101–110 of 256 posts
Call me crazy but I think it's a bad idea to do your taxes this early. I've gotten so many amended forms over the years that eat up so much time filing amended returns that I wait until the last minute now.
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Is it though. You're the one liable for issues on your tax return. You're the one who signed the return.
There is actually a spot on tax forms that indicate the form is being filled and filed by a 3rd party.
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.
FreeTaxUSA can be confusing though. It makes it quite unclear what is contributing to what portion of your tax bill. I like it better than the other more popular, mainstream options, but its usability isn't great. I never have full confidence I'm paying the correct amount or getting the correct amount as a refund.
Do you have an example of what other products provide for this? Does IRS Free File do better in this regard?
When you qualify for free tax prep, does the IRS pay the companies for that? Or are the companies legally required to offer it for free?
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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
Why are you paying an accountant?
Why do I even have to do anything? Just take it from my paycheck directly
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Even if you screw it up the IRS will just charge you interest “penalties” or give you your money back if you overpay (both have happened to me). I’ve straight up forgotten forms and paid maybe a few extra dollars in interest, I wouldn’t even call it a penalty. People are generally way more afraid of the IRS than they should be. People that hate the IRS for being unreasonable are very likely aggressively reporting ded…
I’m guessing the vast majority of people that hate the IRS don’t have any reason based on personal experience. They are people that believe things like “The IRS is hiring 87,000 new armed enforcement agents”.
This was before the kinder, gentler IRS but still.
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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.
How is “keep tax codes complex” not equivalent to “prevent the IRS from making it simpler”? Besides that, you’re definitely wrong. They do lobby to keep it complicated and actively try to confuse customers into thinking they need to pay more for no legitimate reason at all. Intuit causes great harm and so does anyone that works for them.
The UX can be easy or hard, to input data that meets said ruleset.
Even with a complex tax code, you could still fill in three values and get your correct result
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If you have a standard 1 job W2, that is... literally what already happens, except even with less steps, since they already took the money out of my paycheck. The 1 job W2 literally takes 15 minutes to fill out if so, and it is pretty much signing off that you didn't make a million dollars on the side that the IRS doesn't know about.
Except in the US you still have to file your taxes. They might be the simplest to do, but you still have to. Which typically means people end up using turbotax etc, and paying for the product. Spain's equivalent is basically 'we know you have a kid and this income so here you so. just sign on the dotted line'
Why do I even have to do anything? Just take it from my paycheck directly
The IRS is not actually a godly being that has omniscient knowledge of every transaction that ever goes on and in the future. How is the IRS supposed to figure out how much money to take away from your W2 when you could get a billion dollar windfall at the end of the year and massively change tax bracket?