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

washingtonpost.com

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

#451

Post by consp »

NickC25 wrote: post #440
jcadam wrote: post #428

On the upside, if the tax-preparation industry is destroyed or severely diminished, it would make it easier to reform/simplify the tax code at a later date should a future government be so inclined. On the downside... no way would I use a tax preparation system provided by the IRS. It's bound to be a UX nightmare, like all government software, there's an obvious conflict of interest (the IRS has no reason to help fin…

>I'd rather not give them any more visibility than I have to into my personal finances. They already kinda have all the visibility they want. Remember the whole joke about the IRS - "we know exactly how much you owe, but we're not going to tell you that amount because you have to figure it out yourself, and if your number doesn't match ours, you could go to jail for tax fraud". If you use anything but cash for everyt…

Sounds like my tax form last year (non us). Everything filed in, nothing wrong, just check the numbers, change one small number since it couldn't have known and it's all ok. Digitally sign it and off you go.

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

#453

Post by chaostheory »

amelius wrote: post #439
opzz wrote: post #425

They should open source this. I would actually contribute to making this usable.

Makes you wonder why there wasn't an open source tool for this to begin with. Why did nobody feel the urge to make this?

Security through obscurity?

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

#454

Post by sieongioetnio »

The executives and lobbyists involved can go straight to hell (better yet, prison), but I am somewhat concerned by how this might affect employees. There are some 80,000 tax preparers in the U.S.. These people did not invent this scam and are not getting rich from it. [1] There are more people involved if you include software developers, cleaners, receptionists, and so forth.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes132082.htm

The industry should be destroyed and the earth salted, but doing so will hurt some decent people.

>The IRS estimates that setting up and operating a direct file system would cost the government between $64 million and $249 million annually, depending on the number of users and the complexity of returns it could handle.

For all practical purposes, it's free. Intuit alone has some $12.7 billion in revenue, so we could spend fifty times the estimated cost and still be in the black.

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

#455

Post by foobarian »

rocketbop wrote: post #424

> A direct-to-IRS e-file system is wholly redundant and is nothing more than a solution in search of a problem," said Rick Heineman, a spokesman for Intuit, the company behind TurboTax. "That solution will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars and especially harm the most vulnerable Americans." Extraordinary that he could say that sentence with what I assume was a straight face.

"A fence around the chicken coop is wholly redundant and is nothing more than a solution in search of a problem," said Sly the Fox. "It will unnecessarily cost the farmer thousands of dollars and especially harm the most vulnerable chickens."

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

#459

Post by latchkey »

rocketbop wrote: post #424

> A direct-to-IRS e-file system is wholly redundant and is nothing more than a solution in search of a problem," said Rick Heineman, a spokesman for Intuit, the company behind TurboTax. "That solution will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars and especially harm the most vulnerable Americans." Extraordinary that he could say that sentence with what I assume was a straight face.

> Rick Heineman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickheineman/

https://theorg.com/org/intuit/org-chart/rick-heineman

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

#460

Post by jcadam »

NickC25 wrote: post #440
jcadam wrote: post #428

On the upside, if the tax-preparation industry is destroyed or severely diminished, it would make it easier to reform/simplify the tax code at a later date should a future government be so inclined. On the downside... no way would I use a tax preparation system provided by the IRS. It's bound to be a UX nightmare, like all government software, there's an obvious conflict of interest (the IRS has no reason to help fin…

>I'd rather not give them any more visibility than I have to into my personal finances. They already kinda have all the visibility they want. Remember the whole joke about the IRS - "we know exactly how much you owe, but we're not going to tell you that amount because you have to figure it out yourself, and if your number doesn't match ours, you could go to jail for tax fraud". If you use anything but cash for everyt…

The ultimate answer here is to make tax preparation services unnecessary for the vast majority of folks by simplifying the tax code. My first one or two tax filings were on a 1040EZ back when I was a single college student working a single part time job and didn't own any investments or real estate :) Didn't need any preparation services for that.

But now I'm in my 40s and filing taxes is a nightmare.

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