Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

nextgov.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 284 posts

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

#91

Post by simoncion »

_vertigo wrote: post #58
dlcarrier wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The form that you fill out has a very tearse description of the field, but the actual instructions are in a separate document. For example, form 1040 is here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf and the instructions document is here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf The instructions make it very clear when a field in the form should be used and what should go in it.

Yes, obviously, everyone knows that. When all you have to file is a 1040, reading one of the instructions documents is fine. When you have to use several forms it start to add up.

> Yes, obviously, everyone knows that.

It's pretty clear that daemonologist did not know that. Which is weird, given that all the tax law the average USian needs to know is "Read and follow the instructions for Form 1040.".

(RIP 1040-EZ. You were a good form.)

Also, I've had to file several forms in the past. It 'adds up', but it's all mechanically following instructions... not anything difficult.

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

#92

Post by briandoll »

themafia wrote: post #84
hiddencost wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You can't possibly be serious right now. This administration has done nothing but skirt every law at every level. Look around.

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

#93

Post by simoncion »

cozzyd wrote: post #89
simoncion wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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...

The 1040 has a spot for both a phone number and an email address. The 1040 instructions make it completely clear that both are optional.

  You have the option of entering your
  phone number and email address in the
  spaces provided. There will be no effect
  on the processing of your return if you
  choose not to enter this information.
  Note that the IRS initiates most contacts
  through regular mail delivered by the
  United States Postal Service.

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

#94

Post by whoooboyy »

foxglacier wrote: post #57
cbgb2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe lobbyists should be punished by having their skin fully tattooed blue like smurfs. This way, you’d have to really be into lobbying to suffer the tattoo pain and permanent branding.

Or voters should take some civic responsibility and stop voting for corrupt politicians. Americans seem to be either unable to make their own decisions without paid advertising to direct them or they're afraid of "wasting" their vote on candidates that didn't spend enough on advertising.

Try telling people you voted third party because of a deeply held conviction about not electing corrupt politicians. You will be told you are evil, that you've got an unreasonable/impossible purity bar, that you don't really believe in that deeply held moral conviction actually, that you are worse than the people who voted for the other guy, that you are a utopian idealist, etc etc.

Don't get me wrong, I did vote third party and I will continue to do so if the Dems put up candidates like Harris and Biden. But don't expect most people to be willing to weather the storm of vitriol they'll receive for holding a high bar for their politicians.

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

#95

Post by pjc50 »

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…

If they genuinely can't work out what you owe, why bother paying it at all? Shouldn't there be a massive tax evasion problem?

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

#96

Post by nikodunk »

hyperrail wrote: post #4

https://github.com/IRS-Public/direct-file Obviously the 2025 version will be out of date for the 2026 filing season, though public code means it can always be revived by anyone else. (previous HN threads: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44182356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44131901 )

Fascinating repo, thank you for sharing!

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

#97

Post by petralithic »

whoooboyy wrote: post #94
foxglacier wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or voters should take some civic responsibility and stop voting for corrupt politicians. Americans seem to be either unable to make their own decisions without paid advertising to direct them or they're afraid of "wasting" their vote on candidates that didn't spend enough on advertising.

Try telling people you voted third party because of a deeply held conviction about not electing corrupt politicians. You will be told you are evil, that you've got an unreasonable/impossible purity bar, that you don't really believe in that deeply held moral conviction actually, that you are worse than the people who voted for the other guy, that you are a utopian idealist, etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I did vote thi…

It's more that voting third party in a first-past-the-post voting scheme is systemically pointless.

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

#98

Post by thesumofall »

tietjens wrote: post #79
foxglacier wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For a truly uniquely complicated tax system please move to Germany.

While I fully agree that there are a lot of complicated rules for edge cases, for simple (non self employed) cases it is very straightforward. In fact, you don’t have to do anything at all in many cases and still won’t be screwed over as the German IRS will assume typical deductions. There is an official free filing software and if you spend 20-30 USD a year you’ll get access to super easy to use professional filing software. My situation is more complicated than most and I spend 2hrs a year for my entire family

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

#99

Post by petralithic »

themafia wrote: post #84
hiddencost wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And what if the executive does not care to administrate and follow those laws, and Congress does not care or more truthfully cannot do anything even if it did?

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

#100

Post by toolazytologin »

foxglacier wrote: post #57
cbgb2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe lobbyists should be punished by having their skin fully tattooed blue like smurfs. This way, you’d have to really be into lobbying to suffer the tattoo pain and permanent branding.

Or voters should take some civic responsibility and stop voting for corrupt politicians. Americans seem to be either unable to make their own decisions without paid advertising to direct them or they're afraid of "wasting" their vote on candidates that didn't spend enough on advertising.

Or “politics” are too much of their identity and they always vote for “their guy” regardless of the merits. Education does not matter when the vote has nothing to so with rationality and is only rooting for a team.

Corruption will never be solved. It could possibly be reduced if there was less ROI. I expect that would require shrinking the government so there is less centralized power. A limited federal government and more administrative power handed back to the states (within reason) would be interesting.

Post reply on HN