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

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

#81

Post by simoncion »

foxglacier wrote: post #60
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #44

Meanwhile in pretty much all other nations you go online to the free website, see your employer contributions already filled in and acknowledge they are correct for the year, add any extra income, check boxes for relevant deductions and you’re done.

Doesn't America have uniquely complicated tax that requires you to keep all your receipts to claim all sorts of confusing deductions? How can the IRS know what you spent your income on if you don't tell them? I've had the misfortune of having to fill in a W8-BEN-E form [1] and the first time, I just gave up and refused to work with the client because it was too complicated. The 2nd time, I got an LLM to tell me how t…

> Just look at the dense jargon ... There are 32 of them! What the hell is all that?

For every form I've ever had to file with the IRS, there's a corresponding set of instructions. Those instructions inevitably have a definitions section and/or define the terms in-line.

The instructions for form W8-BEN-E are at [0]. The definitions section starts at printed page 4 and continues through to printed page 7. Some terms you mentioned (like "Excepted territory NFFE") are not in the definitions section, but are described in their own sections.

I'm definitely not going to claim that it's foolish to consult with a tax lawyer (or similar such thing) when one is significantly uncertain about one's taxes. I'm definitely going to object 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.

[0] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8bene.pdf>

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

#82

Post by jandrewrogers »

RajT88 wrote: post #80
jandrewrogers wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember, Americans have to file taxes separately to the State and Federal government. The Federal government has little authority to dictate State taxes. The paperwork is in part a coordination problem between the State and Federal governments. Basic taxes are trivial in the US if you just work to live, it is essentially one page. However, there is an extremely long and fat tail where the government has no way of kn…

It is not that complex. RSU's or options are pretty straightforward. Deductions can get esoteric if you sold a bunch of stock. Even then, not that bad.

Congratulations on having simple taxes. It can definitely get more complex.

There is a reason Americans spend staggering amounts of time and money on tax preparation. It is simple until it isn’t.

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

#83

Post by Jolter »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #78
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #44

Meanwhile in pretty much all other nations you go online to the free website, see your employer contributions already filled in and acknowledge they are correct for the year, add any extra income, check boxes for relevant deductions and you’re done.

Remember, Americans have to file taxes separately to the State and Federal government. The Federal government has little authority to dictate State taxes. The paperwork is in part a coordination problem between the State and Federal governments. Basic taxes are trivial in the US if you just work to live, it is essentially one page. However, there is an extremely long and fat tail where the government has no way of kn…

Even so, Direct File was possible.

Until it wasn’t.

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

#84

Post by themafia »

hiddencost wrote: post #77
themafia wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You're clearly not paying attention. Which checks? The supreme Court OKed stopping people because they were brown ("Kavanaugh stops") and Congress has lost the power of the purse.

> You're clearly not paying attention.

You clearly just want to have a convenient source for your frustration and show no interest in actually solving the problem permanently.

> Which checks?

Congress. They pass laws. The administration is bound, by the constitution, to follow those laws and to administrate them with "due care."

> The supreme Court OKed stopping people because they were brown ("Kavanaugh stops") and Congress has lost the power of the purse

What does this have to do with tax law?

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

#85

Post by realusername »

foxglacier wrote: post #60
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #44

Meanwhile in pretty much all other nations you go online to the free website, see your employer contributions already filled in and acknowledge they are correct for the year, add any extra income, check boxes for relevant deductions and you’re done.

Doesn't America have uniquely complicated tax that requires you to keep all your receipts to claim all sorts of confusing deductions? How can the IRS know what you spent your income on if you don't tell them? I've had the misfortune of having to fill in a W8-BEN-E form [1] and the first time, I just gave up and refused to work with the client because it was too complicated. The 2nd time, I got an LLM to tell me how t…

I highly doubt that it's more complicated than the French or German tax system.

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

#86

Post by cozzyd »

thayne wrote: post #74
terminalshort wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have a unreasonably complicated return, you need absolutely no knowledge of tax law. It's all just "take the number from box X on form A and write it in box Y of form B."

Yes. I've used Free filllable forms several times. For basic tax situations, and even mildly complex ones, the problem isn't so much that it is hard as that it is very tedious. It involves reading a lot of instructions, with many references to other documents and other sections. It involves copying a lot of numbers from one place to another, and doing basic math on them to get a new one. It could be improved a lot ju…

yes, the worksheets especially are tedious when they could be automatically calculate with relatively little effort in most cases.

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

#87

Post by ChadNauseam »

themafia wrote: post #56
jordanb wrote: post #5

Money well spent https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-makers-turbotax-gave-trum...

[flagged]

Congress created the PEPFAR program and allocated money to it, but the executive seems to have completely shut it down with no replacement. I'm not sure how to square this with your idea that if Congress starts a project, then the later administrations cannot shut it down without an act of congress. (I mean, obviously they legally cannot, but it seems like they can in practice)

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

#88

Post by simoncion »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #59
cozzyd wrote: post #3

As long as they don't kill FreeFillableForms...

It started requiring phone numbers and things and I stopped using it in favor of my own spreadsheet.

> It started requiring phone numbers and things...

a) You're already trusting them with every piece of information in your tax return. It'd cost like five cents to use that information to discover your phone number... if they're malicious, you're already fucked.

b) When? At the end of the process where you're doing stuff like attesting that you're not lied on your tax return? I don't remember them demanding a phone number up front, and I also don't remember whether or not I refused to provide a phone number at the end.

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

#89

Post by cozzyd »

simoncion wrote: post #88
mixmastamyk wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It started requiring phone numbers and things and I stopped using it in favor of my own spreadsheet.

> It started requiring phone numbers and things... a) You're already trusting them with every piece of information in your tax return. It'd cost like five cents to use that information to discover your phone number... if they're malicious, you're already fucked. b) When? At the end of the process where you're doing stuff like attesting that you're not lied on your tax return? I don't remember them demanding a phone n…

The 1040 has a spot for phone number too...
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