It is mind-boggling how far behind the US is in taxes and retail banking. News like this always amaze me.
Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
241–250 of 350 posts
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#242I have my home/property loan through a coop (a FCS institution) and so I get dividends every year on my shares. It amounts to about 1.5x my monthly payment. Because of this I have F-income to declare and so most free offerings are off the table for me.
I used the FileFreeUSA and TurboTax Federal Free in the past and it worked well. I just use TT's paid offering now for the F-income declarations.
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Reasonable cause" is a pretty hard bar to meet. [1] > The following factors don't generally qualify as valid reasons for failure to file or pay a tax on time: > Lack of knowledge. You're responsible for knowing or getting advice on how to file returns and pay or deposit taxes on time. This includes filing requirements, deadlines and amounts you owe. > Mistakes and oversights. You're responsible for making sure your…
That's for failure to file or pay on time. The bar for a mistake (assuming you filed and paid on time) is much lower, see the next section, "Accuracy-Related Penalties," on the first link you posted: https://www.irs.gov/payments/penalty-relief-for-reasonable-c...
At the very least, I'm going to contend that it's not a DIY thing. It's something that you should hire a tax pro for, so they can properly assess your situation and present your case.
> In a number of recent Tax Court cases, taxpayers have raised the argument that they relied on Turbo Tax software as a defense to the imposition of the accuracy-related penalty. With one notable exception, the so-called “Turbo Tax defense” has been rejected by the Tax Court.
https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art...
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
My satire detector is surely broken. It’s just wobbling between wtf and woosh. It’s OK, I don’t need to understand everything all the time.
Read the PR. it explicitly credits the Inflation Reduction Act for funding and making the whole thing possible.
Oh I read it. I just didn’t, ok. I wonder if I buy the company line anywhere?
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can fill out the forms manually for free? It just sucks.
It's not that it sucks, it is error prone. Completely ignore a knowledge of tax law for a moment. Data has to be copied from one form to another, copied for calculation (whether you do it on paper or with a calculator), copied from one line to another, and finally copied from the form into the government's tax software. Each step produces the potential for error. Properly written software does not have the same poten…
> Properly written software does not have the same potential for error.
To err is human, to really foul things up requires a computer.
As a user, how do you know that the tax software you are using was "properly written"?
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read the PR. it explicitly credits the Inflation Reduction Act for funding and making the whole thing possible.
Oh I read it. I just didn’t, ok. I wonder if I buy the company line anywhere?
im not sure what argument you're making. are you claiming the IRS' statement is just fabricating that this program has anything to do with the congressional bill it's actually proposed and funded within ?
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's for failure to file or pay on time. The bar for a mistake (assuming you filed and paid on time) is much lower, see the next section, "Accuracy-Related Penalties," on the first link you posted: https://www.irs.gov/payments/penalty-relief-for-reasonable-c...
At the very least, I'm going to contend that it's not a DIY thing. It's something that you should hire a tax pro for, so they can properly assess your situation and present your case. > In a number of recent Tax Court cases, taxpayers have raised the argument that they relied on Turbo Tax software as a defense to the imposition of the accuracy-related penalty. With one notable exception, the so-called “Turbo Tax defe…
Many years ago, I screwed up my AMT calculations pretty badly, arguably because the instructions for Form 6251 suck. I was off by several thousand dollars, the difference between a big refund and a big amount due.
I didn't have to hire anyone to get the penalties waived; I just submitted a letter explaining my original rationale, along with an amended return fixing the problem and a check for the correct tax. The IRS was completely reasonable about it.
Edit to add: But then again, I do my own plumbing repairs. Heinlein didn't list taxes in one of my favorite quotes from him, but he should have: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#248[deleted]
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not that it sucks, it is error prone. Completely ignore a knowledge of tax law for a moment. Data has to be copied from one form to another, copied for calculation (whether you do it on paper or with a calculator), copied from one line to another, and finally copied from the form into the government's tax software. Each step produces the potential for error. Properly written software does not have the same poten…
> Properly written software does not have the same potential for error. To err is human, to really foul things up requires a computer. As a user, how do you know that the tax software you are using was "properly written"?
I'm not following the point of this comment? TurboTax's correctness is battle-tested by millions of people every year- the odds of you making a mistake carrying over numbers by hand are way higher than TT making a calculation error.
Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gig work is not common[1]. It just gets disproportionate attention. 1. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/12/08/the-state-of...
Your [1] shows 4% of Americans currently engaged in gig work, and 16% of Americans having ever done gig work. What's your threshold for 'common'?
Definitely more than 4% at any given time. At least 20%, I'd say.
In the context of the IRS providing a useful filing tool, covering 96% of Americans' income sources would be fantastic.