are they going to collect data as you enter things into the interface and scrutinize behavior? I kind of like how a third party will wait until I am good and ready to send data over to the IRS
IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
161–170 of 589 posts
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have investments or businesses of any type? Do you itemize your deductions? My biggest time sink this year was sorting out how to file crypto gains/losses. After two hours of struggle, I found that I had to pay income tax on about 15 dollars of capital gains.
I just take the standard deduction. Investments: Yes, I have to file a 1099. Business: no. Crypto: I think your holdings have to be significant for it to matter whether you file this or not, maybe I broke a law here.
You broke the law if you sold crypto, regardless of amount.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#163The software is nice and all... but the real problem is that the tax code is just way too complex. If you have properties, RSU income, other investment income, W2 income, and have to deal with multiple states you can have three different CPAs come up with three different numbers. At the end of the day, if you're a billionaire earned income is a teeny tiny part of your earnings and most of it is kept unrealized for ta…
Paying 50% is a complaint about the tax rate, not complexity. Billionaires not paying tax on unearned gains is a complaint about the tax policy and its basis in $ not assets, not complexity. Doctors and Software Engineers earning >$500K/yr and paying 50% of it in tax proves that social mobility is quite enabled.
The number of engineers making 500k USD per capita is a rounding error. Social mobility in the US is not great despite the purported American dream. Just because one can be wealthy from any background, the statistics prove you're unlikely do do so. The needle for social mobility has moved significantly globally since the times of kings and aristocrats.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would you know if you're going to take the standard deduction without doing your taxes? I'm fairly certain the federal government doesn't know about all my deductions.
Here in Poland the tax form is pretty much "here is what we know, re-type that into the form and add whatever is missing for deducations". Which you can use free app to download, file and send the filed one. weirdly enough official site also have instruction on how to use PlayOnLinux to run it under Linux
That is really interesting. I wonder if they considered Linux too late in development to shift to something platform agnostic, or just decided that Wine was reliable enough for them to depend on it.
It's interesting that anything other than MacOS and windows is even considered at all, even just in the instructions.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would you know if you're going to take the standard deduction without doing your taxes? People wealthy enough to even think that their deductions might exceed the standard deduction are not only in the vast minority, they're also wealthy enough that paying for TurboTax isn't an issue because they have their accountant do the taxes. IOW, you're optimizing for the exception, not the majority case.
Two DINKs who live in HCOL areas and donate 10% of their income to charity should be thinking about itemizing, though. We’re talking 250k in salary or so, right?
Your point being...? What percentage of people do you think fit your description? I stand by my "vast minority" statement, if that's what you're driving at. HN is not the general U. S. population.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#166It is WAY past time for this. It's absurd that we have to regurgitate tax information that has already been reported to the government. But it's even more absurd that the government gives us no way to do so electronically. And then there's the disgusting shell game that IS the entire U.S. tax system, which is the root of the whole problem. But... didn't Congress pass some corrupt legislation years ago that made it il…
The weird thing is the IRS already knows my taxes better than I do… a few times I’ve made mistakes inputting forms or forgot to put something in, and I will always get a letter from them about it. They’ve already done my taxes so they should just send me a bill and not waste my time, possibly with the option to submit extra details they are missing like deductions… but that should be an option for people that need it…
Exactly. “We’ve submitted your tax return for you using the standard deduction. If you’d like to itemize your deduction, please send us Form 1050 Itemized Deduction worksheet.”
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#167It is WAY past time for this. It's absurd that we have to regurgitate tax information that has already been reported to the government. But it's even more absurd that the government gives us no way to do so electronically. And then there's the disgusting shell game that IS the entire U.S. tax system, which is the root of the whole problem. But... didn't Congress pass some corrupt legislation years ago that made it il…
The weird thing is the IRS already knows my taxes better than I do… a few times I’ve made mistakes inputting forms or forgot to put something in, and I will always get a letter from them about it. They’ve already done my taxes so they should just send me a bill and not waste my time, possibly with the option to submit extra details they are missing like deductions… but that should be an option for people that need it…
yeah it's insane. This past tax cycle, we filed and overpaid by like 3K, using Turbo Tax. Of course Turbo Tax didn't tell us this, and we wouldn't have known except we got a check for the overpayment from the govt about a week or two later!
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#168For what it is worth, even with my medium-complex tax return I have had great results with freetaxusa.com for the past few years. The first couple of times we used it we ran the taxes through TurboTax and FreeTax at the same time and due to better UI the FreeTax version was faster and less confusing. That said, at the end of the process after entering all of the same information in the same places the TurboTax one di…
My taxes have been getting more complex every year, and after this year I no longer trust TurboTax. There was a situation where Turbotax did not recommend a tax form to me, despite me answering questions in such a way that it was clear the tax form would have been impactful and applicable. After I filled out all of the tax information my taxes were clearly off many thousands of dollars. I had to review my tax forms,…
I don't trust anyone! TurboTax gives me one number, my accountant gives me another, and my by-hand version is yet another that my accountant comes around to eventually. The sad part is that each party is figuring out something unique that the others didn't because it is all so complex. Each route prompts different questions, which, together, make things more accurate. I hate it.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would you know if you're going to take the standard deduction without doing your taxes? I'm fairly certain the federal government doesn't know about all my deductions.
This is why making it this easy is a win for the government. 99% of the people are lazy and will just let them do it, basically giving them free money.
Less money to Intuit and H&R Block and more in my pocket and my government's is a win to me. I'm all for productive businesses, but I'm sick of these tax companies influencing public policy and collecting rent by solving a problem that they are intentionally keeping alive.
Imagine a landscaper doing doughnuts on your lawn and then telling you to pay him to fix it, and that's roughly how I view Intuit.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#170With so many software developers filing taxes, why isn't there a decent open-source tax filing application?
Because it's largely a boring coding task that requires painfully complete understanding of stupidly obscure tax codes, running research into tax courts to see how these codes have been interpreted into law, etc. I'm not sure about the US, but other countries have certification that must be passed before they're even allowed to sell/provide their product to meet the government tax guidelines.