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IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

nytimes.com

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Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#71

Post by glasshug »

freedomben wrote: post #63
ttyprintk wrote: post #38

For reference, Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State and Wyoming are participating.

For those who don't know, of those 12 states, only 4 actually have income taxes. The other 8 do not. This whole system stinks. The overly complicated tax code, the sleazy corporations making tons of money on it, the entrenched politicians and bureacrats who make a living on it, etc.

The program is for federal tax filing, not state tax. I think you may be misreading this line:

> Most of those states don’t tax income at the state level, but the four that do...will guide participants to a state-supported tool that they can use to submit their state returns.

Which means it's _more_ incomplete in states with income tax (federal return through IRS pilot, state return through a state system) than in states without income tax (just federal IRS pilot return).

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#72

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

ethbr1 wrote: post #10
webwielder2 wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Turns out, the easiest way to get rid of taxes is to not pay anyone to run the tax system. Bonus: being able to claim you're being fiscally responsible. (Despite taxes being a revenue generator and salary to administer them being revenue-positive)

It's the easiest way for the rich to avoid an audit. For everyone else, the IRS is coming after you if you are easy for them to flag for underpayment.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#73

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #62
HarryHirsch wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Trump is a populist. "Get your taxes done with me for free instead of HR Block charging you a couple hundreds" is a low-hanging fruit.

He _uses_ populism, but not on issues intended to benefit the common people. He will push policy to help the filing industry, pocket some kickbacks in the form of contracts to his hotels/resorts from those companies and their lobbyists, and then tell the people that this is great news for them (a claim his base will not question).

His administration did streamline the 1040 into one basic form with addendums rather than the senseless three variant system from years past.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#74

Post by lupusreal »

GreedClarifies wrote: post #16
wolfgang42 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In one possible scenario included in the agency’s report to Congress, the I.R.S. could fill out tax returns with information it already has, like data from W-2 wage statements. For the pilot, however, participants will have to enter their own financial information, the I.R.S. said.

So in its initial form it is indeed a complete waste of tax payers money. Shocking.

I'm with you; if I still have to fill in the paperwork then quite literally what is the point? I'll continue paying an accountant to do this bullshit. This 'new' system is useless to me.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#75

Post by nerdponx »

hackernewds wrote: post #70
nerdponx wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is a combination of industry lobbying (see elsewhere in this thread) and partisan politics that result in deliberately under-funding the IRS (for a general notion, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast , and for more directly relevant events see https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted )

[flagged]

The $80B is new, and until recently they were understaffed and underfunded.

It's like a poor person finally getting Section 8 housing, and then you turn around and accuse them of being wasteful and inefficient with their spending, because they have a house so they clearly aren't as poor as they say.

Also the $80B and 87k agents is slightly overstating what they are actually going to get. See e.g. https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2022/10/20/the-reality-....

Is it possible that the IRS lacks the engineering management expertise to build an effective in-house software team? Sure.

Is it possible that they won't spend their money efficiently as a result? Sure.

Is it possible that they'll hire B-grade programmers, because the top people won't want to move to some random suburb in MD to work for $120k/year? Sure.

But to somehow accuse the IRS of having "massive" funding and imply that they are in fact well-supported is just disregarding the facts of recent history.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#77

Post by ethbr1 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #72
ethbr1 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out, the easiest way to get rid of taxes is to not pay anyone to run the tax system. Bonus: being able to claim you're being fiscally responsible. (Despite taxes being a revenue generator and salary to administer them being revenue-positive)

It's the easiest way for the rich to avoid an audit. For everyone else, the IRS is coming after you if you are easy for them to flag for underpayment.

The IRS hasn't come after the rich for a decade+ because audit groups targeting higher-wealth filers have been systemically dismantled.

It'd be nice to see (a) additional enforcement resources applied to low-wealth filers (where ROI on salary is reliable and positive) and use the proceeds to (b) fund additional enforcement resources on high-wealth filers.

Fewer levers for Congress to defund, when their donors call up to complain.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#78

Post by fsmv »

practicemaths wrote: post #44

I just file my taxes by hand and mail it in. Somewhat less concern with 3rd parties holding my information and losing it to leaks/hacks. It is free. A little obnoxious but the forms do have instructions/directions.

I heard that this sometimes takes them much longer to process the returns that way. Has that been your experience?

One time I reproduced the forms in a spreadsheet following the instructions and it wasn't much different from doing the online wizards. I would have liked to mail it in but I just paid to e-file anyway.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#79

Post by unyttigfjelltol »

usaar333 wrote: post #66
MenhirMike wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is really the main issue. Offering a more accessible free version to file taxes is great, but the real problem is the need to file taxes at all for a lot of people. The IRS already knows the relevant info: Your employer sends W-2 information, your bank and broker are sending the various 1099 forms for interest, dividends, stock sale gains/losses, etc. Same for your spouse and kids/dependents. Don't even need to…

> Unless you're dealing with foreign income, are a business, or do a lot of contract work for cash, I don't see much reason why the IRS can't just handle all the taxes automatically - apart from the fact that some company wants to charge me $150 a year to file my taxes and making sure that my tax situation (which would fit on a beer coaster otherwise) is as complicated as possible. I imagine there are heavy software…

Note the proviso, taxes should be automatic "for a lot of people." Will taxes be automatic for Warren Buffet? No. For GE? No. For Suzie Q. Public? Yes.

Re: IRS to begin trial of its own free tax-filing system

#80

Post by neon_electro »

hackernewds wrote: post #70
nerdponx wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is a combination of industry lobbying (see elsewhere in this thread) and partisan politics that result in deliberately under-funding the IRS (for a general notion, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast , and for more directly relevant events see https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted )

[flagged]

Tax law enforcement is not the same as the end user experience of taxpayers.
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