501–510 of 692 posts
Why not kill TicketMaster or eBay? I actually dont mind TurboTax - they make it easy and they remember what happened last year. Could competition make it even better - sure. But where near monopolies really exist is with eBay and TicketMaster. Sure there are 1000s of auction sites and ticketing sites - but none have quite the power as these two.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with the basic premise that the IRS is nothing to be afraid of if you make a simple mistake. Though if you make a $5,000 error (which is getting out of "simple mistake" territory), they'll tack on a 20% penalty. That being said, audits are incredibly annoying if you didn't make a mistake, especially if children are involved. The Examinations department of the IRS is hard-headed, to say the least, and they wil…
Even besides the risk of pecuniary damage, the problem with an audit is that it can take a long time. It's a time sink for you where the best outcome is usually nothing different happens.
At least half a decade, judging by how some people claimed "ongoing tax audit" as an excuse for not publishing their tax returns for a whole campaign year and Presidency term...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They don't already know. Sometimes they have suspicions, and then perform an audit, or request more information about a particular detail, by which they get the information they might need. Only then do they actually know. For example, you yourself may have filed with the status, "Married, filing separately", but the other person in your relationship may have filed with the status, "Single". The IRS has no idea who i…
They do know almost everything and learning more every day. Of course there are extenuating circumstances, which you will list and have to prove if a question comes up. This is not an excuse for tax filing being more difficult than it needs to be.
Should tax filing be easier? Sure. But, "They already know how much you owe." is patently false.
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…
Because some assholes -- present company very much not excluded -- don't pay enough taxes?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
“Cleaning up the tax code” and “reducing the size of government" aren't really the same thing; the former could very easily serve the opposite purpose of the latter.
"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…
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.
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.
I know it's nice to have a corporate bogeyman to rail against but it's not that simple. For example, there have been all sorts of tax deductions over the years to incentivize things like home energy efficiency improvements, EVs, solar power, charitable contributions, etc. And the mortgage deduction was/is intended to promote home ownership. I could go on. Someone can disagree with some of the choices around tax rates…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
May I ask examples of things that you are not confident sharing with the IRS, that you do not have the obligation to share with the IRS, and that can affect the taxes you owe? In my (foreign) mind, whatever might affect your obligation final number you are legally required to do so (either preemptively or when asked), so I don't fully understand.
Many things that I tell my preparer are needed later, but not now. (Tax basis for RSUs that vested. Value of capital improvements to my property.) Other things are needed only if we elect to method A of calculation, but not if we use method B of calculation. So I give him all the data; he computes my obligations using method A and method B, chooses the better option, and reports only the data needed to support that m…
This is such an ongoing theme on HN that we could maybe use a bibiliography. If I missed any big ones let me know. In reverse chronological order: Show HN: ustaxes.org – open-source tax filing webapp - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26138446 - Feb 2021 (219 comments) TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26102695 - Feb 2021 (306 comments) TurboTax’s 20…
Thanks!