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Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

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Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#61

Post by pompino »

_mlbt wrote: post #53
tmountain wrote: post #8

It’s amazing that 54% of adults in the United States have a literacy below 6th grade level, but it is expected for the same population to have the financial literacy to file their taxes accurately. Going further, the IRS already knows the details of most people’s taxes before they file, yet everyone is expected to complete what amounts to a complex task for many people. I cannot fathom why it is still done this way.

The real issue is that taxes are unreasonably and unnecessarily complicated to allow politicians to pander to specific voting blocks (both rich and poor) at the expense of the middle class. There is no reason every legitimate employer can't send tax information to the IRS and the self employed can't simply self-report our taxable incomes. No more deductions, for anything, just simple graduated tax brackets. Easy for…

The tax code is also designed to incentivize behavior that we wish to promote as a society. for example, directly reducing the tax versus tax benefits of a 401(k) and other such mechanisms. ultimately, the government is there to serve the interests of the people and society.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#62

Post by alemanek »

tlb wrote: post #51
janalsncm wrote: post #22

Listening to Congress “debate” this made me unreasonably upset. If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak.

And, to be fair to both sides, politicians who have received money from taxpayers should not be allowed to speak.

Both sides? There should be just one side; the citizens they are supposed to be representing. This comment kind of sums up how far gone we are in America.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#63

Post by bedobi »

Barrin92 wrote: post #44
thegrim33 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it was originally done this way because in the past people actually had some semblance of privacy and the government didn't actually know a great deal about people's income. Eventually, privacy was eroded away year after year to the point where the government now knows an extreme amount about each citizen. I guess I'd refrain the question - instead of asking why do we need to do taxes when the government know…

>we change the way the government is intimately entangled with our lives? I've lived in Sweden where taxes are not just automatically filed but every citizen can trivially look up anyone's tax returns and nobody ever saw it as the government being intimately entangled with anyone's life. Privacy violation would be to look into how and on what you spend your money, not that everyone pays their share of taxes. That tel…

Uh plenty of Sweden see that as a huge invasion of privacy

Sweden also doesn’t have secret ballot

In Sweden, anyone can look up your address, phone number, social security number, your car registration etc etc

This is not cool or desirable

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#64

Post by sbrother »

sveiss wrote: post #42
neltnerb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what made it difficult? Not knowing what was required for sure? Figuring out how to fill out the 1099-MISC? Knowing how to file it with the IRS/state? I remember it being a bit tricky at first but once I knew the right form it only took a few minutes. The hard part for me is keeping track of rule changes. Payroll service works though =)

If they’re trying to follow the rules, then they can’t just fill out a 1099-MISC. A babysitter one of the examples specifically called out as a household employee in the IRS guidance[1], so if you’re doing it right you should be running payroll. That’s pretty tricky to DIY properly. [1] https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc756

I can see doing this for a nanny, but surely no one is jumping through all these hoops for ad-hoc, hourly babysitting? Any of the random highschoolers or college kids I've used would look at me like I was crazy if I tried to set them up on payroll lol.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#65

Post by ryandrake »

loeg wrote: post #38
jimbob45 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like TurboTax. It just works, year after year. The fee is worth the peace of mind that I wouldn’t have by letting a government program lose my submission accidentally.

I switched from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA this year and it was almost exactly the same (in some ways easier). The amount owed was identical. The IRS doesn't lose submissions and provides a very clear system for tracking the status of eFiled taxes.

I did the same thing, but from TaxAct instead of from TurboTax. The big tax prep software companies have squeezed their last dollar out of me. I'm done with them.

For reference, here's what I paid for tax preparation over the years:

2010: $9.99

...

2017: $48.00

2018: $66.95

2019: $97.90

2020: $67.91

2021: $93.67

2022: $124.90

2023: $133.95 (at this point I said "Fuck this")

So from $48 to $134 (or +280%) over the course of 6 years and +1344%(!!!) over the course of 13 years. All to simply pre-fill some standard IRS forms and submit them for me. It doesn't make sense to pay for this.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#66

Post by rufus_foreman »

janalsncm wrote: post #22

Listening to Congress “debate” this made me unreasonably upset. If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak.

>> If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak

Should people who are receiving welfare benefits be allowed to vote?

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#67

Post by sokoloff »

majormajor wrote: post #21
idle_zealot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This last year when filing my taxes with a paid turbotax product some value was auto-filled and looked about right. After submission I was notified that the IRS rejected my form because the field was wrong. They did not correct the field or otherwise communicate what they believed the value should have been. Tracking down what number they actually wanted there was a hassle. So... they have on file what they expect yo…

Huh, I've never had my filing rejected but I've had the IRS send me letters a couple times. Once a year or two later, the other time (last year) a few weeks later or so before I got the refund: each time they told me exactly what they thought I'd missed. Which still highlights the absurdity of making me re-enter the stuff they already know.

In most cases, you know the information (and may have to file) before they’ve processed it. Request your tax account transcript (what they know about your account) on April 15 and again on August 15. I can pretty well guarantee they’ll be different for the prior calendar year.

It might be stuff they’ll eventually know, but it’s not necessarily stuff they already know at the relevant time.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#68

Post by nathanappere »

rufus_foreman wrote: post #66
janalsncm wrote: post #22

Listening to Congress “debate” this made me unreasonably upset. If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak.

>> If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak Should people who are receiving welfare benefits be allowed to vote?

So for you it's the same than being paid by a private corporation?

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#69

Post by _mlbt »

pompino wrote: post #61
_mlbt wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real issue is that taxes are unreasonably and unnecessarily complicated to allow politicians to pander to specific voting blocks (both rich and poor) at the expense of the middle class. There is no reason every legitimate employer can't send tax information to the IRS and the self employed can't simply self-report our taxable incomes. No more deductions, for anything, just simple graduated tax brackets. Easy for…

The tax code is also designed to incentivize behavior that we wish to promote as a society. for example, directly reducing the tax versus tax benefits of a 401(k) and other such mechanisms. ultimately, the government is there to serve the interests of the people and society.

I understand the noble intent behind much of the tax code, but it has grown into a gnarly beast full of loopholes for the rich, and the wrong kind of societal incentives for the poor.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#70

Post by micromacrofoot »

rufus_foreman wrote: post #66
janalsncm wrote: post #22

Listening to Congress “debate” this made me unreasonably upset. If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak.

>> If you as a sitting politician have received monetary benefits from a tax filing service you should not be allowed to speak Should people who are receiving welfare benefits be allowed to vote?

I’m sorry are you implying that congresspeople are receiving monetary compensation because they live in poverty
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