understandable that they still consider it to be in an early stage, and not ready for use by the public.
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