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

FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

ftc.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 610 posts

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#301

Post by pabs3 »

zw123456 wrote: post #271

A few years back I got audited, and it was called an "electronic audit" by the IRS. Which basically meant that they had their computer systems scour a bunch of the bank records and discovered that I had forgotten to claim a 1099 for some contract work I had. OK, so they sent me a computer print out and they had cross checked everything on my return electronically, my property tax deductions, my stock dividends so on…

Are there any folks in congress who are interested in mandating the IRS switch to automatic tax returns or automated tax return form data filling?

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#302

Post by NovemberWhiskey »

Johnny555 wrote: post #298
zw123456 wrote: post #271

A few years back I got audited, and it was called an "electronic audit" by the IRS. Which basically meant that they had their computer systems scour a bunch of the bank records and discovered that I had forgotten to claim a 1099 for some contract work I had. OK, so they sent me a computer print out and they had cross checked everything on my return electronically, my property tax deductions, my stock dividends so on…

they had their computer systems scour a bunch of the bank records and discovered that I had forgotten to claim a 1099 I assumed they did that automatically for everyone -- does that mean that if I "forget" to attach a 1099 then they IRS won't know unless they do this special "electronic audit"?

I don't think that's actually how this works - most times when you get a 1099, the issuer is also required to file a copy with the IRS. As such - no bank account scanning required.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#303

Post by gramie »

ehsankia wrote: post #281
zw123456 wrote: post #271

A few years back I got audited, and it was called an "electronic audit" by the IRS. Which basically meant that they had their computer systems scour a bunch of the bank records and discovered that I had forgotten to claim a 1099 for some contract work I had. OK, so they sent me a computer print out and they had cross checked everything on my return electronically, my property tax deductions, my stock dividends so on…

It's well known fact that the government can auto-file for most people, it's not really a secret. Many other countries do it, it's been proven to work just fine.

In Canada, when I file my taxes electronically, all my income (salary, interest, etc.) is pre-filled. I basically enter my deductions and hit "Submit".

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#304

Post by dylan604 »

ouid wrote: post #258
aidangrimshaw wrote: post #151

I'm working with other contributors on https://ustaxes.org , an open source tax filing webapp https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes . Currently, many Federal tax forms are supported, as well as tax filing for the state of Illinois. Filing for Oregon and California is under development!

damn it, i live in oregon and california

I know I'm dumb, but I got a visual of your house with a big stripe down the middle of it so that part is in CA and the other is in OR

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#305

Post by Johnny555 »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #302
Johnny555 wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they had their computer systems scour a bunch of the bank records and discovered that I had forgotten to claim a 1099 I assumed they did that automatically for everyone -- does that mean that if I "forget" to attach a 1099 then they IRS won't know unless they do this special "electronic audit"?

I don't think that's actually how this works - most times when you get a 1099, the issuer is also required to file a copy with the IRS. As such - no bank account scanning required.

That's what I thought, my SSN is on the 1099, so it should be trivial for the IRS to match them up. That's why I was surprised when he said that they only caught it during an audit.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#306

Post by junar »

Someone1234 wrote: post #17
ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #6

Is there a way to do your taxes without paying any money?

In theory, yes. But few people actually do because it is a painful experience. The IRS' documentation isn't actually bad, it is just that the tax system itself is incredibly (and needlessly) complicated. For example, you'd need to hand-enter every stock trade (even automated re-investments) even though your broker likely already electronically sent this information to the IRS. Using a digital solution they can often…

> For example, you'd need to hand-enter every stock trade (even automated re-investments) even though your broker likely already electronically sent this information to the IRS.

This is not true for most folks, who can use one of two exceptions that allow summarizing. Exception 1 allows you to simply report totals on Schedule D. Exception 2 has you file Form 8949 with summarized rows, as long as you attach a statement with the detailed transaction info (the brokerage 1099-B generally suffices).

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8949#en_US_2021_publink100...

These are the very same exceptions that tax software uses.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#307

Post by beej71 »

Here's what's worked for me in terms of not paying Intuit any money (as a W-2 and 1099 earner):

If there's something you can't figure out, is risky, or a one-off, hire someone to do your taxes.

Then use that as a template for subsequent years to do it yourself.

Also, use the federal free fillable forms to e-file. They might be available for your state, as well.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#309

Post by daniel-cussen »

beej71 wrote: post #307

Here's what's worked for me in terms of not paying Intuit any money (as a W-2 and 1099 earner): If there's something you can't figure out, is risky, or a one-off, hire someone to do your taxes. Then use that as a template for subsequent years to do it yourself. Also, use the federal free fillable forms to e-file. They might be available for your state, as well.

Just do it by mail.

Re: FTC sues Intuit for its deceptive TurboTax “free” filing campaign

#310

Post by gautamcgoel »

tombert wrote: post #128
ngokevin wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government has enough information to process the taxes for most of us or at least publicly make it super easy. TurboTax just lobbies the government to not do so.

About two weeks ago, I got a letter from the IRS telling me that I owe an extra eight-thousand dollars from my 2020 return, with a $1000 fine and $200 interest as a result. [1] I'm not mad about owing the money, but what annoys me is if they have enough information to know that I underreported, then why am I part of this equation to begin with? Clearly they have enough of my tax data to know I screwed up, so why don'…

How did the IRS learn about the stock sale?
Post reply on HN