Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 127 posts

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#51

Post by vonmoltke »

wtbob wrote: post #4

Of course I would, since they already do . Whatever I submit is checked by them anyway, and it's generally too expensive and painful to challenge them. So…why do I have to pay the Intuit tax every year?

No, they don't. They don't know how much I paid in sales tax, property tax, or mortgage interest. They don't know how much I donated to various charities. They don't know how much I made from cash jobs. They don't know how much my small side business made or lost. There are a whole slew of variables the IRS doesn't know until I tell them, and that they take my word for until and unless I get audited.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#52

Post by Alphasite_ »

vonmoltke wrote: post #51
wtbob wrote: post #4

Of course I would, since they already do . Whatever I submit is checked by them anyway, and it's generally too expensive and painful to challenge them. So…why do I have to pay the Intuit tax every year?

No, they don't. They don't know how much I paid in sales tax, property tax, or mortgage interest. They don't know how much I donated to various charities. They don't know how much I made from cash jobs. They don't know how much my small side business made or lost. There are a whole slew of variables the IRS doesn't know until I tell them, and that they take my word for until and unless I get audited.

And thats why you can do it your self. Forcing everyone to perform a repetitive task which can be easly automated (for 90% of people) is not a sensible default to take.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#53

Post by mannykannot »

1971genocide wrote: post #6

As an non-american this baffles me. Why is there so much distrust towards the government, police, and military in US ? Isn't the US the oldest democracy ? Society is built on trust - once that doesn't exist then nothing gets done.

The US individual tax reporting process is an annual reminder to voters of what they pay in taxes, that cannot be easily ignored. I am sure that fiscally conservative politicians see this as an advantage to their cause, though they are unlikely to publicly say so.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#54

Post by pktgen »

vonmoltke wrote: post #51
wtbob wrote: post #4

Of course I would, since they already do . Whatever I submit is checked by them anyway, and it's generally too expensive and painful to challenge them. So…why do I have to pay the Intuit tax every year?

No, they don't. They don't know how much I paid in sales tax, property tax, or mortgage interest. They don't know how much I donated to various charities. They don't know how much I made from cash jobs. They don't know how much my small side business made or lost. There are a whole slew of variables the IRS doesn't know until I tell them, and that they take my word for until and unless I get audited.

Most taxpayers don't have enough deductions to itemize, cash jobs, or side business income. You'd still have the option to file a return if there's additional income or deductions the IRS doesn't know about.

Also, I believe mortgage interest is reported to the IRS.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#55

Post by yummyfajitas »

1971genocide wrote: post #6

As an non-american this baffles me. Why is there so much distrust towards the government, police, and military in US ? Isn't the US the oldest democracy ? Society is built on trust - once that doesn't exist then nothing gets done.

I don't quite understand how someone with the username 1971genocide could possibly trust the government. But I guess operation searchlight was a minor thing - after all, official government statistics say only 26,000 people were killed.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#56

Post by pktgen »

mannykannot wrote: post #53
1971genocide wrote: post #6

As an non-american this baffles me. Why is there so much distrust towards the government, police, and military in US ? Isn't the US the oldest democracy ? Society is built on trust - once that doesn't exist then nothing gets done.

The US individual tax reporting process is an annual reminder to voters of what they pay in taxes, that cannot be easily ignored. I am sure that fiscally conservative politicians see this as an advantage to their cause, though they are unlikely to publicly say so.

Why wouldn't an IRS-prepared return do the same? You'd still have to look at the numbers and handle your payment/refund.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#57

Post by yummyfajitas »

mooreds wrote: post #27
1971genocide wrote: post #6

As an non-american this baffles me. Why is there so much distrust towards the government, police, and military in US ? Isn't the US the oldest democracy ? Society is built on trust - once that doesn't exist then nothing gets done.

Yes, it's worrisome. Don't forget that we've had 45 years of one of the major parties telling us 'government is the problem'. So, a whole generation has been brought up hearing this as a valid view. And, there's a deep distrust of centralized authority in American history. Up until the closing I'd the western frontier (1890s), that distrust could be mollified by moving to 'unsettled' land. Then the USA had a almost a…

The Reagan reaction was to drastically increase government spending per capita. The only presidency which increased it more was Nixon/Ford.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/03/per...

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#58

Post by cmiles74 »

aikah wrote: post #19
1971genocide wrote: post #6

As an non-american this baffles me. Why is there so much distrust towards the government, police, and military in US ? Isn't the US the oldest democracy ? Society is built on trust - once that doesn't exist then nothing gets done.

Some people in US think the IRS has no legitimacy > Society is built on trust Well in US there are like 2 levels of government, the state gvt and the federal one. Some people think the federal gvt is despotic and abuses the powers granted by the constitution.

In my opinion, this is typically the position of the party with the least amount of power. Those that have lost seats are often advocates of "states' rights".

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#59

Post by Demiurge »

lostcolony wrote: post #29
Demiurge wrote: post #15

I have done taxes using the free way historically, on TurboTax. This year, I again opted for 'no charge' option, went though, and at the very end had to pay $104.00 without any explanation. I tried going back but I couldn't find if I had mistakingly selected something because they throw in payed options as you go. But I couldn't find or change anything, so decided to file instead of doing taxes the old fashioned pape…

Time to switch to TaxAct?

Thanks for the pointer. Definitely, next year.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?

#60

Post by fps »

higherpurpose wrote: post #7

In other countries it's the employers that pay pretty much all of your taxes. They just keep the taxes from your salary and then when they pay their own taxes they also pay yours. I do think there's a slight disadvantage in having the taxes essentially "hidden away from you". This could be somewhat alleviated if instead of 10 different taxes there are just 2 or 3 at most, to make the whole thing more understandable.…

This is the case in the US as well. But the US tax code is complicated and every year we take a form from our employer that declares how much tax they paid on our behalf and combine it with forms from our banks and receipts from tax deductable things like paying a mortgage, educational costs, retirement savings, donations to charity or random things like buying an electric car or solar panels, and come away with a total number we owe. Usually, since many people in the US get deductions that their employer doesn't compensate for when paying our taxes, this results in the government returning some of our money. Some people make more money from investments than their deductions cover that results in them having paid too little, and they have to send a check to the IRS.

For example, in 2014 my overall graduated tax liability should have been 21%. However, due to deductions, it was 16%. I got the difference back as a refund.

Post reply on HN