Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 319 posts

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#241

Post by asdff »

alistairSH wrote: post #32
qnk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question, how is lobbying different from bribery? Lobbyists go to Washington, spend fortunes on taking lawmakers to fancy dinners and then get away with what they want. Maybe I don't understand the process and am oversimplifying it, but that's how I see it.

I'll flip the question around... How is lobbying different than random voter talking to their representative in person? It isn't really - a lobbyist is just exercising the free speech available to all individuals - they just happen to be doing it on behalf of a group of individuals. I'm purposefully ignoring the whole "corporations are people" aspect because that's a different discussion. But, what you seem to be arg…

It's completely different. A random voter is that representative's constituent. The representative is beholden to that person. A lobbyist is merely a random person who donates to political campaigns and secures other favors. The representative is not beholden to this person.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#242

Post by WaitWaitWha »

I concur that Intuit et al. who are participating in the free filing program should make it clearer. There is no such thing as "business ethics".

The IRS could have made it much more specific as to how these "free" solutions can be presented. They did not. Why not?

Each time the journalist/researcher selected a links, they wereclearly marked with "ad" as advertisement. Why?

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#243

Post by MajorBee »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #176
vineyardmike wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s so cute how everyone is afraid of the IRS boogeyman Its so cute how everyone is afraid of a government agency that is opaque and can charge you fines or jail time for not correctly filling out their documents :)

Source for jail time for not correctly filling out documents? I imagine it’s jail time for fraud, which is not the same as not correctly filling out documents.

Isn't the difference between "fraud" and "incorrectly filling out documents" basically intent? And intent is hard to prove or disprove.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#244

Post by throwawayboise »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #176
vineyardmike wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s so cute how everyone is afraid of the IRS boogeyman Its so cute how everyone is afraid of a government agency that is opaque and can charge you fines or jail time for not correctly filling out their documents :)

Source for jail time for not correctly filling out documents? I imagine it’s jail time for fraud, which is not the same as not correctly filling out documents.

Yeah, you won't go to jail for making a mistake. Penalties and interest at the worst, and those (in my experience) are waived if you ask nicely.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#245

Post by astura »

throwawayboise wrote: post #236
astura wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a massive waste of time, if you use TaxHawk/FreeTaxUSA (same company/software different website) you can just e-file your federal return for free without copying information to another place. Yes, it's actually free, you don't have to pay anything or even give out your credit card number. If your state doesn't have income tax you're done, you pay nothing. If you want to continue on to e-file your state, it's…

I do my taxes manually entirely on paper and send them in. I don't want H&R Block, Intuit, Taxhawk, or anyone else to have that information that they will then turn around and monitize. I also like the painful yearly reminder of the unnecessary burden the government is placing upon its citizens. For the majority of W2 income earners, the IRS already has everything it needs to compute your taxes and send you a refund…

Okay, but if you're going to go enter all your info onto a for-profit company's website anyways it's a massive waste of time to then go copy all the numbers to a different place. That was my point.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#246

Post by throwawayboise »

gowld wrote: post #229
thebradbain wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even as a full-time college student, I've used a professional, and I'm glad I did. He did things as straightforward as claiming relevant education credits to more esoteric such as maximizing refunds around housing stipends for summer internships. I didn't have to do much else other than reach out to my accountant and provide a W2.

A housing stipend is taxable, unless you are staying at a work location for your employer's convenience. But yes, Accountants can help you evade taxes in ways unlikely to be audited or caught.

It's not evasion if it's legal, it's avoidance, and it's perfectly legitimate.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#247

Post by chrisfinazzo »

justin66 wrote: post #184
chrisfinazzo wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically, the ideas he's talking about make sense. If say, you're a single person w/ no dependents who doesn't itemize making the process much simpler is attractive. However - as Ted Cruz showed everyone - being able to do your taxes on something the size of a postcard is only possible if just about every specific deduction is cut out. Once people saw that, it was DoA. Also, while I'm here, can someone explain w…

> Theoretically, the ideas he's talking about make sense. You'll want to be very clear about which of his ideas "make sense." You're talking about the guy who equates estate taxes with the Holocaust. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=145298... https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/01/06/o... > Also, while I'm here, can someone explain what was supposed to replace the IRS in Cruz's p…

I assumed PUN was referring to the parts of Norquist's ideas that should actually be taken seriously - spoiler, there are few - as opposed to those which are grounded in antigovernment paranoia and veiled xenophobia.

My mistake.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#248

Post by throw0101a »

dragosmocrii wrote: post #33

For all Canadians reading this, try WealthSimple Tax (previously SimpleTax). It's pay what you want, and it's a solid product. Nonetheless, tax software should be provided for free by the tax organization (IRS, CRA, etc), it's so stupid to pay for doing your taxes, unless you really need an accountant...

> For all Canadians reading this, try WealthSimple Tax (previously SimpleTax).

As noted, SimpleTax can mine your data where previously (pre-WS) it did not.

A list of NETFILE-certified software is available from the CRA, though as I type this it has not been updated for the 2020 tax year yet:

* https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/...

I've mostly used StudioTax, which is a client run locally: in the past it's been donation-supported, but starting this year you will have to pay CA$ 15 to upload your data. The 2020 version is currently available (but not yet officially certified). It allows you to log into your CRA account and fetch all the available T3/4/5 data that has been uploaded by financial institutions.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#249

Post by chrisfinazzo »

rtkwe wrote: post #234
chrisfinazzo wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically, the ideas he's talking about make sense. If say, you're a single person w/ no dependents who doesn't itemize making the process much simpler is attractive. However - as Ted Cruz showed everyone - being able to do your taxes on something the size of a postcard is only possible if just about every specific deduction is cut out. Once people saw that, it was DoA. Also, while I'm here, can someone explain w…

Even then 90% of the 1040-EZ is instructions on how to actually use the form. If you cut all that out and just have the boxes to fill with labels it's not much bigger than the post card it's just needlessly hard to file.

I recall seeing recently (somewhere in Europe, I think) the idea that because the government tracks this information anyway as people get paid throughout the year, all that is required is basically you (the taxpayer) attesting that the information being submitted is correct.

At that point, you just sign the form and send it back.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#250

Post by lotsofpulp »

MajorBee wrote: post #243
lotsofpulp wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source for jail time for not correctly filling out documents? I imagine it’s jail time for fraud, which is not the same as not correctly filling out documents.

Isn't the difference between "fraud" and "incorrectly filling out documents" basically intent? And intent is hard to prove or disprove.

Yes, so there's no reason for people to think they will risk going to jail for incorrectly filling out their tax returns.
Post reply on HN