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

ftc.gov

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

#381

Post by mikeInAlaska »

JSavageOne wrote: post #376
softveda wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how is works in Australia. The Australian Tax Office will pre-fill your tax return online with income from your wages, interests, managed fund distributions, dividends etc. That maybe enough for simple tax returns, you can just accept their values and submit. What they don't know is your income from sources like rental income or crypto. They also don't know deductions you are going to claim. In this case you…

Pretty much every other major developed country operates like this. Here in South Korea for example filing taxes is as simple as logging into some government portal, verifying that the information they already have on you is correct, and making any corrections if necessary. 10 minutes, done. The U.S is unique in forcing its citizens to waste countless hours and pay hundreds/thousands of dollars every year doing the u…

> Why is the system still this backwards?

Intuit lobbying hard to keep tax rules complex.

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

#382

Post by AceyMan »

JSavageOne wrote: post #376
softveda wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how is works in Australia. The Australian Tax Office will pre-fill your tax return online with income from your wages, interests, managed fund distributions, dividends etc. That maybe enough for simple tax returns, you can just accept their values and submit. What they don't know is your income from sources like rental income or crypto. They also don't know deductions you are going to claim. In this case you…

Pretty much every other major developed country operates like this. Here in South Korea for example filing taxes is as simple as logging into some government portal, verifying that the information they already have on you is correct, and making any corrections if necessary. 10 minutes, done. The U.S is unique in forcing its citizens to waste countless hours and pay hundreds/thousands of dollars every year doing the u…

[flagged]

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

#383

Post by JSavageOne »

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…

Blaming "lobbyists" absolves the politicians of their responsibility. The fault lies with the politicians for creating and perpetuating this broken system.

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

#384

Post by rossjudson »

swozey wrote: post #373
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…

I have a $165k notice of defiecency bill from the IRS due next month that is a complete joke that I have had to spend days figuring out. I almost dropped thousands on a lawyer for it until I understood Tax Court better. Why? They think I sold a house and kept all of the gains. Like I didn't have a mortgage, and like it wasn't my primary residence. It's ridiculous. I can't explain how stressed out getting a $165k bill…

I highly recommend that you keep everything related to this, securely, for several years even after it is resolved.

State governments are not necessarily believing the same set of facts that the federal government does. I got caught in a multi-year cycle one time where the state government kept coming after me every year for the same thing, even though I had the federal return and the evidence that it was correct.

Each year I'd send that thing in, in response, and I'd never hear from them...until the next year, when they'd do it again.

Felt to me like each year somebody would receive my response, decide it was too much work to deal with, and then file it away in the "hit them again next year" pile.

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

#385

Post by matheusmoreira »

nathancahill wrote: post #287
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…

Government: You owe us money. It’s called taxes. Me: How much do I owe? Gov’t: You have to figure that out. Me: I just pay what I want? Gov’t: Oh, no we know exactly how much you owe. But you have to guess that number too. Me: What if I get it wrong? Gov’t: You go to prison Source: https://twitter.com/jordan_stratton/status/11181414550616719... I dig this one up every April.

Having to spend our own time, money and effort in order to work out how much money we have to pay the government for their crappy low quality services. Just yet another humiliation the government imposes on citizens.

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

#386

Post by JSavageOne »

mikeInAlaska wrote: post #381
JSavageOne wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much every other major developed country operates like this. Here in South Korea for example filing taxes is as simple as logging into some government portal, verifying that the information they already have on you is correct, and making any corrections if necessary. 10 minutes, done. The U.S is unique in forcing its citizens to waste countless hours and pay hundreds/thousands of dollars every year doing the u…

> Why is the system still this backwards? Intuit lobbying hard to keep tax rules complex.

Blaming "lobbyists" absolves the politicians of their responsibility. The fault lies with the politicians for creating and perpetuating this broken system.

(copy and pasted from another comment)

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

#387

Post by dragonwriter »

JSavageOne wrote: post #376
softveda wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how is works in Australia. The Australian Tax Office will pre-fill your tax return online with income from your wages, interests, managed fund distributions, dividends etc. That maybe enough for simple tax returns, you can just accept their values and submit. What they don't know is your income from sources like rental income or crypto. They also don't know deductions you are going to claim. In this case you…

Pretty much every other major developed country operates like this. Here in South Korea for example filing taxes is as simple as logging into some government portal, verifying that the information they already have on you is correct, and making any corrections if necessary. 10 minutes, done. The U.S is unique in forcing its citizens to waste countless hours and pay hundreds/thousands of dollars every year doing the u…

> Why is the system still this backwards? Either plain ignorance of there being a superior alternative, or a broken political system that can't get anything done.

Neither. There is awareness of the alternatives, and the political system can get things done for it's real constituents. The problem is a malevolent political system that primarily serves a class whose interests are opposed to the mass of the citizenry, to wit, a narrow capitalist elite.

(People will point to the tax prep industry, it's lobbying, etc., and that is part of the problem; an bigger part, however, is the political faction favoring lower taxes in general for the elites that likes to maximize the perceived pain of taxes for the masses to generate support for elite-favoring tax cuts; they are adamantly opposed to procedural simplification that minimizes the pain they leverage.)

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

#389

Post by tymekpavel »

jahewson wrote: post #377
taf2 wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best is the 50 cent check in the mail… literally the postage cost more to deliver the return check.

Tax is rounded to the nearest dollar though.

I can confirm I’ve received a check for $0.01 from the IRS. My understanding is it was because of miscalculation of interest owed.

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

#390

Post by throwaway09223 »

btgeekboy wrote: post #380
nathancahill wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government: You owe us money. It’s called taxes. Me: How much do I owe? Gov’t: You have to figure that out. Me: I just pay what I want? Gov’t: Oh, no we know exactly how much you owe. But you have to guess that number too. Me: What if I get it wrong? Gov’t: You go to prison Source: https://twitter.com/jordan_stratton/status/11181414550616719... I dig this one up every April.

It’s a nice, if overly simplistic sentiment. It’d be nice if my 1099s were electronically filed with the cost basis. But they’re not. So the IRS, every year, thinks I’m going to owe way more than I do. The IRS also has zero idea about the $4000+ of sales tax deductions I’m filing for this year. And finally, if you do get it wrong, you don’t go to jail. They send you a CP2000 letter. (Remember those 1099s? I forgot on…

I agree. The IRS definitely does not know how much I owe each year.

However, they do have an estimate and the vast majority of people would accept this estimate. So I think it's reasonable to suggest it ought to be provided.

I think the strongest counter-argument against this approach is in regards to bad actors and who discloses first. If you're thinking about hiding income and the first step is the government telling you what it thinks then you're very likely to continue to conceal and/or have a defense against a charge of concealment down the road ("I just used the IRS figures!")

It's a much more difficult situation for a bad actor if they have to disclose first without knowing for sure what the IRS knows.

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