Direct File won't happen in 2026, IRS tells states • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by Amezarak » Wed, Nov 12, 2025, 1:00 PM UTC

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #280

Amezarak wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credits are applied after you take the standard deduction. You subtract the standard deduction, figure out your taxable income, then subtract credits and taxes already paid. > These aren’t wealthy people filing with CPAs. These are lower income folks who specifically benefited from the IRS direct file program. Lower income people were not using IRS direct file. That’s would be the economically rational thing to do, b…

I do not even understand the terms you are using. In France (and other EU countries), "figuring out taxable income", "standard deduction", "subtracting credits", etc. are not your concerns. The web page has all this information, you say OK and you are done. There is not a single "figuring out" you need to do. This is, of course, the case for 95% of the population. You can be in the 5% where your tax filing becomes ve…

The IRS has no idea what deductions and credits are applicable to you and has no way of finding out. They could maybe prefill your reported gross income but then they’re at a loss.

In other countries there are such things as national citizen registries with domicile and familial information, this doesn’t exist in the US. If it did you could use that information to get much more of a start.

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

#282

Post by foxglacier » Thu, Nov 13, 2025, 1:35 AM UTC

simoncion wrote: post #272

foxglacier wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I did look at the guide but it's a huge amount of work that I wasn't prepared to do just to make a couple of hundred dollars from one client. Imagine you start at the first option: Nonparticipating FFI. A nonparticipating FFI means an FFI that is not a participating FFI, deemed-compliant FFI, or exempt beneficial owner. OK, then what's an FFI, a participating FFI, a deemed-compliant FFI, and an exempt beneficial…

That's a lot of words to agree with my objection to > ...your 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. I never suggested that satisfying the requirements of complex parts of the tax code would -somehow- not be complex. I even indicated support for talking to a lawyer when confused: > I'm defini…

My point is that the form is too burdensome. You said there were instructions in the guide, implying that makes it easy enough. However, even with the help of the guide, it's still too much work. You're suggesting consulting a professional which is ridiculous. This is not even "one's taxes", this form is specifically for people not paying tax to America. I can only assume it's even more difficult for people who do pay American tax.

Don't forget that this is for a random one-man business in another country doing a $100 job for a US client. The cost of what you're suggesting is completely disproportionate to the value of the transaction.

> Isn't it clear that you are to look at the FATCA regs for additional definitions?

Not at all. The form tells you to look at the instructions, not the FATCA regs. I have no idea what FATCA regs are or what FATCA even is. That's just more obscene over-complication.

Yes, the IRS does dump a bunch of jargon on you and leave you to Google it. "Google" here means searching the laws and regulations but probably Google itself because it's easier.

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

#283

Post by wildzzz » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 7:22 PM UTC

terminalshort wrote: post #165

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 info that the IRS has from your employer is maybe 5 boxes on your return. Literally takes a few minutes to take the info from your w-2 and put it on a 1040.

If it's so easy, why is the IRS unable to do that? Why must I retype all of the information that they already have? If there's anything they don't have, I have zero issue tying that in myself.

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

#284

Post by wildzzz » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 7:23 PM UTC

ghoul2 wrote: post #239

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?

When I lived in the US(5 yrs), early 2000s, from my second year onwards, I used to receive a pre-filled 1040NR-EZ with my W2 info already printed/filled-in on it. Typically, I would just add a deduction, and mailed it back. Does that program not exist? Or was it only for NR?

1040EZ form has been discontinued years ago. I guess it was too EZ.