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Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

nextgov.com

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Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#121

Post by wildzzz »

terminalshort wrote: post #62
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #44

Meanwhile in pretty much all other nations you go online to the free website, see your employer contributions already filled in and acknowledge they are correct for the year, add any extra income, check boxes for relevant deductions and you’re done.

Which is basically how it works here too. If you just have W-2 income from an employer it takes less than 10 minutes to fill out the form. Sure, the system you mention is more convenient, but the difference is minimal.

The IRS already has most of my tax information and knows the tax code. Why must I deal with a third party (and potentially have to pay them) to electronically file my own taxes?

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#122

Post by vkou »

com2kid wrote: post #113
grandpoobah wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a cheap bribe holy crap.

I am surprised no one has started a go fund me to make a fund just to bribe politicians to fix tax filing. It would be cost effective VS paying for tax prep!

Jon Oliver tried his best to bribe Clarence Thomas, but unfortunately, the prick turns out to only be for sale to one side.

You might run into similar problems.

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#124

Post by sobkas »

com2kid wrote: post #113
grandpoobah wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a cheap bribe holy crap.

I am surprised no one has started a go fund me to make a fund just to bribe politicians to fix tax filing. It would be cost effective VS paying for tax prep!

> I am surprised no one has started a go fund me to make a fund just to bribe politicians to fix tax filing. > > It would be cost effective VS paying for tax prep!

It will not work, part of compensation is being hired as lobbyist after you "retire" from public office. So either go fund me will do the same or it will fail.

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#125

Post by tialaramex »

gdulli wrote: post #25
charcircuit wrote: post #8

With the rise of AI there is no excuse on why tax software should be so hard to make.

Satire requires a clarity of purpose and target, lest it be mistaken for, and contribute to, that which it intends to criticize.

Also, a good satire presents what the author believes is the right thing as well as ridiculing the wrong thing. "A Modest Proposal" is famous for the proposition that the Irish should eat their own babies - ridiculing the obviously wrong solution of blaming the Irish for their problems but it also explicitly lists things that would work in the guise of dismissing them as unworkable. Ideas like taxing the people who own everything in Ireland (many of whom were not Irish), and that's much less famous but it's right there in the text.

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#126

Post by ta988 »

LadyCailin wrote: post #118
ksimukka wrote: post #69

Ok, fine, I’ll use TurboTax. I live and work abroad and Turbotax requires a US billing address to pay the fee of using Turbotax. :facepalm All the other self-service options do not work and I’m not sure if the risk is worth it to file it myself. To my fellow Expats, what are you doing?

I pay $500 a year for an accountant to do my taxes for me. And then tell me I owe nothing. Support the Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad group, they’re working on fixing this.

If your accountant doesn't give you the forms AND worksheets, change accountant.

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#127

Post by LadyCailin »

ta988 wrote: post #126
LadyCailin wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay $500 a year for an accountant to do my taxes for me. And then tell me I owe nothing. Support the Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad group, they’re working on fixing this.

If your accountant doesn't give you the forms AND worksheets, change accountant.

They do. The problem isn’t understanding the numbers, they gave me last year, it’s making sure I am doing things correctly for both my US taxes and Norwegian taxes, including following the specifics of the US/Norway tax treaty.

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#129

Post by Amezarak »

wildzzz wrote: post #121
terminalshort wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is basically how it works here too. If you just have W-2 income from an employer it takes less than 10 minutes to fill out the form. Sure, the system you mention is more convenient, but the difference is minimal.

The IRS already has most of my tax information and knows the tax code. Why must I deal with a third party (and potentially have to pay them) to electronically file my own taxes?

You don't have to pay.

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...

As for "having most of your tax information", they don't. They know your reported income. You see that on your W2s/1099s/etc. What they don't know is whether or not you had a kid this year, or whether you lost a kid this year, whether you got married or divorced, if your spouse is claiming the kids this year or not, the number or amount of your charitable contributions, whether you have deductible mileage expenses, or a million other things.

Re: Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states

#130

Post by Amezarak »

com2kid wrote: post #113
grandpoobah wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a cheap bribe holy crap.

I am surprised no one has started a go fund me to make a fund just to bribe politicians to fix tax filing. It would be cost effective VS paying for tax prep!

The average HNer, who is fairly literate and well-informed about tax-prep, tends to misunderstand the situation.

Using tax preparation software is the cheap (or free!) alternative to what millions of Americans are doing. It was a change for the better for people who didn't do their own taxes. A regular person's taxes can always be done electronically for free, or if they really want, for $20-$100 through tax prep software.

What millions of Americans do is pay a local accountant hundreds of dollars. The accountant pays himself out of their refund. He is "their guy" who is going to find all the "loopholes" to get them the biggest possible refund. He is also a shield between them and the vengeful and anal IRS that will garnish their paychecks or possibly even imprison them for making mistakes. (This is how the accountants market things, not reality.)

The masses generally don't want to "fix" e-filing/tax prep because a) you can already do it for free if you want to, it just requires a third-party which may be dumb but isn't getting most people fired up or b) they don't care about tax prep software at all because they're using an accountant.

https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/return-preparer-office...

There are 800k people out there with Preparer Tax Identification Numbers(PTINs) being paid to file other people's taxes. Looking around for the estimates for the actual stats of the percentages of people supposed to use these preparers varies from 25-55%.

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