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IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

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Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#111

Post by Rury »

refurb wrote: post #106
baby wrote: post #10

Why do I even have to do anything? Just take it from my paycheck directly

Considering the IRS doesn't even have access to things like cost-basis for capital gains, no way I'd trust them to complete it correctly. They'll likely just assume best case scenario for them (and worst for you).

That hasn't been the case for me. I end up owing come tax time every year, and yet every time, after having paid what is owed, months later they give me a small refund anyways. Now I know where I can save money on my taxes, and I've done it before, but it's the savings are so small that it's not even worth the time doing. Yet, it's about what they give me in the refund. Why didn't they just keep it, especially given it's such a small amount?

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#112

Post by niij »

wespad wrote: post #19

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.

+1. I find them to be the least-bad option. They have all the forms I need even for a moderately complicated tax situation. They're cheap. And most importantly they aren't one of the evil companies lobbying for more complicated tax code (Intuit and H&R Block) .

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#113

Post by roflyear »

jcranmer wrote: post #51
HaloZero wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I volunteer with VITA and do taxes a lot but not a full time accountant. I've been doing my own taxes for years. I would say you need your own accountant and not software if: 1) You have complexities involving trusts/inheritance 2) Anything involving crypto (this is just a grey area to me and things change) 3) Anything that sounds more complex than anything above. If you're getting a bunch of 1099-DIVs/INT & W2/W9s i…

4) You run your own business. 5) Foreign income, other than simple investment income (e.g., own stocks in foreign companies).

Yeah. When you start your own business, that should be when you talk to an accountant. Well, maybe as soon as you think you'll make enough money to pay taxes. It saves you a world of heartache.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#114

Post by quietbritishjim »

sockaddr wrote: post #71
nostromo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If keeping tax codes complex was the same concept as keeping the process of electronic filing complex, what would be the point anyone buying Intuit software to do it? By your logic, it would still be just as complex anyway.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#115

Post by musictubes »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #66
nostromo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

The tax code is kept complicated in order to make carve outs for special interest groups. Intuit has no way of influencing real estate, trust, investment, alimony, disability, etc. tax regulations. Intuit profits from a complicated tax code but it’s not like their lobbying is what makes the estate and inheritance tax code complicated.

They surely want to make filing as complicated as possible so they can streamline it for you. Intuit surely lobbies to prevent the IRS from advertising free tax filing options. I’m sure they would like the forms to be as arcane as possible but I don’t think that congress has anything to do with the layout of the forms and worksheets.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#116

Post by edgyquant »

azinman2 wrote: post #20
tekla wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

By following the model that Spain and other countries follow: take the information they know (which is basically everything since anything meaningful is reported), calculate it, send you what they think you owe, and you either pay it as is or you file taxes manually.

Considering they basically do this for the simplest tax forms: why are we supposed to assume Spain has a better system again? Is this just the typical “European = better” stance so prevalent online?

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#117

Post by roflyear »

geoelectric wrote: post #25
coderintherye wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

IRS is very understanding, but I wouldn't suggest this. I have gotten plenty of letters from the IRS and they are always stressful.

The IRS has always responded in a really positive way, so it is really worth talking to them (well, unless you think you may be in real legal trouble... I guess "don't talk to the cops" applies here too...) if you're in the situation where you think "oh, yeah I messed up" or "oh, yeah they messed up" it's probably best to just reply... but yeah if you think it is serious talk to a tax attorney... (not an accountant, which isn't a tax attorney).

The "they messed up" for me was a crypto thing, where I actually took a small net loss, and didn't file (because you don't need to, for capital losses, from my understanding, though I guess you should) and they thought I took some insane gain b/c of the $ value of the trades.

I just mailed them the trades, said "I didn't submit the form for this b/c I didn't think I needed to for a loss" and they said "yay, thanks, see ya" a bit later. Positive experience.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#118

Post by UncleEntity »

odysseus wrote: post #101
oh_sigh wrote: post #44

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.

Flip side is identity thieves do your taxes early for you and get your refund.

Now that I think about it that’s probably what a phone call I recently received because I “signed up for increased life insurance” was all about.

Dude insisted I was the one who initiated the contact and probably expected me to give personal information to correct the “mistake” or, at the very least, to figure out who is plotting my death.

Guess I’m getting old enough that the scammers think I’m an easy mark.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#119

Post by sircastor »

I think this is the year that I’m going to finally hire an accountant. I have been doing my own taxes aided by software for nearly my entire adult life, and my taxes are complex. I’m tired of giving my information to some company that’s going to do their best to sell it again somehow.

The funny thing is, I kind of like doing my taxes. Oh well

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#120

Post by gavinhoward »

bmitc wrote: post #96
wespad wrote: post #19

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.

Relative of an employee here.

My relative has had to do UX work, and at least to me, it sounds like they care about it. But my relative also talks about how they're not the best at it.

So can you explain in more detail what you are wanting? Do you want some sort of way to see a line item list of what the tax bill is?

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