IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free • Hacker News Board

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#251

Post by noveltyaccount » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 2:20 AM UTC

throwaheyy wrote: post #122

noveltyaccount wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Australia for a time and the taxes were a breeze. Enter a few identifiers like tax id number, it fetches the data from the government, confirm the data, done in 15 minutes. I couldn't believe it. Taxes and health care in America are just so broken.

I think this is relatively new. 10 or so years ago you still had to download a desktop app that looked like it was written in 1995 and go through each page.

Ha that's the app I'm talking about, it was about a decade ago. It was still mind bogglingly simple compared to US taxes.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#252

Post by moneywoes » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 2:51 AM UTC

jakobov wrote: post #94

moneywoes wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a US citizen abroad. I’m in this situation and have had to pay huge sums to accountants If anyone has any recommendations I’m all ears

How much are you paying? I have a good accountant that does my ex-pat taxes for $250

$3k for just US returns

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#253

Post by prirun » Tue, Jan 24, 2023, 9:40 PM UTC

coolspot wrote: post #232

prirun wrote: post #181

This is a good step. Now they need to trash that idea of having electronic payment companies send out a 1099K for anyone with $600/yr of online payments (PayPal, Venmo, etc.). I know they put the idea on hold because of backlash, but they need to dump it entirely. It will only generate $8B in tax revenue over the next 10 years ($800M/yr) but will cause a huge number of people to pay taxes they don't owe when they sel…

1099K is not income, just transaction volume. I had 1099K with $1M worth of transactions from CoinBase, which generated only like $10k of profit.

But I think a lot of ordinary people selling stuff on eBay will get this form and think "I have to report this to the government as income." And in fact, what I read about it is that if it isn't all income, you write a note about it when you file your taxes. How many people are going to know to do that? Unless you have actually run a business or are doing $1M transactions, you probably won't understand that selling some used junk doesn't require paying taxes on the "income".

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#254

Post by Rury » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 3:38 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #241

Rury wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hasn't been the case for me. I end up owing come tax time every year, and yet every time, after having paid what is owed, months later they give me a small refund anyways. Now I know where I can save money on my taxes, and I've done it before, but it's the savings are so small that it's not even worth the time doing. Yet, it's about what they give me in the refund. Why didn't they just keep it, especially given…

How do you know the IRS is calculating it right?

It doesn't matter, as it's not evidence for them choosing the "best case scenario" for themselves. The best case would of been them just keeping an overpayment, and never refunding me anything. And besides, I have double checked the calculations before, and it's basically what they gave me (minus rounding cents to nearest dollar in each calculation).

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#255

Post by throwaheyy » Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 5:17 PM UTC

noveltyaccount wrote: post #251

throwaheyy wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is relatively new. 10 or so years ago you still had to download a desktop app that looked like it was written in 1995 and go through each page.

Ha that's the app I'm talking about, it was about a decade ago. It was still mind bogglingly simple compared to US taxes.

The desktop app I’m thinking of was called “e-Tax”. More recently you could complete your return through the MyGov website with all data pre-populated. Perhaps there was a transition period where they were still using e-Tax but also could pre-populate the data. But before that, you still had to fill it all in from paper forms.

It’s a while since I’ve had to complete an Australian tax return.

Re: IRS Free File: Do Your Taxes for Free

#256

Post by quietbritishjim » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 11:12 AM UTC

rolenthedeep wrote: post #226

quietbritishjim wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If keeping tax codes complex was the same concept as keeping the process of electronic filing complex, what would be the point anyone buying Intuit software to do it? By your logic, it would still be just as complex anyway.

Intuit provides a layer on top of the e-file process. Their software does the complex actions and presents you with a relatively simple interface. This is generally how a lot of software works: a simple interface in front of a complex process

Right, it's possible for the tax code to be complex but still present a simple user interface. That means that it would, hypothetically, be possible for the e-file process to include a simple user interface (using, as you say... software).

If you chase up the comment chain you replied to, you're really agreeing with me using a tone of disagreement. sockaddr says that filing has to be complex because tax codes are complex. We both disagree with that.