All of the IRS forms are in pdf format. The form fields are programmable in Adobe Acrobat. One could code in all the necessary computations into the form fields and combine all the forms into a booklet.
Open Source Tax Software
231–240 of 265 posts
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
The french initiative started in 2013 is still alive (last commit a few days ago), and passes the gov test suite (they keep in touch with our version of the IRS): https://github.com/openfisca/openfisca-france The way we got this is interestingly twisted. French citizens requested the software used by the administration, and they managed to get it! But, it was written in Mlang, a proprietary language created by the fr…
I am French and I never heard about this project. I pay taxes on the taxes web site where everything is filled in for me, so no need to use any software. The whole exercice takes literally 30 seconds. This is not to day that the software is not useful (the API looks great after a quick reading), but it will be used by a very small population.
I don't use it either, but there is a lot of value in it because it forces formalism and transparency, and allow reproducibility for something as important as taxes.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
Moreover, the simple cases are also supported by the IRS free fillable forms product. https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/
Note that this isn't "the IRS." It's an IRS public-private partnership that people below some income threshold can use for free.
No, it’s usable by any income level. You’re thinking of Free File, which lets lower income users use TurboTax and other products for free.
https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...
> Free File Fillable Forms is the only IRS Free File option available for taxpayers whose income (AGI) is greater than $72,000. Taxpayers whose income is $72,000 or less qualify for IRS Free File partner offers, which can guide you through the preparation and filing of your tax return, and may include state tax filing.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Moreover, the simple cases are also supported by the IRS free fillable forms product. https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/
The IRS could not come up with a website and TLD that sounds more like a scam if they tried. :)
Yes, although you can get to it directly from the irs.gov site it does seem confusing at first that it’s on a .com
https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
Note that this isn't "the IRS." It's an IRS public-private partnership that people below some income threshold can use for free.
No, it’s usable by any income level. You’re thinking of Free File, which lets lower income users use TurboTax and other products for free. https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form... > Free File Fillable Forms is the only IRS Free File option available for taxpayers whose income (AGI) is greater than $72,000. Taxpayers whose income is $72,000 or less qualify for IRS Free File partner offers, which…
Yes. I misread. Though it's understandable how one could confuse Free File Fillable Forms eith IRS Free File partner offers.
As a comment upthread said. It's presumably legit because it's linked to from the IRS site but almost everything else sets off alarms.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's not clear to me what "the returns should be file[d] automatically" means for [the self-employed]. The employer files the income forms and handles withholding. If you're self-employed, that means you are responsible for that part. And of course anyone with more complex taxes (e.g. non-W2 income) would still need to file, though they could start with the pre-filled forms. > Last year I received a roughly US$3k t…
I agree absolutely [0]. This would fundamentally upend American policy making, but that's OK. Our elected representatives would have to decide to actively people money for doing things they want to promote rather, which would improve the transparency of legislative goal setting. [0] I don't agree about the flat percentage. The USA has had a progressive tax structure in various ways since its founding, and given the c…
> The USA has had a progressive tax structure in various ways since its founding…
The system I described is still modestly "progressive" in the sense that those with more earnings pay a larger percentage than those with less, due to subtracting the poverty level. (Up to the poverty level, nothing is taxed; at 2X the poverty level, only half your total earnings are taxed; etc.) It starts at 0% and asymptotically approaches the flat rate as earnings increase. To be sure, it's not quite so heavily biased as the current tax tables, but then we also have this principle that the law is supposed to apply equally to everyone and not discriminate on the basis of wealth or status, in either direction. The current political environment targeting a small number of individuals for special taxes or punitive rates based on either their income or wealth practically amounts to a bill of attainder–which would obviously be unconstitutional, and for good reason.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree absolutely [0]. This would fundamentally upend American policy making, but that's OK. Our elected representatives would have to decide to actively people money for doing things they want to promote rather, which would improve the transparency of legislative goal setting. [0] I don't agree about the flat percentage. The USA has had a progressive tax structure in various ways since its founding, and given the c…
> The USA has had a progressive tax structure in various ways since its founding… The system I described is still modestly "progressive" in the sense that those with more earnings pay a larger percentage than those with less, due to subtracting the poverty level. (Up to the poverty level, nothing is taxed; at 2X the poverty level, only half your total earnings are taxed; etc.) It starts at 0% and asymptotically appro…
The concept of marginal utility says that taking different amounts from people with different levels of income/wealth is treating them the same.
To a person who earns $10k/yr, $1k is huge (whether it is extra income or owed tax). To a person who earns $1M/yr, $1k is basically pocket change. The utility of that marginal $1k varies for them both. Ergo, to treat them equally, we tax them differently.
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#238>Filing taxes in America sucks
Come to Brazil and the Receita Federal will suck you dry
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You just plug in the data (..) Here in the Netherlands I don't have to plug in any data, everything is pre-filled. Income, bank accounts, mortgage, advances on deductions, etc. All you have to do is verify it (you can change things if necessary, but I've never had to do that). Takes about five minutes max.
If that were to happen in America, an entire industry would be put out of business.
So?
Re: Open Source Tax Software
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The USA has had a progressive tax structure in various ways since its founding… The system I described is still modestly "progressive" in the sense that those with more earnings pay a larger percentage than those with less, due to subtracting the poverty level. (Up to the poverty level, nothing is taxed; at 2X the poverty level, only half your total earnings are taxed; etc.) It starts at 0% and asymptotically appro…
The concept of marginal utility says that taking different amounts from people with different levels of income/wealth is treating them the same. To a person who earns $10k/yr, $1k is huge (whether it is extra income or owed tax). To a person who earns $1M/yr, $1k is basically pocket change. The utility of that marginal $1k varies for them both. Ergo, to treat them equally, we tax them differently.
> The concept of marginal utility says that taking different amounts from people with different levels of income/wealth is treating them the same.
Marginal utility says that—most of the time–the utility of one more of an item to the owner is less than or equal to the utility of each item they already possess. (The exception would be where you need multiple items to do anything useful, but this is generally treated as a different kind of good rather than another of the same.) The concept of marginal utility says nothing about the relative utility of the same amount of money to different people. Utility is subjective, and there is no coherent concept of utility which applies across multiple individuals. It makes zero sense to say that some set amount of money is worth objectively more or less to different individuals based solely on how much they already own, much less on their earnings for a single year.
> To a person who earns $[X]/yr…
And here we have another issue: the assumption that earning some amount in one year—which is all the tax rules consider—is equivalent to earning that amount every year. Receiving ten years worth of income as a lump sum of $1M up front vs. $100k each year should not affect your tax rate, but in practice it does, which has various perverse implications. The law is biased in favor of regular, even income (W-2s), and against situations where you may earn a lot in one year and very little in others (e.g. running a small business).