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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

#191

Post by drysine »

ainiriand wrote: post #120
foxglacier wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't America have uniquely complicated tax that requires you to keep all your receipts to claim all sorts of confusing deductions? How can the IRS know what you spent your income on if you don't tell them? I've had the misfortune of having to fill in a W8-BEN-E form [1] and the first time, I just gave up and refused to work with the client because it was too complicated. The 2nd time, I got an LLM to tell me how t…

When you say America you certainly mean USA? Or is America a country now?

[flagged]

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

#192

Post by com2kid »

goku12 wrote: post #132
com2kid wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lobbyists aren't the problem. They are doing what they are paid to do. If you donate to a large charity, there is a good chance some of that $ goes to lobbying, as it should. (Presumably you want the issues goy care about to be fixed!) If you work at a large company, 100% chance it lobbies, for good reason. Large employers lobby for better mass transit (because parking garages are expensive), more housing (because it…

This is a misleading characterization of the issue here. Let me pull up another very relevant analogy here. Let's say that you visit a government office for a driving license. Should you pay a bribe to the official? You are a responsible adult, after all. Bribes are needed for everything from housing permits to your kids' food assistance. How is it bad when it gets good things done? Is this how you reason about corru…

> Let's say that you visit a government office for a driving license. Should you pay a bribe to the official?

We formalized it! It is called an application fee, and it is set high enough so they the government employee doesn't need to take bribes outside of their salary.

Other countries set application fees so low that government employees barely earn enough money to eat, so they take bribes.

NYC solves a huge part of their police corruption problem by just paying officers more.

> When politicians debate public policy, the only criterion should be the public interests

I agree much of lobbying is corrupt, but the concept is that lobbying is how politicians discover the public interest. It is also how they get input on the effects of proposed laws. I want my local small business lobbying group to let my city know if a proposed tax increase will bankrupt my favorite local stores!

The fact is, what the EFF and ACLU do to protect our rights is also a form of lobbying.

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

#193

Post by com2kid »

sobkas wrote: post #124
com2kid wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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.

This is a bit reductive. Not everyone member of Congress goes to work for TurboTax after they retire!

However I imagine Inuit is a reliable source of campaign contributions every year. The simple solution is to get enough funding that the campaign can promise 3 or 4 election cycles of support for any politicians that vote in favor of tax filing reform.

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

#194

Post by nielsbot »

terminalshort wrote: post #168
wildzzz wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 do that. There is no such requirement. You can fill out the forms for free.

But that's a bad solution. (Otherwise why do TurboTax et al even exist in the first place?)

IRS should just have a public free filing solution for everyone. If you have complicated taxes or want to do your own filing, you can still do that.

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

#195

Post by [deleted] »

simoncion wrote: post #81
foxglacier wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't America have uniquely complicated tax that requires you to keep all your receipts to claim all sorts of confusing deductions? How can the IRS know what you spent your income on if you don't tell them? I've had the misfortune of having to fill in a W8-BEN-E form [1] and the first time, I just gave up and refused to work with the client because it was too complicated. The 2nd time, I got an LLM to tell me how t…

> Just look at the dense jargon ... There are 32 of them! What the hell is all that? For every form I've ever had to file with the IRS, there's a corresponding set of instructions. Those instructions inevitably have a definitions section and/or define the terms in-line. The instructions for form W8-BEN-E are at [0]. The definitions section starts at printed page 4 and continues through to printed page 7. Some terms y…

[deleted]

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

#196

Post by simoncion »

cactacea wrote: post #188
simoncion wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just look at the dense jargon ... There are 32 of them! What the hell is all that? For every form I've ever had to file with the IRS, there's a corresponding set of instructions. Those instructions inevitably have a definitions section and/or define the terms in-line. The instructions for form W8-BEN-E are at [0]. The definitions section starts at printed page 4 and continues through to printed page 7. Some terms y…

Just follow the instructions? From your linked PDF: > The time needed to complete and file this form will vary depending on individual circumstances. The estimated average time is: Recordkeeping, 12 hr., 40 min.; Learning about the law or the form, 4 hr., 17 min.; Preparing and sending the form, 8 hr., 16 min.

> Just follow the instructions?

I spoke in objection to one very specific claim:

> [The] implied claim that the IRS dumps a bunch of jargon on you and leaves you to rely on general-purpose search engines to figure out what the fuck they're talking about.

Feel free to imagine that I was addressing something else. It's a free country and all.

You also might want to look at the estimated average time for a non-business taxpayer to complete a 1040. If the 1040 estimate methodology is typical, then those estimates are pretty pessimistic.

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

#197

Post by array_key_first »

Amezarak wrote: post #162
klausa wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument could be put in a museum as a perfect illustration of the "Perfect is the enemy of good" maxim. Would just relying on the information from your employers cover all possible edge-cases? No. Would it dramatically simplify the process for (tens?) millions of people? Absolutely.

The number and type of people living in your household is not an edge case. It applies to almost everyone, has huge tax impacts, and the IRS doesn’t know.

The argument is that you don't need a third party like Intuit to get this information. The IRS could get it themselves - they choose not to.

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

#198

Post by array_key_first »

drysine wrote: post #191
ainiriand wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say America you certainly mean USA? Or is America a country now?

[flagged]

America is colloquially the USA. The Americas is something else. South America is something else. North America is something else.

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

#199

Post by xboxnolifes »

simoncion wrote: post #91
_vertigo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, obviously, everyone knows that. When all you have to file is a 1040, reading one of the instructions documents is fine. When you have to use several forms it start to add up.

> Yes, obviously, everyone knows that. It's pretty clear that daemonologist did not know that. Which is weird, given that all the tax law the average USian needs to know is "Read and follow the instructions for Form 1040.". (RIP 1040-EZ. You were a good form.) Also, I've had to file several forms in the past. It 'adds up', but it's all mechanically following instructions... not anything difficult.

Following forms is easy. The hard part is knowing if you need to file a form.

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

#200

Post by onraglanroad »

petralithic wrote: post #97
whoooboyy wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try telling people you voted third party because of a deeply held conviction about not electing corrupt politicians. You will be told you are evil, that you've got an unreasonable/impossible purity bar, that you don't really believe in that deeply held moral conviction actually, that you are worse than the people who voted for the other guy, that you are a utopian idealist, etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I did vote thi…

It's more that voting third party in a first-past-the-post voting scheme is systemically pointless.

It obviously isn't since the UK, for example, has fptp for general elections and far more than two parties.
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