Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
wakeuptopolitics.com
Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#2H.R.998 - Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act - https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/998
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#3Sounds like a very good idea. I never got a math error notice but I've gotten a few that were fundamentally a case of transposed digits--and it was not one bit clear. You didn't report interest from ABC--but looking at my return it clearly shows interest from ABC. It would have been much easier if they said their files show more interest from ABC than you are reporting.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#4Taxes in the US are unnecessarily stressful. I remember going to H&R Block and being sent home to find some piece of supporting documentation because it was “really important”. I turned the whole apartment upside down but wasn’t able to find it. Went back to the tax preparer in a state of high anxiety. When I asked what would happen if I couldn’t find the document and was told the impact on the final assessment could be as high as $80. Would have gladly spent 10x that to avoid the stress.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#5> to accurately prepopulate tax returns for around 45% of Americans. (Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do.)
One should note that the cited study quotes the 45% from a 1992 study. These days, with gig economy and quasi-self-employment, that number is probably higher since you don't have an employer who reports your income for you.
Still, here in Australia, where we have the return-free tax system, adding what you earned from your various gig jobs isn't too hard: you add that as items to the web form: 'I made 15,123 from Uber Eats'. That just gets added to your overall return. I don't see how that's so hard compared to the US?
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#6> to accurately prepopulate tax returns for around 45% of Americans. (Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do.) One should note that the cited study quotes the 45% from a 1992 study. These days, with gig economy and quasi-self-employment, that number is probably higher since you don't have an employer who reports your income for you. Still, here in Australia, where we have the return-free tax sys…
In the states if you are a contractor there are tons of things that you can deduct from your taxable income. So “figuring out how much you should be taxed” is after those deductions.
If uber paid you $15123 but you:
Just bought a new bike bc your other was stolen
You paid $1200 for insurance
You bought a helmet and cold weather clothes etc etc.
Those things reduce your taxable income.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#7> to accurately prepopulate tax returns for around 45% of Americans. (Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do.) One should note that the cited study quotes the 45% from a 1992 study. These days, with gig economy and quasi-self-employment, that number is probably higher since you don't have an employer who reports your income for you. Still, here in Australia, where we have the return-free tax sys…
In the states if you are a contractor there are tons of things that you can deduct from your taxable income. So “figuring out how much you should be taxed” is after those deductions. If uber paid you $15123 but you: Just bought a new bike bc your other was stolen You paid $1200 for insurance You bought a helmet and cold weather clothes etc etc. Those things reduce your taxable income.
Yes, same in Australia. Keep receipts and add the cost to the web form.
They have simplified it nicely, though: if you work from home you can claim a per-hour deduction so you don't have to do the math of wear-and-tear, electricity, internet etc. I think it was $0.6 per hour?
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#8[dead]
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#9> to accurately prepopulate tax returns for around 45% of Americans. (Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do.) One should note that the cited study quotes the 45% from a 1992 study. These days, with gig economy and quasi-self-employment, that number is probably higher since you don't have an employer who reports your income for you. Still, here in Australia, where we have the return-free tax sys…
In the states if you are a contractor there are tons of things that you can deduct from your taxable income. So “figuring out how much you should be taxed” is after those deductions. If uber paid you $15123 but you: Just bought a new bike bc your other was stolen You paid $1200 for insurance You bought a helmet and cold weather clothes etc etc. Those things reduce your taxable income.
I think that's common in most places. What's different in the US is that the IRS forces you to proactively provide a lot more information about it, though. I have a rental property and need to enter the same information about the same income and expenses on three different forms, breaking it down in different ways. It's tedious and error-prone, and I guess the philosophy is that it's easier to spot fraud if the numbers on all the different forms don't add up to a coherent story.
Other countries presumably rely on other fraud signals. They might have more visibility into your day-to-day financial transactions, or there might be more of a culture of leaving an anonymous tip if you suspect your neighbor isn't paying a fair share.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#10Taxes in the US are unnecessarily stressful. I remember going to H&R Block and being sent home to find some piece of supporting documentation because it was “really important”. I turned the whole apartment upside down but wasn’t able to find it. Went back to the tax preparer in a state of high anxiety. When I asked what would happen if I couldn’t find the document and was told the impact on the final assessment could…
Dare one ask where all of the AI proponents are when the subjects of public budgeting and taxation arise?