Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Killing TurboTax

kunle.app

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

591–600 of 692 posts

Re: Killing TurboTax

#591

Post by cmeacham98 »

harshalizee wrote: post #555
mjevans wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A wealth tax. All assets and cash need to be properly valued and then that value taxed. I agree with the sibling comment and also with past discussions where a wealth tax is the only non-regressive (not-keep the poor down) tax code.

I'm not sure that would work as simply as that. Imagine buying a volatile stock, say, TSLA at $100. This then skyrockets to $1000. You're now taxed on your wealth at that price point. Then it immediately crashes down to $120. All this while, you're just holding the stock but paid taxes on a non existent value.

Perhaps substitute the (inflation adjusted) price you bought the stock at? Or maybe something like a rolling average of the past month/year?

Re: Killing TurboTax

#592

Post by pfranz »

koboll wrote: post #365
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"?

Seems like a really easy first step would be for Democrats to pass a bill allocating money for the IRS to build a What You Owe API that banks and companies can access. Then every bank on the planet can implement a "Click to pay your taxes" button. Attack the problem at the source.

As part of the public/private partnership that started e-filing in the early 2000s, one stipulation is that the government couldn't compete.

There was a lot of noise made last year when a law almost made that permanent.

I'm not sure if the API you're talking about would apply, but I'm pretty sure it would and passing a law would be difficult.

https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-...

Re: Killing TurboTax

#593

Post by pfranz »

lolsal wrote: post #418
projektfu wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even CPAs aren't responsible for leaving you exposed to an audit, unless it was through gross incompetence, or if otherwise specified in a contract. TurboTax gives you some feeling that you have exhausted most of the straightforward avenues for reducing your tax liability, but offers no guarantees. Tax preparers are really only liable if they start telling their clients to do grossly illegal things on a regular basis…

I completely understand what you're saying. Paying someone who is more of an expert than me is still better than me doing it myself. "Hey I did this in good faith and this company messed up, can we work this out without me going to prison?" vs "I didn't know."

I believe TurboTax gets a lot of mileage out of stoking that fear.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#594

Post by zerocrates »

No doubt that TurboTax is pretty dominant, but that Google Trends comparison doesn't look as bad if you use H&R Block's actual name.

Of course, H&R Block has essentially all the same perverse incentives as TurboTax does, so it's not like it matters that much.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#595

Post by freddie_mercury »

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…

> There is no software development team on earth who could catch up with the full capabilities of TurboTax

This is obviously false. The IRS software handles everything TurboTax does and more. As does the software that professional accountants use, such as ATX

Also: TurboTax's many retail competitors like HR Block.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#596

Post by alexchamberlain »

null0pointer wrote: post #527
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…

I agree, a vastly simplified tax code is needed. Here's my dream for a simpler tax code: The only tax is a Sales tax/VAT/GST. Pros: - Individuals never have to think about tax. It would completely eliminate tax returns. That alone is worth it's weight in gold since tax returns are such a time and money burden. - It would close all the loopholes megacorps/wealthy individuals use to pay less tax. You cannot avoid spend…

You can eliminate tax returns for most people by getting their employer to do it for them, which is effectively how the UK PAYE system works. Only those paid more than 100k, the self employed or others who want to claim certain tax incentives have to file what's known as a self assessment.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#597

Post by Uke »

null0pointer wrote: post #527
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…

I agree, a vastly simplified tax code is needed. Here's my dream for a simpler tax code: The only tax is a Sales tax/VAT/GST. Pros: - Individuals never have to think about tax. It would completely eliminate tax returns. That alone is worth it's weight in gold since tax returns are such a time and money burden. - It would close all the loopholes megacorps/wealthy individuals use to pay less tax. You cannot avoid spend…

another con is: It's very hard to figure out how high your personal tax rate is if you don't track all your spending. I guess it's less of a problem for you guys over the pond, but at least in countries like Japan and Germany where at least 60-80% of all payments are done with cash it's near impossible to know unless you track your spending by hand.

I agree with you that VAT would be cool to have as the sole tax, though.

Re: Killing TurboTax

#598

Post by sdenton4 »

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…

Sounds like they just buy up potential competition early... So let's get started writing /something/ and get an easy pay off when they buy us out!

Re: Killing TurboTax

#599

Post by masklinn »

Uke wrote: post #597
null0pointer wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, a vastly simplified tax code is needed. Here's my dream for a simpler tax code: The only tax is a Sales tax/VAT/GST. Pros: - Individuals never have to think about tax. It would completely eliminate tax returns. That alone is worth it's weight in gold since tax returns are such a time and money burden. - It would close all the loopholes megacorps/wealthy individuals use to pay less tax. You cannot avoid spend…

another con is: It's very hard to figure out how high your personal tax rate is if you don't track all your spending. I guess it's less of a problem for you guys over the pond, but at least in countries like Japan and Germany where at least 60-80% of all payments are done with cash it's near impossible to know unless you track your spending by hand. I agree with you that VAT would be cool to have as the sole tax, tho…

> I agree with you that VAT would be cool to have as the sole tax, though.

I’m sure it’s cool if you’re worth a few millions or above. VATs are highly regressive taxes, though they are also consumption disincentives (essentially luxury taxes on a number of non-luxury, which is why essentials like food tend to be low-rated).

Re: Killing TurboTax

#600

Post by masklinn »

xur17 wrote: post #571
acjohnson55 wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't thought this through, but could that actually be a feature?

I'm not sure it would - it seems like this would discourage risk taking. Owning stock in a startup would be a terrible move in this case.

Still sounds like a feature. The unicorn chase for value explosion is not a positive.
Post reply on HN