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Killing TurboTax

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Re: Killing TurboTax

#471

Post by djxfade »

jonahhorowitz wrote: post #468
astura wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS themselves need to provide this "auto tax" service.

Ideally there would be a "tax dashboard" on the IRS site where you could log in and see your (YTD): - Income reported - Taxes paid - Tax credits and deductions - Expected balance (+/-) Then at the end of the year, you'd log in and click one button to verify the numbers and either pay or get a check.

That is essentially how we file our taxes in Norway. You don't really have to login to verify the numbers, only if the numbers (that the government calculates for you) needs revision

Re: Killing TurboTax

#472

Post by klipt »

ska wrote: post #459
azog_alone wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason the tax code is so complicated is BECAUSE OF TurboTax. They lobby heavily to keep things complex and have brought down potential competitors through legal means. As such, "killing TurboTax" is the correct first step.

> The reason the tax code is so complicated is BECAUSE OF TurboTax. People have been arguing about unnecessary complexity in the tax code since before computers, let alone before TurboTax, so it can't be that simple.

Democracies have complex tax codes because tax breaks and subsidies are the easiest way for politicians to reward loyal voting blocs.

https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs

Re: Killing TurboTax

#473

Post by loopercal »

samstave wrote: post #422
coldpie wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying for stuff like roads, highways, snowplows, schools, government workers, the military, that kind of thing. If you'd like a detailed response, you can look up the federal budget, and the state and city budgets relevant to your area.

Sure buddy. Let me ask you: Why are our roads so fucked up? Why are our teachers so underpaid? (Did you read the entire 1.9 TRILLION stimulus bill from Harris Biden? - I DID. Guess what they only gave $800 million toward edu packages which DID NOT EVEN CALL FOR OR REFERENCE TEACHER PAY INCREASES) Why are government workers not answering phones. Why is the military un-auditable. You are a fucking idiot. Let me tell yo…

>You are a fucking idiot.

>If you disagree - then, please explain to me. EDUCATE me. on how I am wrong.

Boy howdy if that's how you go about seeking education I can guess a) what you political opinions are and b) how you arrived at them.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#474

Post by paulpan »

enos_feedler wrote: post #470
bob1029 wrote: post #298

"Killing TurboTax" is essentially a meme until we meaningfully simplify the tax code. There is no software development team on earth who could catch up with the full capabilities of TurboTax without some sort of fundamental shift in the business. I really hate to say this as someone who makes a living out of it, but dealing with the current amount of complexity in the tax code with a piece of software that a non-expe…

No rule changes needed. Apple is at the point where they are really pushing up against the limits of consumer spending. Spending $140 on TurboTax is a prime target. Thats $140 where a fraction can get funneled back to Apple purchases. It is now worth it for them to make sure iPhone users never reach a TurboTax checkout flow. Apple is just getting started with finances built right into the iPhone. The credit card is a…

Interesting take. If it really comes to pass, will Apple be preferable to Intuit?

Or for that matter, would Google or Robinhood enter the industry?

Re: Killing TurboTax

#475

Post by xirbeosbwo1234 »

bob1029 wrote: post #298

"Killing TurboTax" is essentially a meme until we meaningfully simplify the tax code. There is no software development team on earth who could catch up with the full capabilities of TurboTax without some sort of fundamental shift in the business. I really hate to say this as someone who makes a living out of it, but dealing with the current amount of complexity in the tax code with a piece of software that a non-expe…

[dead]

Re: Killing TurboTax

#476

Post by kleton »

masklinn wrote: post #391
astura wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS themselves need to provide this "auto tax" service.

> The IRS themselves need to provide this "auto tax" service. Interestingly, they now can: under the Free File program, tax prep companies would offer free filing (for taxpayers below 72k AGI) and the IRS would not compete with their service. After a ProPublica investigation in their dark pattern shenanigans (leading to about 3.5% of taxpayers to use the program when 70% are eligible) confirmed by the HSGA Senate Com…

> the GOP

We now have an opportunity to test your hypothesis- for at least two years there will be single party rule by the other party.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#477

Post by Kalium »

GCA10 wrote: post #457
Kalium wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IRS already has most of your income information and much of your deduction information. They already use this to validate if your return makes sense. In effect, the IRS already does most of a taxpayer's paperwork. Since they do this, it might be nice to provide it to taxpayers for review and correction, rather than making us all start from zero each time.

Depends how intricate your taxes are. Perhaps 30 million people file Schedule C, which covers freelance income, gig income, etc. The IRS will (mostly) know your gross income, but it won't know the exact details about claimable deductions such as business travel, business meals, supplies, etc. The only way it could know that would be to peer inside your credit-card statements, bank statements, etc. and make judgments…

You're right. The IRS emphatically does not have everything. Please accept my deepest and humblest apologies for implying in any way, shape, or form that they do.

In addition to hundreds of millions of W-2s, the also IRS has 1099s and 1098s of various sorts. For the majority of Americans, the IRS already has the majority of their tax data. And the infrastructure already in place to provide this to them. Why not present it along with the opportunity to amend it? Or tally from zero yourself, if you prefer. This is what I intended to communicate earlier, and I can see I failed to be clear.

You're absolutely right. The IRS in no way has everything! Do you think it's maybe worth considering that it might be possible to make many people's lives easier for a very small marginal cost by letting people see what data the IRS already has about them? It might not work for every single person every single time, but it might work for a lot of people a lot of the time.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#478

Post by paulpan »

The great irony in all this is that TurboTax has become the villain it was trying to fight, aka "adding a tax to filing tax returns". "Tax" not just in monetary terms of purchasing an annual software but also in the time spent in filing.

Why were they allowed to acquire a competitor (CreditKarma) again? Until we have stronger regulatory bodies, better funding for IRS, and just the will to fight corporate encroachment, this "tax on tax" will remain.

(As a side note, I suspect TurboTax software is designed to be complicated and obstruct the filing process so that you feel like you got your moneys worth after spending 2-3 hours using it.)

Re: Killing TurboTax

#479

Post by anadem »

kleton wrote: post #476
masklinn wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The IRS themselves need to provide this "auto tax" service. Interestingly, they now can: under the Free File program, tax prep companies would offer free filing (for taxpayers below 72k AGI) and the IRS would not compete with their service. After a ProPublica investigation in their dark pattern shenanigans (leading to about 3.5% of taxpayers to use the program when 70% are eligible) confirmed by the HSGA Senate Com…

> the GOP We now have an opportunity to test your hypothesis- for at least two years there will be single party rule by the other party.

Single party rule would be true only if the Senate was not encumbered by the filibuster.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#480

Post by benmw333 »

kleton wrote: post #476
masklinn wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The IRS themselves need to provide this "auto tax" service. Interestingly, they now can: under the Free File program, tax prep companies would offer free filing (for taxpayers below 72k AGI) and the IRS would not compete with their service. After a ProPublica investigation in their dark pattern shenanigans (leading to about 3.5% of taxpayers to use the program when 70% are eligible) confirmed by the HSGA Senate Com…

> the GOP We now have an opportunity to test your hypothesis- for at least two years there will be single party rule by the other party.

I love it when people still have faith in either party cleaning up the tax code (aka reducing the size of government). Ain't happening.
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