91–100 of 256 posts
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You can download the software (TurboTax, H&R Block, maybe others) and run it on your own machine and eFile on IRS directly. The data never has to leave your computer.
When I've eFiled in past years it's bounced through H&R Block's servers. I judged this less likely to get lost than paper filing so accepted the risk. Is there a way to eFile directly with the IRS?
I tried the fillable forms in previous years. They certainly aren’t easy and don’t make you confident you are filing an accurate form. Paying $50-100 to save a few hours and a lot of worrying is well worth it to me, even if along the way I bemoan the complexity and inaccessibility of the current tax system.
No offense intended, but my taxes must be a lot simpler than yours because I do the Free File forms in about 30 minutes every year.
I ended up switching to the fillable forms after that; lo and behold it turns out it's a tiny adjustment to one line on the 1040 and is clearly explained in the instructions. If your taxes don't change much from year to year it's trivial to work out the form each year. Like you it's always taken me about 30 minutes after gathering the various forms together.
I tried the fillable forms in previous years. They certainly aren’t easy and don’t make you confident you are filing an accurate form. Paying $50-100 to save a few hours and a lot of worrying is well worth it to me, even if along the way I bemoan the complexity and inaccessibility of the current tax system.
Taxes and health care in America are just so broken.
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At what point is it recommended to not use a software like freetaxusa? I've been using it for years.
Being a US citizen abroad. I’m in this situation and have had to pay huge sums to accountants If anyone has any recommendations I’m all ears
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Intuit does not "keep tax codes complex" -- your legislators do that all on their own. Intuit does try to prevent the IRS from making it easier to file electronically for free -- that much is true.
> Intuit does not "keep tax codes complex" -- your legislators do that all on their own. Lobbying, my friend. Intuit spends money to actively lobby to keep the tax code complex. Don't trust my word? Google it, or start with this [0]. [0]: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/turbotax-h-r-block-sp...
A complicated tax code is different than a complicated filing process.
We can all hate Intuit for one but not the other.
https://www.freetaxusa.com/ and their parent company https://www.taxhawk.com/ They charge $14.99 for the state filing. Usually a coupon code available. Or go to the state's website (CA at least), and file that for free, too. But for the convenience of not having to input my info again, I'll pay their fee.
What's the reasoning for setting the AGI at $73,000 or less? Does it go up as inflation goes up? Why not set it at $100,000 or $500,000?
I assume Intuit and their ilk lobbied for the limit. I recall reading that the IRS was developing a way to automatically do most people’s taxes, but the tax preparation companies lobbied Congress to stop that, and instead offered their services for free…with the caveat that higher income filers are excluded.
The cherry (or pepper) on top, after certain years (in 2022), the discontinued that option, & progress by IRS for automated taxes were already lost.
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I'm not going to claim they are easy, but they are accurate (they have a Do The Math calculation button). Even if you mess up, the IRS will typically send you a response noting where their calculations diverged from yours and offer to automatically adjust. (Which denotes the absurdity of this exercise for most taxpayers because the IRS already has all the information it needs to complete your taxes).
Wonder what the minimum information you could put in, and how accurate it'd have to be, to get that response. It'd be cool if you could lifehack your way into getting the IRS to do your taxes just by sending something obviously wrong that they'd autocorrect into the final product! Then we'd be roughly on parity with more sane countries that just send you a tax bill.
Agree, most countries (including India) simply opens their portals, you sign in, check all numbers, report anything missing like income or deduction, and press the final Enter.
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Sorry I assumed my question implied that was what was being asked. What is the complexity because I’ve done my own taxes for two decades, every year things are nuanced and slightly different. Never have I used an accountant.
> What is the complexity I send my bank statements, credit card bills and other documents to my accountant. He produces a return, together with optimisation advice for the coming year. It’s well worth the money. (I also have real estate, private equity, fund interests and emerging trust situations, and am multi-state.)