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TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

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Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#91

We're sorry the answer to "why can't we have nice things" wasn't [political party], it was lobbyists . Lobbyists is the answer to, "why can't we have nice things"!

And tell me again why lobbying is legal and people are marching to protest 100 yo statues but NOT lobbyinng? People in the US dumbfound me at how willing they are to accept public corruption while they claim the moral high ground over social issues that are trending

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit Karma is free. Works great, and has no discernable dark patterns. They even have import features from major payroll companies like ADP. I had to quit turbotax because one year I was a 1099 worker and every year since, it pushes me to go with their "small business edition." Each year it got harder to avoid "upgrading." Seriously, just do it. Quitting TT is so much easier than quitting anything else.

> Credit Karma is free. That just makes me wonder what Credit Karma is getting out of the deal.

They use your data (income, financial situation (do you have a mortgage, etc.)) to determine what financial products (which credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, etc.) to offer you.

This would all be in addition to what they knew about your credit score or anything else you input on the other parts of their platform.

But as others pointed out, that part of CK got split off when Intuit bought them.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#93

1. You can file your taxes for free in the US. You only have to pay if you want to do so through a tax preparation service or software. 2. It's actually pretty easy to use the electronic forms or just use paper. 3. Tax software is good, and a competent tax preparer is even better. Why we have a tax system which creates so much work there is an entire set of industries (tech, tax preparers, etc) built around it just t…

Part of the reason is because tax software companies pay legislators to make and keep taxes complicated. There is no reason, with the advent of internet and databases, that 90% of people’s taxes can’t be completely automated.

Part of the reason is because more tax rules means more loopholes to take advantage of.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#94

I used to say turbo tax wasn't that bad, and that free filing was easy if you just ignored their promises to save you money if you upgraded. Last year however I got all the way to the end of the process where they revealed I made too much and had to pay. That felt extremely unethical, as the information required to come to that conclusion was available far earlier in the process. And yet what am I going to do but use…

> And yet what am I going to do but use turbo tax again. The perceived risk and effort That’s so cute how everyone is afraid of the IRS boogeyman Everyone believes whichever way they first became comfortable with is saving them money and their freedom I know people that would say the exact same thing except they are referring to their table full of printed out forms Literally everyone with a super wrong and very huma…

Having lived through my parents being audited multiple times I am definitely afraid of the IRS boogey man.

Merely dealing with an audit (even if everything you id was correct and above board) can be extremely stressful and time consuming.

My parents also thought their CPA was really good an knew what they were doing. Turns out that even CPAs screw up sometimes. :-)

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#95
It seems that tax law would be something that lends itself well to open source. After all, what is the law but a system of logical rules not unlike software?

It would be great to get an open-source tax library, split into two parts. One can be the library which does the calculations, the other can be any graphical interface for users to use.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Credit Karma is free. That just makes me wonder what Credit Karma is getting out of the deal.

“wonder” The DOJ forced them to sell that whole unit if they wanted to be acquired because of the super obvious data mining consolidation

[deleted]

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#97
post #53
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really - constituents donate money.

Your average constituent can't and doesn't wine and dine their representatives.

Your average constituent may be part of a union or professional body or other organisation that does this on their behalf though.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not use the official IRS free file forms?

I find it more approachable to use the question/answer format compared to reading all of the instructions on detail, determining if that particular section applies to me, and wondering if I found every form to cover every situation from the last year. An example is figuring out whether I would owe taxes on the gain from the sale of a primary residence I owned for less than 2 years. Figuring that out manually took som…

If your tax situation doesn't change from year to year you don't need to scour the instructions. Just work through the forms using last year's return as a guide.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#99

We're sorry the answer to "why can't we have nice things" wasn't [political party], it was lobbyists . Lobbyists is the answer to, "why can't we have nice things"!

And tell me again why lobbying is legal and people are marching to protest 100 yo statues but NOT lobbyinng? People in the US dumbfound me at how willing they are to accept public corruption while they claim the moral high ground over social issues that are trending

> And tell me again why lobbying is legal

The 1st Amendment:

Congress shall make no law [...] abridging [...] the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

This is the core idea, but obviously the concept of "lobbying" embodies a lot more than just assembly and petitioning in current usage.

I do think it is important to realize that we do have a right to advocate for change. Laws that regulate or curtain "lobbying" need to be carefully crafted to avoid infringing on these rights.

Re: TurboTax Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes (2019)

#100

I used to say turbo tax wasn't that bad, and that free filing was easy if you just ignored their promises to save you money if you upgraded. Last year however I got all the way to the end of the process where they revealed I made too much and had to pay. That felt extremely unethical, as the information required to come to that conclusion was available far earlier in the process. And yet what am I going to do but use…

I got snagged in one of their dark patterns. American living abroad, start with turbotax, include foreign bank information and schedule 2555. Get all the way to then end. "we see you're filing income from abroad. You will need to upgrade to TT Deluxe for $60"

After that been using CreditKarmaTax; no shenanigans.

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