IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
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Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#2This is good news, right? I'm kind of amazed that good news is happening and that the lobbying forces (eventually) got defeated in this case.
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#3> a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped
What kind of insanity leads to this? The government is prohibited from creating software that helps its citizens?
There's a lot wrong with Brazil but here I just download the government-provided software (that runs on Windows/Linux/Mac) and fill my taxes in 10-15 minutes. Every year they release a new version that is easier to use than the previous one.
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#4Not sure how factual Adam Ruins Everything is, but his skit on taxes is pretty damning for tax software companies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj4anUL-LvY
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#5> a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped What kind of insanity leads to this? The government is prohibited from creating software that helps its citizens? There's a lot wrong with Brazil but here I just download the government-provided software (that runs on Windows/Linux/Mac) and fill my taxes in 10-15 minutes. Every year they release a new version that is easier t…
The idea was lots of people could file for free using a private online service. Not many people at all ended up using it, since it wasn't in the company's interest to have people not pay them.
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#6This is good news, right? I'm kind of amazed that good news is happening and that the lobbying forces (eventually) got defeated in this case.
Very much so, if you're opposed to H&R Block and Intuit's stranglehold on tax filing.
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#7>Now companies are barred from hiding their free products from search engines such as Google, and a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped.
>Under the new rules, participating companies also have to standardize the naming convention of their Free File version as “IRS Free File program delivered by [product name].”
Respect to ProPublica for their commitment to this issue. I first learned of the Free File deal from their reporting and enjoyed the HN comments on their articles.
On the 20-year fight to stop Americans from doing their taxes for free: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21281411
On hiding Free File from search engines: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19758126
On tax industry lobbying: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21393758
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#8Fantastic news!
Now let's have the IRS start building out their free e-file program and IDEALLY put some pressure or at least summarize what parts of the tax code are the most complex so they can be simplified.
A lot of the tax code complexity comes from congress messing with the logic of taxing folks on their income.
And yes, simplifying the tax code would get rid of loopholes like deduction that can exceed the cost of the item placed into service (!) which make zero sense AND create tax vs gaap difference that have to be tracked over long periods of time.
Another one to get rid of - phantom LIFO inventory unless the inventory is real.
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#9HN has always been at war with TurboTax.
Edit: looks like this line didn't go over so well. To avoid distractions, I'm going to move these links to another post and mark this subthread off topic.
Links moved to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21924055.
Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax
#10> a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped What kind of insanity leads to this? The government is prohibited from creating software that helps its citizens? There's a lot wrong with Brazil but here I just download the government-provided software (that runs on Windows/Linux/Mac) and fill my taxes in 10-15 minutes. Every year they release a new version that is easier t…
> What kind of insanity leads to this? The government is prohibited from creating software that helps its citizens?
"Lobbying" and "campaign contributions", aka paying congresspeople aka straight up corruption but you can't use the C word in US politics.
H&R Block and Intuit have been greasing palms for years to keep the agreement in place and encode it in law: https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-...
> Those efforts have been fueled by hefty lobbying spending and campaign contributions by the industry. Intuit and H&R Block last year poured a combined $6.6 million into lobbying related to the IRS filing deal and other issues. Neal, who became Ways and Means chair this year after Democrats took control of the House, received $16,000 in contributions from Intuit and H&R Block in the last two election cycles.