Sounds like a minefield. How do you know which formulas have been updated for the latest law changes? Hire a tax guy?
Open Source Tax Software
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Re: Open Source Tax Software
#92You don't need software to file taxes. You can download the forms (1040, etc.) from the IRS website (and your state IRS's website), fill them in, print them out, and mail them to the IRS. It costs a few (literally a few) dollars for the postage and a certificate of mailing from the USPS as proof that you had the forms sent out by the deadline. The forms are not super straightforward but not incredibly complex either.…
The website addresses that in the first paragraph. You can, as they did, do it manually yourself. However, you're very likely to make unnoticeable mistakes due to it being a government tax form. Using a weekend to do something a computer can do for you in seconds is both a waste of time and likely to make you spend another weekend amending it after they send it back.
The vast majority of people just want it to work like it works everywhere else. Computers handle it, and you overwrite anything that the computers can't know so that it's correct. That's what tax software is for, and that's what these projects try to accomplish in a FOSS way.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disruption could also come from tax reform. Some countries don't make you figure out things on your own: That's a bit like making a shopper put in the correct prices on each item they're buying and penalizing then for mistakes. A "Price is Right" game-show version of a tax filing system. Some other countries just tell you where you stand because for the vast majority of people a standard filing is all that's required…
We could evolve to requiring laws to be implemented as FOSS before they go live. I suspect the right tests could reveal all kinds of bugs, weird edge cases and exploits. Sadly law makers don't know how to code. If they did they would see what bloated monstrosity of complexity a few simple sounding sentences with some simple sounding exceptions produce. Perhaps a large bill and months of delay could provide enough of…
Tax laws are hundreds to thousands of pages each. The complexity is intentional and not accidental. Many carve outs are specifically created for special interest or to target certain constituencies.
Edit: referring to the US
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#94You don't need software to file taxes. You can download the forms (1040, etc.) from the IRS website (and your state IRS's website), fill them in, print them out, and mail them to the IRS. It costs a few (literally a few) dollars for the postage and a certificate of mailing from the USPS as proof that you had the forms sent out by the deadline. The forms are not super straightforward but not incredibly complex either.…
The website addresses that in the first paragraph. You can, as they did, do it manually yourself. However, you're very likely to make unnoticeable mistakes due to it being a government tax form. Using a weekend to do something a computer can do for you in seconds is both a waste of time and likely to make you spend another weekend amending it after they send it back. The vast majority of people just want it to work l…
Oops! I went to the article but skipped straight to the second half... the highlighted Excel formula caught my attention.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#95You don't need software to file taxes. You can download the forms (1040, etc.) from the IRS website (and your state IRS's website), fill them in, print them out, and mail them to the IRS. It costs a few (literally a few) dollars for the postage and a certificate of mailing from the USPS as proof that you had the forms sent out by the deadline. The forms are not super straightforward but not incredibly complex either.…
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Re: Open Source Tax Software
#96Filing personal taxes in the US sounds like filing taxes for a company in other countries. A complete nightmare consisting of tons of forms that some bureaucrat dreamed up, which nobody really knows how to fill out correctly. Software exists to fill them out for you, and if you use some well-known software to do it, it's just assumed to be correct by everyone; including the state.
90% of people in the US could fill out their taxes by hand in less than 5 minutes. It's Yes, the IRS could do even this for you, but there's a myth that US taxes are always monstrously complicated that everyone likes to perpetuate:
1) The tax companies like it because it keeps people scared of doing it themselves
2) Tax reform advocates like it because it's they can cluck and shake their head at the corrupt government and tax companies
3) It _can_ get complicated if you have a complicated tax situation
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#97Every country has its own tax laws, impossible to implement and to use. Plus politicians keep changing the tax laws all the time.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#98Filing personal taxes in the US sounds like filing taxes for a company in other countries. A complete nightmare consisting of tons of forms that some bureaucrat dreamed up, which nobody really knows how to fill out correctly. Software exists to fill them out for you, and if you use some well-known software to do it, it's just assumed to be correct by everyone; including the state.
This perception is what keeps a lot of tax preparation companies in business. I know people who could fill out their taxes in 10 minutes, who would instead pay hundreds of dollars every year to have it done by one of those “tax stores.” If US high schools would spend one day to walk kids through filling out a tax return, they’d probably put H&R Block out of business. Which is also why it’s won’t ever happen.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#99Meanwhile, at site of russian federal tax service:
- https://imgur.com/a/NUZZlJM (file for tax returns)
- https://imgur.com/a/gUGf9wU (all income, automatically known by tax authority by electronic data exchange with my employer and broker)
- https://imgur.com/a/Nvh5RI8 (all my estates taxes, automatically calculated and sent as invoice to my bank)
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#100I keep being perplexed by how the Americans do stuff. I am Dutch and my government makes it (relatively) easy to do taxes. We got a website we can go to; it's filled by the government and we just need to verify that it is filled correctly and then click submit. Some people can make adjustments where needed and if needed. You can also let an accountant do it for you but that is optional; but useful if you have had a t…
Same here in France, there's a website with a multi-stage form, with fields for various things ( revenues, deductions, etc.). Everything they know (revenues from employment, self-employment, investments via French entities, etc.) is pre-filled, you just have to check it, and if something is missing you add it. For 90% of people it's a matter of next-next-check this value with my payslip-next-next.