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Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

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Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#151

Post by Rebelgecko »

lokar wrote: post #74

I know Intuit has legislators at the federal level in their pockets, but I would think that in a place like California it would be harder. Has there been any progress to have simple automatic filing for state taxes?

California has its own tax website fairly similar to TurboTax called CalFile. One of the devs is even here on HN.

Unfortunately CalFile seems to be intentionally gimped e.g. only usable if you're under a certain income threshold and technically you're not supposed to use it if you have capital gains or loses (but since cap gains are treated as regular income in CA it works fine if you still use it)

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#152

Post by threatofrain »

jbluepolarbear wrote: post #86
ryandrake wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's still a big jump in cost between, for example TurboTax Premier tier ($90 federal + $50 state = $140) and a CPA (where I've been quoted $400-$600). I don't think the level of service justifies the cost. I tried a professional once in my life, and he basically just asked me all the same questions the software would have asked me, and typed them in to his system for me. 3X-4X the cost for the services of a typis…

A CPA takes a risk doing your taxes. They are responsible if something goes wrong. That is probably $400 an hour. If you are paying less than that make sure it’s actually a CPA doing your taxes. There may be a CPA at the firm, but unless they sign and do your taxes you aren’t protected by their liability.

An accountant with a CPA could have ten or twenty seasonal temps working under them, but at the end of the day they will review and sign the outgoing product. They are liable and will be on top of your case if the IRS comes to bother you, but don't expect the personal attention of the CPA.

Also, personal accounting is an increasingly niche industry.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#153

Post by KorematsuFred »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
cmckn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sure. The IRS needs to offer a tax preparation platform, the grift in this industry is astounding. I've always had decent experiences with TurboTax, but they've gotten extremely good at making your taxes hell if you want to avoid giving them $89.99.

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... https://www.propublica.org/series/the-turbotax-trap “ProPublica has long detailed how Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and other companies have worked against making tax preparation easier and less costly. They have lobbied to ban the IRS from offering free, simple tax filing. And they have deceived customers who should qualify for the Free File product.”

I find this criticism somewhat weird. It is very common for companies or even individuals to promote and support policies that benefit themselves. Intuit is seeking self interest here. But why would IRS and our elected representatives cave in ? Are these people so clueless or unethical that they do not care about their constituents anymore ? And if that is the case I don't see how anyone can bell the intuit's cat.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#154

Post by Rebelgecko »

randomhodler84 wrote: post #13

Consider using credit karma tax (run by good guy Jack Dorsey); it was forced to be split out from CK when they were bought by intuit. It’s free, it supports nearly everything you would need these days.

At least for me, it is a huge pain in the add to have to manually type numbers instead of automatically importing from my 1098s, 1099s, etc. Until the competitors can do that, I'm sticking with TurboTax (even if their software was broken last year for anyone who refinanced a home worth more than >$350k)

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#155

Post by KorematsuFred »

krferriter wrote: post #12

Given how much H&R Block and Intuit have unethically and corruptly leeched from the government and the taxpayers directly, I think the should literally be nationalized and have their tax software platforms absorbed into the IRS. Their company activities over the last few decades are so flagrantly, indisputably bad for the country. There's literally no upside, none at all. They have intentionally sabotaged tax filing…

> I think the should literally be nationalized and have their tax software platforms absorbed into the IRS.

This is an extremist view and basically advocating theft. I do not think IRS has competence to build and run a complex software system.

> Their company activities over the last few decades are so flagrantly, indisputably bad for the country

That is debatable.

> There's literally no upside, none at all. They have intentionally sabotaged tax filing and leeched off the people by corruptly inserting themselves as middlemen

They have not inserted themselves anywhere. You are free to use CPA or do all the paperwork yourself and save yourself $70 bucks.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#156

Post by WisNorCan »

KorematsuFred wrote: post #153
toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... https://www.propublica.org/series/the-turbotax-trap “ProPublica has long detailed how Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and other companies have worked against making tax preparation easier and less costly. They have lobbied to ban the IRS from offering free, simple tax filing. And they have deceived customers who should qualify for the Free File product.”

I find this criticism somewhat weird. It is very common for companies or even individuals to promote and support policies that benefit themselves. Intuit is seeking self interest here. But why would IRS and our elected representatives cave in ? Are these people so clueless or unethical that they do not care about their constituents anymore ? And if that is the case I don't see how anyone can bell the intuit's cat.

It is a simple bargain. US representatives are dependent on fundraising and endorsements for re-election which lobbyists are happy to offer in exchange for help with their agenda.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#157

Post by throwawayboise »

caseyross wrote: post #28

What's telling is that TurboTax's UX is really, really, good, deceptive pricing aside. Like, so good I almost enjoy using it to do my taxes. The very fact that Intuit has clearly invested money into making a beautiful interface for a tax program, a program that people use once a year , just goes to show how profitable the current arrangement is for them, and how determined they are to keep the average taxpayer from s…

Their other big (maybe bigger?) cash cow for Intuit is Quickbooks. It's the system most small businesses use, because their accountants are integrated with it and push all their clients to use it.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#158

Post by KorematsuFred »

hannasanarion wrote: post #109
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> should literally be nationalized Political note: calls for nationalisation, in American politics, is a gift to the other side. It lets one paint the opposition as extremists without grounding in U.S. Constitutional law or the economic history of countries that regularly expropriate property. I get the impulse. But literally any other phrasing—massive fines, criminal prosecution, open-licensing requirements, et cete…

Because as we all know, privatization never leads to perverse incentives and anti-competitive or anti-consumer behavior. Just look at the American telecom industry, which is famous for high satisfaction and low prices with no price fixing, tying, market segmentation, or any other cartel-like behavior to be seen.

American telecom industry has done much better after US government ended government granted monopoly to bell labs. Plenty of literature on that topic actually. Same for aviation.

Whatever bad things you see with ATT and Comcast are actually a direct result of city granted monopolies which will likely be ended by Musk's Starlink sooner or later.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#159

Post by syshum »

maxmamis wrote: post #88
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> should literally be nationalized Political note: calls for nationalisation, in American politics, is a gift to the other side. It lets one paint the opposition as extremists without grounding in U.S. Constitutional law or the economic history of countries that regularly expropriate property. I get the impulse. But literally any other phrasing—massive fines, criminal prosecution, open-licensing requirements, et cete…

> Political note: calls for nationalisation, in American politics, is a gift to the other side. Perhaps you should rephrase this as "calls for nationalization run counter to my own free-market ideology" rather than a) assuming you know what everybody else thinks, and b) suggesting that conventional wisdom should dictate the bounds of acceptable discourse. Not to mention, plenty of countries — the US included — have s…

I can not think of a single company or industries the US has nationalized that I would consider a "success"

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#160

Post by recursive »

majormajor wrote: post #47
recursive wrote: post #19

That warning is terrifying. > Do NOT use this online form if you're required to file a tax return. Use of this online form creates a simplified 2020 tax return. If you're required to file a tax return but file a simplified return instead, you won't be able to e-file your 2020 Form 1040 or 1040-SR tax return. This will delay the IRS processing your return and issuing any tax refund. So... what? Do not use this site if…

My reading is that if you aren't required to file a tax return, this thing creating a dummy simplified one won't hurt you. But if you are required to file one, you are likely to need a real one, and the dummy one will conflict with it. But it sounds like if you file a real one, you don't need this form, and this form is only for people who wouldn't otherwise file. But the gist of the article - that the website is imp…

That would require that a "simplified tax return" is not a "tax return". If that's the intention, it seems to fly directly in the face of the common use of the English language. Generally {ADJECTIVE} {NOUN} is a specific category of a {NOUN}. If they're using some domain-specific jargon that violates that, it strains credulity that they would expect anyone to understand it.
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