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IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

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Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#171

Post by jdmichal »

artursapek wrote: post #159
lesuorac wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, a non-w2 wage earner has income that is not tracked by a w2 ... The general issue with gambling wins is not that the IRS doesn't know (casinos report winnings) its that they don't have to report losses.

What? Casinos don't report all winnings. Anyone can get chips for cash, and cash for chips.

Indeed, there's a size limit on reportable winnings that trigger the necessity of a W-2G. There's also potentially different requirements that trigger tax withholding by the payer.

It's generally $600 for winnings, and $5000 for withholding.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/at-01-17.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/gaming_withholding_reportin...

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#172

Post by jsty »

thelittleone wrote: post #155
d--b wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all though. I developed admin-phobia since I moved back to France. Being a contractor here is such a FUCKING nightmare compared to UK and US. Sure the US could do without turbotax. BUT AT LEAST YOU GUYS HAVE TURBOTAX

You could establish a corporation in a UAE freezone with visa and not even need to keep books. Of course assuming your laws allow it.

> Of course assuming your laws allow it.

The spherical cow of the accounting world

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#173

Post by tzs »

kristopolous wrote: post #25
jandrese wrote: post #16

For 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…

I go with them too. Everytime this comes up though I post this https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/ There's many nice and cheap options out there. Please, if you value basic democracy, don't give money to Intuit or TurboTax - not a dollar, not a penny. But do click on their paid ads whenever you see them and just close out after the page load. That company needs to be dismantled brick by brick, byte b…

What's up with the age limitations on some of those?

        age

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#176

Post by Taywee »

whimsicalism wrote: post #123
LostLocalMan wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not hard if you have simple incomes and deduction, it's just a bloated process that you have to pay to complete (if you make enough money) and you are at risk of penalty if you accidentally fat finger manually copying printed text into a computer since the IRS already knows all the values and will know if you submitted something wrong. What would be better is if the IRS just sent you the stuff they know and you…

> eliminates the need for middle income Americans to pay a yearly fee in order to be law abiding. Yearly fee? I had to pay for turbotax but I was under the impression that it was because my income is very high. I don't know, it makes sense to me the way the IRS does it. If I get a massive windfall and the IRS didn't send me information about it, then I would be able to just not file it because I would know they don't…

TurboTax doesn't charge for standard federal income filing, but they do charge for some forms of return, and for state taxes, and for audit protection.

Even with the "free" standard offering, it's been lucrative enough for them to lobby heavily to prevent taxes from being easier, just to funnel the majority of the country through their slow filing flow and try to upsell to all of them.

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#177

Post by RandallBrown »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #71
RandallBrown wrote: post #59

Earlier 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.

In most countries that have implemented such a system, the government prepares your taxes for you, and then you ok them or ask for adjustments. The vast majority that use standard deductions would just approve it, while those that know their deductions would exceed that can itemize it. Why wouldn't such a system work here? It's not like the act of doing your taxes is what makes your realize you're over the standard d…

> It's not like the act of doing your taxes is what makes your realize you're over the standard deduction.

That is exactly how I figured out I should itemize my taxes this year.

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#178

Post by eYrKEC2 »

dgudkov wrote: post #148

With so many software developers filing taxes, why isn't there a decent open-source tax filing application?

It's incredibly complex, it changes every year, there is huge amount of gray area, if you do it wrong and the customer gets audited and fined by the IRS there is a possiblity of liability (regardless of clauses such as "AS IS" et c.)

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#179

Post by the_mar »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #135
_yb2s wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> There is no reason for a w2 wage earner taking the standard deduction to need to file taxes. Unreported gambling winnings or a low revenue side gig aren't tracked by the IRS.

Cool. How does the current system solve this?

Why can’t the IRS just tell me what they think I own by April 15th, and then i can add things to it.

My taxes are really simple. I still don’t understand why I have to spend at least 40 minutes every year giving the IRS the information that they already have.

Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants

#180

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

_yb2s wrote: post #51
ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #5

It 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…

The people should definitely be reminded of how much they spend for how little value they get.

That said, I'd be more than happy to see HR Block go bankrupt.

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