I paid ~$100 to file my taxes this year. At the end they said because I had one particular form that I couldn't file electronically, and I would have to send it in. So I had to print everything out, write checks, package everything up, visit the post office, and check that the letters arrived. I still had to pay full price of course.
IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
11–20 of 589 posts
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#12It is WAY past time for this. It's absurd that we have to regurgitate tax information that has already been reported to the government. But it's even more absurd that the government gives us no way to do so electronically. And then there's the disgusting shell game that IS the entire U.S. tax system, which is the root of the whole problem. But... didn't Congress pass some corrupt legislation years ago that made it il…
Never happened. Thanks Propublica! https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-pro...
Indeed. This is why a free press exists. Too bad fewer and fewer people appreciate it.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#13Are they going to also coordinate this with the states so Federal and State can be done for free for most people?
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#14Hopefully it does. The tax system here is ridiculous to say the least.
I lived in four countries before moving to the USA and none of them required me to file at all. As an ordinary employee, taxes were PAYE (Pay as you Earn) and there was no complicated system of tax exemptions that aren't either handled directly at source, or as separate rebates (like child allowance payments). I long for that day in the USA.
It seems especially ridiculous since the US raised the standard deduction in 2017 fewer and fewer of us can itemize enough to meet it.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#15What I don't understand about these programs is the added income clause. In California the state provides a free tool to file state income taxes (CalFile), but you can't use it if you make over $230,000 a year. Does it really make sense? It's similar with the federal free file program I believe.
You would think they would want to encourage high income citizens to use their tool so they can control the deductions/credits/process.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#16For what it is worth, even with my medium-complex tax return I have had great results with freetaxusa.com for the past few years. The first couple of times we used it we ran the taxes through TurboTax and FreeTax at the same time and due to better UI the FreeTax version was faster and less confusing. That said, at the end of the process after entering all of the same information in the same places the TurboTax one did offer about $50 more in returns for unexplained reasons (The calculated figures were just plain different even with the same inputs, and doing the math by hand we got the FreeTax figures), but would have cost me $60 to use so we went with FreeTax instead. The second year we did the same thing and had a similar result so this year we didn't even bother.
The process is still way too hard and confusing, but at least it feels like I'm feeding one less parasite this way.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#17I paid ~$100 to file my taxes this year. At the end they said because I had one particular form that I couldn't file electronically, and I would have to send it in. So I had to print everything out, write checks, package everything up, visit the post office, and check that the letters arrived. I still had to pay full price of course.
Pro tip: If you have a tax bill over a few thousand dollars, sign up for some credit cards with big fat bonuses just to pay the taxes, and you can easily make up the $100. When the system of {government, financial institutions, credit cards, etc.} sucks, shove it back to the system.
Obviously, calculate whether it really works out in your favor with the credit card payment fees, but in many cases it will.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#18FINALLY
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#19Mostly off topic, but every time the subject of US taxes comes up I can't help but think about Tom Clancy's Executive Orders. (Spoiler coming) At the beginning of the book the entire US administration except Jack Ryan is killed in a terrorist attack, leaving him President and with the entire government to rebuild. Later in the book one of his advisors tells him something like "This is the only chance in History we will have to make all the hard decisions, all the hard choices we've been too afraid to make. We need to completely overhaul our tax system. This is our chance".
As the years go by and all these plans are killed one after the other I realize how right this guy was.
Re: IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I lived in four countries before moving to the USA and none of them required me to file at all. As an ordinary employee, taxes were PAYE (Pay as you Earn) and there was no complicated system of tax exemptions that aren't either handled directly at source, or as separate rebates (like child allowance payments). I long for that day in the USA.
It seems especially ridiculous since the US raised the standard deduction in 2017 fewer and fewer of us can itemize enough to meet it.
Not only did they raise the standard deduction, but there's that $10k limit that you slam into when trying to itemize. My total tax burden went up about 2% after that change, but it does make filing theoretically easier, except that my wife is always holding out hope so we go through all the work to itemize only to discover yet again that we're over the cap and wouldn't benefit.