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Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

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Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#41

Post by gamblor956 »

lr4444lr wrote: post #11
droptablemain wrote: post #2

If an entire industry can be killed by a public service, it probably didn't deserve to exist in the first place.

Maybe. Or maybe a lot of people will leave refunds on the table because the software will be bad at helping people identify their deductions. Also, my wife paid a joint filing online under my SSN, and the system couldn't figure that out and claimed we were in arrears. I'm not hopeful.

Also, my wife paid a joint filing online under my SSN, and the system couldn't figure that out

It's not surprising the system couldn't figure that out. There is no such thing as a joint-filing under a single SSN. You need to include both spouse's SSNs or ITINs on the 1040 to file jointly, and the return is treated as a "joint" return (meaning, equally by both spouses).

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#43

Post by sidewndr46 »

joshribakoff wrote: post #33

They already have this in some form, its called “free fillable forms”, and it sucks. For example if there is any minor issue like something off by a cent it fails to submit and won’t tell you which field has an error or what the error is. Although its not officially maintained by the IRS, I don’t think… if i recall Intuit maintains it as part of an (arguably nefarious) agreement with the IRS. It’s presumably intentio…

I got some incomprehensible statements one time from a joint venture. I paid an accountant to do my taxes since I couldn't figure out. There answer to me was "I have no idea what this is trying to say, so I'll just submit it. If you get audited let me know and we'll work it out"

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#44

Post by jabbany »

wolverine876 wrote: post #20
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as in tech we build things that will get refactored and thrown away, it should be expected certain private sector components might be eventually deprecated when government steps in to provide as a public good.

> it should be expected certain private sector components might be eventually deprecated when government steps in to provide as a public good I support many public goods, including this one, but they are a tool with appropriate uses just like private enterprise is. I don't want operating systems to be a government-provided 'public good'. Also, I think freedom is the core, but not only, value here, including in commer…

> I don't want operating systems to be a government-provided 'public good'.

Huh. Interesting example. I actually do want to see a government produced public good operating system.

Where we're going, operating systems will either be ad filled messes or locked down walled gardens. A public good option would be required to meet high bars for interoperability while also not ad funded.

It's one thing to regulate away a market (make things illegal) and a very different situation if the government is just setting a bar for quality within a market.

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#45

Post by pastor_bob »

>Arizona, California, Massachusetts and New York have decided to work with the IRS to integrate their state taxes into the Direct File pilot for filing season 2024.

There's the notable point. If states integrate into it, it's a game changer. No need for the vast majority of filers to use any 3rd party.

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#46

Post by ghaff »

Alupis wrote: post #30
stetrain wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will I know the software is properly optimizing my deductions without a 30 second animated progress bar with the words "Optimizing Deductions" flashing on screen, while also advertising to me that I could be leaving savings on the table unless I upgrade to the TurboTax Pro Ultimate package for no up-front cost* * cost of TurboTax Pro Ultimate will be deducted from your refund amount, plus interest.

Generally speaking, if you are in a position where deductions and credits matter (ie. not standard deduction), you really aught to seek a professional to review your filing before submission, or at a minimum use two different softwares to compute your taxes and look for any disagreement (in theory, they should have the same output). Either way, the $49 to use the software is trivial (under this situation) and often i…

The model is that someone with a W-2 and a 1099 or two and just taking the standard deduction should be "Yep, looks OK." If it gets more complicated than that you probably need to either spend a bunch of your own time or hire a professional.

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#47

Post by dheera »

SanderNL wrote: post #35
droptablemain wrote: post #2

If an entire industry can be killed by a public service, it probably didn't deserve to exist in the first place.

There is a good chance it sucks and is wonky as hell, making the value proposition of proprietary solutions even more attractive.

That and also it's not so useful if it can't import from bitcoin.tax and TurboTax exports, since there's so much in tax prep that depends on numbers from the year before, and ultimately the value of tax prep software to me is roughly the time I spend on tax prep vs. what I could get in terms of hourly rate as a hypothetical software consultant outside my day job.

If I have to manually input 5 billion crypto and stock transactions including every damn weekly staking reward just to pay taxes it's just bleh.

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#48

Post by jrockway »

m463 wrote: post #5

will it have embedded links to google.com like https://dmv.ca.gov ? (for example, this irs page links to googletagmanager)

I mean, if using googletagmanager makes you mad, wait until you hear about the whole id.me business:

https://epic.org/report-id-me-lied-to-the-irs-about-wait-tim...

I don't think there is any stipulation that the US government can't use products sold by US based companies. In fact, they enjoy doing it. You should ask your elected representatives to prohibit tracking on government websites; if they pass a law, the IRS's web design team will follow it.

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#49

Post by woodruffw »

sriram_sun wrote: post #32
droptablemain wrote: post #2

If an entire industry can be killed by a public service, it probably didn't deserve to exist in the first place.

Cost of policing is close to or possibly the highest expense for any city. That did not put security guards out of business.

Why do you think this? NYC, which spends extraordinary amounts of money on the NYPD, still only spends 10% of its budget on public safety[1]. The 4 largest categories are education (20%), transportation (15%), environmental protection (15%), and housing and economic development (15%).

[1]: https://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/understandingthebudget....

Re: Free IRS-run tax filing pilot to be available in 13 states

#50

Post by tombert »

This is great news; no matter how restricted it may be initially, I think having a "guaranteed-free" tax filing system will be great for most people, especially lower-income people.

The private companies have demonstrated pretty clearly that they will do everything they can to avoid people actually having free tax filing, and while ~$50-100 might not seem like a ton of money, keep in mind that at the current United States minimum wage ($7.25 as of this writing), it would take upwards of working 6-14 hours just to pay for tax filing. $100 is a lot of money when you're not a yuppie software engineer.

I suspect I did enough crazy stuff with stocks this year that it probably won't apply to me at first, but hopefully by 2025 or 2026 I can stop giving money to Intuit or Jackson Hewitt.

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