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How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

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Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#11

Post by rm999 »

This stuff aggravates me. My taxes aren't abnormally complex (single, one state, very few deductions, one w-2), but I get several 1099s for my investments and end up spending an hour filling them in manually, importing CSV files from my brokerages, and double checking the numbers. What annoys me is all the forms clearly state the IRS has also been sent this information; I'm literally filling out forms in a slow, error-prone way just so the IRS can run a simple == check to make sure I entered them in correctly. I feel like it's something my third grade teacher would force us to do to kill time.

I don't care about the 30 dollars turbotax charges me, I'll send 30 dollars straight to the CEO or promise to burn it. What bothers me is that I've been forced to do manual data entry - a pet peeve of mine as a programmer - because the government has been lobbied specifically to be less efficient.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#12

Post by mcenedella »

The choice is between letting the government do your taxes for "free", versus having a company whose reputation rides on getting your taxes done as efficiently as possible with the least tax burden to you. Anybody who would choose to have the government complete them, hasn't been paying attention to the lengths revenue-strapped states will go to maximize their tax collections.

It's a bit like letting the user car salesman set the price you pay for the auto versus haggling for yourself. It's also simpler, "free", quicker, and less intensive to let the professional do it for you.

But free can sometimes be the most expensive way of all.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#13

Post by crazygringo »

niggler wrote: post #10

FYI: this exists: https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/ I haven't used this personally for filing because it doesn't handle certain forms like 1128, but I'm told it's pretty good for basic stuff

No, it's not about doing your taxes electronically.

It's about the IRS pre-calculating everything for you, so you don't have to input anything. You just say "yes, that's right", unless there are errors or additional information needed.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#14

Post by raverbashing »

mcenedella wrote: post #12

The choice is between letting the government do your taxes for "free", versus having a company whose reputation rides on getting your taxes done as efficiently as possible with the least tax burden to you. Anybody who would choose to have the government complete them, hasn't been paying attention to the lengths revenue-strapped states will go to maximize their tax collections. It's a bit like letting the user car sal…

This is total BS

Go reread the article, unless you're really in pro of companies charging for what should be free.

Pro-tip: if the government thinks you owe X, it's not Turbotax that's going to change that.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#15

Post by toomuchtodo »

crazygringo wrote: post #13
niggler wrote: post #10

FYI: this exists: https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/ I haven't used this personally for filing because it doesn't handle certain forms like 1128, but I'm told it's pretty good for basic stuff

No, it's not about doing your taxes electronically. It's about the IRS pre-calculating everything for you, so you don't have to input anything . You just say "yes, that's right", unless there are errors or additional information needed.

Exactly. We have the ability to do this, and private companies lobby against it (and win!) to protect their profit.

What the fark.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#16

Post by ScottWhigham »

niggler wrote: post #10

FYI: this exists: https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/ I haven't used this personally for filing because it doesn't handle certain forms like 1128, but I'm told it's pretty good for basic stuff

I think you're missing the point. The IRS has already received your 1099/W2/etc and thus it knows (a) your income, and (b) how much in taxes you've already paid. By then having the IRS start your tax return for you, you would no longer have to fill in that info. The IRS makes free forms available already. Besides, are there actually people so stupid that they would give their SSN/info to a site like that?

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#17

Post by seefoma »

mcenedella wrote: post #12

The choice is between letting the government do your taxes for "free", versus having a company whose reputation rides on getting your taxes done as efficiently as possible with the least tax burden to you. Anybody who would choose to have the government complete them, hasn't been paying attention to the lengths revenue-strapped states will go to maximize their tax collections. It's a bit like letting the user car sal…

I disagree. We are talking about instances where both you and the government have all the information necessary to compute your tax exactly. It doesn't matter who does the calculation, the rate is fixed in advance. Even if you let them calculate the number for you there is no reason you can't double check it.

For more complicated tax situations where you are trying to minimize your tax based on information not available to the government this type of a system wouldn't be applicable.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#18

Post by MatthewPhillips »

rm999 wrote: post #11

This stuff aggravates me. My taxes aren't abnormally complex (single, one state, very few deductions, one w-2), but I get several 1099s for my investments and end up spending an hour filling them in manually, importing CSV files from my brokerages, and double checking the numbers. What annoys me is all the forms clearly state the IRS has also been sent this information; I'm literally filling out forms in a slow, erro…

The government is not bad at code because of lobbying, they're bad at code because of fluctuating budgets, low salaries, and ridiculous processes.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#19

Post by JimWestergren »

Stats about tax declaration from Sweden last year:

Via internet: 19,9%

Via PIN code: 20,1%

Via telephone: 12,5%

SMS: 6,6%

Smartphone app: 2,3%

Total: 60,4% filed electronically

The rest sent in papers via the mail. (the old method)

Source: http://www.skatteverket.se/download/18.71004e4c133e23bf6db80...

Personally I have filed via the internet since 2005 both private and for my company.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

#20

Post by chaz »

seivan wrote: post #6

Hmm. How good is Turbo Tax, I mean I can tell it's horribly coded, but does it have automated features/recommendations that will help you earn more? Or is it basically what the tax system does in Swede/Finland etc?

Why do you believe that TurboTax is horribly coded? I can't say whether or not their code is good or bad, but the US tax the fact that TurboTax is so popular and successful is only because the paper + accountant alternative was so terrible. I was describing an business app I've been working on to a non-technical friend, and she commented, "whatever you do, please make it as easy to use as TurboTax."

There was an interesting article posted on HN on how Intuit manages its 10 million lines of code for QuickBooks. I wouldn't be surprised if TurboTax is built in a similar fashion. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4315578

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