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Killing TurboTax

kunle.app

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Re: Killing TurboTax

#511

Post by asdf333 »

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,…

yes its a colossal waste of time that could be spent on more productive things (or with family and friends)

Re: Killing TurboTax

#512

Post by BeetleB »

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.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names."

"Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle."

"Please don't use uppercase for emphasis."

"Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine."

"Please don't fulminate."

You were warned a day ago as well:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26323291

Re: Killing TurboTax

#514

Post by sokoloff »

lukeschlather wrote: post #508
sokoloff wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have always been troubled ever since I started receiving RSUs that the IRS doesn't already have access to the cost basis for vested RSUs, and I'm baffled that you wouldn't want them to have that information.

Fair point. I'd be somewhat comfortable with sharing that information earlier than they strictly require it.

But I think a better solution to the very real problem you've identified would be for your stock plan administrator to hold that information and transmit it to the IRS as basis information just like your retail broker now transmits basis for closed positions on a 1099-B, but only transmit it in the year the closing transaction happens.

If I vest RSUs this year and sell them in 2026, the IRS needs to know that basis in 2026, but they don't need to know it now (other than as it is already included in W-2 boxes 1 and 14, but that's only a dollar figure, not a per-share basis figure).

Re: Killing TurboTax

#515

Post by jijji »

taxes can be e-filed, and it seems like the government purposefully prevents average citizens from filing basic tax forms -- previous stories showed evidence of Intuit lobbying the IRS for this specific reason.... I think the real reaaon the federal government (IRS) prevents a simple web interface for tax prep is because it would immediately put out of business a whole cottage industry created around this purpose. For business filers, it is important to have a CPA to certify the preparation of the results before submission, and I can understand the need for this industry. However, for the vast majority of people getting paid on W-2 with various allowances, it would have been fairly trivial to design a web interface to handle these submissions. It is strange that the web has been around since 1990 and yet no such web site exists within the IRS....

Re: Killing TurboTax

#516

Post by bobthepanda »

alkonaut wrote: post #429
peter303 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tax prep industry lobbied Congress to prevent the IRS from auto-tax filing. The compromise was "free filing" for those with median incomes and below. For a majority, W2s, 1099s and the previous years return can provide an auto-filing framework. The IRS would send your their draft and you agree or modify. Other countries do this.

If I saw a proposal to make tax codes simpler, have people file taxes with a good app provided by the IRS etc and then I saw a politician vote against it, while being funded by companies benefiting from the status quo... I'd just not vote for that person again.

Such a proposal can be killed at various steps before it gets to a floor vote.

It’s part of why Mitch McConnell was majority leader; he isn’t necessarily well liked, but he is willing to take the heat for not taking up a bill and letting his colleagues avoid awkward votes.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#517

Post by systemvoltage »

lolsal wrote: post #304
trymas wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a racket. Government already knows how much you owe them. So how about US government, like most modern countries, send you a form which says: "we think you owe us xxx$ (because of this and that), if not - provide extra information"?

> It's a racket. Yea, possibly (I agree with you). It is as much a racket as lots of other things. Doesn't excuse it being a racket, but TurboTax is not an anomaly. > Government already knows how much you owe them. This is false. If you aren't taking advantage of deductions, sophisticated tax-deferred vehicles for retirement or tax-advantaged accounts for other investments, you're giving the IRS more than you have to…

Agreed, it sounds insane but I much prefer US system. It is easy to say "simpler == better". I'd much prefer the gov not do things for me and leave the control over my taxes by default. I understand people in other countries can do the same, but the default is big gov giving you a number upfront.

Think about taxes as a negotiation process.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#518

Post by tppiotrowski »

rainyMammoth wrote: post #489
tppiotrowski wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My employer didn’t send me a W2 this year which caused me to seek another method to access this information. I created an account on irs.gov and was surprised to find a single PDF for each tax year containing W2’s, 1099Ints, 1099Divs that I assume were given to the IRS on my employers/bankers behalf. Now it would be great for a tax program to ingest this PDF and auto-populate your tax return. Unfortunately no PDF for…

you made me curious and I logged into the IRS to find those "transcripts". I really cannot tell if they generate that information from your own tax report or if they generate it from what they already got in their own databases.

> Wage and Income Transcript - shows data from information returns we receive such as Forms W-2, 1099, 1098 and Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information. Current tax year information may not be complete until July. This transcript is available for up to 10 prior years using Get Transcript Online or Form 4506-T.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/transcript-types-and-ways-to...

Re: Killing TurboTax

#519

Post by gamblor956 »

warkdarrior wrote: post #435
gamblor956 wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is false. The IRS wants you to pay the amount calculated as due under the information they have available about your income. The IRS is not motivated to collect more income or to deprive taxpayers of refunds. They're motivated to do their jobs, whether that means issuing a notice of amount due, or paying out a refund check (which they do for millions of taxpayers without issue, every year).

If I donate to a charity, it may reduce the tax I have to pay, especially my income is at the boundary between two tax brackets. Would IRS suggest such a donation in order to reduce the tax amount? Tax advisors do that all the time.

No, because the IRS is not in the business of advising taxpayers about their spending or earning, only about how to calculate the amount due based on what the taxpayers earned or spent over the previous year.

For example, if you fill out your form by hand and say that you owe X, using the single-filer rates but you're married and should have used the married-filer rates, the IRS will notice your error when they process your return and send you a refund check for the difference.

A tax advisor will advise you to possibly make a donation...if it makes sense to do so (i.e., if you itemize). Because you're specifically paying them a lot of money to minimize the amount of tax that you owe.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#520

Post by gamblor956 »

loopercal wrote: post #439
warkdarrior wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I donate to a charity, it may reduce the tax I have to pay, especially my income is at the boundary between two tax brackets. Would IRS suggest such a donation in order to reduce the tax amount? Tax advisors do that all the time.

>especially my income is at the boundary between two tax brackets Wait, can you explain how tax brackets work because I think there may be a fundamental misunderstanding here. If we have two brackets, 10% for $100, what do you think the tax bill would be for someone who earned $101?

It would be $10.90.

$10 for the first bracket. The remaining untaxed income is $1, taxed at 90% = $0.90 tax.

But the Republican Party has spent a lot of money to make people think that the tax would be $90.90 (i.e,. a flat rate), which is why so many people are opposed to increasing the tax bracket rates...even though the actual affect is marginal to most people (even those affected).

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