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johny_joe_1975 ,

As a person who not live in US, I wonder why people need private tax filing like TurboTax ?
As where I live, my employer (the company I work for) do tax filing for me. I just need to sign, agree that they will do my tax filling.

helpImTrappedOnline , (edited )

Funny thing is, in a way our employers already do our taxes, they send everything to the IRS.
We just have to manually input the same data into forms to send to the IRS.
If you get it wrong they'll know and can fine you.
That being said, individuals filing their own taxes does have its place, people have multiple jobs, children, houses, debt, bank intrest earned etc. An employeer should't have to keep track of all that. The individual should just be able to collect all the approiate forms and send them in, not have to transfer info from form w4 to form 1090.

Private tax filing companies like Turbo Tax have heavily lobbied with campaign contributions bribes.

Any attempt to fix the system was blocked. The silver linning (if you can call it that) was they had to make a free version availbe to low income individuals.

However that "free" version is completely burried and not advertised anywhere. They'd rather you use the free version of TurboTax which only free for the basic person with a job, house and maybe a kid. Anything more will cost (my info is a bit outdated and skewed, I'm not really looking at the exact service).

Then it's filled the dark patterns and scare tatics to get you to pay up every step of the way.

Welcome to land of freedom and the illusion of taxation with representation.

buzz86us ,

How about return free filling.. Why the hell do we have to do anything at all?

EmperorHenry ,
@EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

why are they leaving something like this up to the states?

Return free filing is really hard to find, every time I need to pay my taxes again, it gets harder and harder to find.

AA5B ,

I’ll be the contrarian - this could be good for Intuit.

They were already forced to support free filing for simple returns. This IRS Direct File has similar eligibility, so Intuit already wasn’t making money off them, but now Intuit also doesn’t need the cost of scaling up for them

Intuit gets to take a bunch of freeloaders off their support costs, and can focus where their real profits are: people with more complex returns or higher income, that also don’t need an accountant

Intuit also gets to act less scammy. The only way they were making anything off those freeloaders was selling them things they don’t need

Rekorse ,

They made money off upselling people who thought it would be free. Or another way was to wait to tell them about the charges until you've spent a couple hours on the application. ...or the way they would sell you last years tax information back to you to save you a few hours filling out forms.

United states of monetization.

BrinkBreaker ,

Well you can also do what I do which is select the most expensive options. Figure out everything then copy the details onto a free file option and never pay them.

Rekorse ,

Appreciate the tip!

KingThrillgore ,
@KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml avatar

I know how Intuit will respond: By lobbying to kill this.

themurphy ,

Wild to read how the US tax system works when you're used to the EU.

Maybe one day you'll also get automatic tax filling without lifting a finger.

EvilEyedPanda ,

Then how would you arbitrarily fine your citizens?

Grippler ,

Calling taxes a fine is about the most american thing ever...

herrvogel ,

I think what they meant was forcing people to do it all by hand invites mistakes, which are then fined.

EvilEyedPanda ,

Yes, or pay someone to do it.

NotMyOldRedditName ,

Happened to my dad once in Canada.

He missed a savings/checking account which earned some interest. CRA knows about these as the bank sends it to them.

They made a big deal about hiding it and fined him with interest.

It's totally stupid.

FarFarAway ,

Except they'll make you sign up for id.me, biometrics and all.

LordCrom ,

Is that correct? Id.me can suck it... Forcing us to use a 3rd party with all private info and multiple pictures of your face for racial shit..... terrible

FarFarAway ,

https://directfile.irs.gov/idme

Edit: haha, I feel wierd putting this link to the irs here.

LordCrom ,

Well that sucks.

I will not give any 3rd party private corp all my personal info and pictures of my face for facial recognition. IRS already has this info, that should be good enough

BigBenis ,

It's kinda wild to see things moving in the right direction for once...

yokonzo ,

Right? I almost can't totally believe it, I'm not sure if I should

Blue_Morpho ,

It's almost like, I don't know, Biden is helping. But both sides bad, amirite?

Shyfer ,

I would say helping perpetrate a genocide slightly outweighs making filing taxes a little easier. It's a very, "He makes the trains run on time" sentiment.

Although I do like it. We've been due this for a long time. I wonder if Turbo Tax is freaking out.

paf0 ,

Yes, both sides bad, but Biden less bad. Making government easy to work with should be the bare minimum. We don't have to throw them a parade every time they do something sane, they work for us.

DudeImMacGyver ,
@DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works avatar

TurboTax for bankruptcy, LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!

Fedizen ,

Dark Brandon's war with TurboTax has only just begun...

Fredselfish ,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

Wait asking the states to allow this? Great means all the red states like the one I am stuck in will opt out fucking us over.

buddascrayon ,

Don't fool yourself, there's a lot of Democrats in the pocket of the tax prep lobby.

GiveMemes ,

Usually they ask politely at first then 'ask' by threatening to pull interstate funding. (MADD or Common Core, for example)

root ,

The states probably need to opt in for state income tax filing or data. Red states typically don't have income taxes and wouldn't need this to begin with.

Fredselfish ,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

Oklahoma takes state taxes.

Sam_Bass , (edited )

My last attempt at efiling went real well right up to the efile step at which point the online service used demanded 17.00 for the priviledge. Ended up downloading, printing, and mailing it in.

TexMexBazooka ,

That’s a petty thing to get upset about all things considered.

Sam_Bass ,

Hey if they advertise free efile then they damn well better deliver free efile

TexMexBazooka ,

Yaknow that’s fair.

What were you filing just like basic W2’s or did you have a 1099 and a bunch of deductions?

Sam_Bass , (edited )

Doesnt matter, mr.shill, dont do what you advertise you do, you are crooked. Failing to stipulate charges for anything beyond basics makes you a worse crook

TexMexBazooka ,

I’m not shilling I’m asking for context. I agree with you, why you gotta be so combative?

Sam_Bass ,

Moi? Combative? Aux contraire, senior. I just believe in advertising truth, not the bait n switch they tried to foist on me. Even if the fee was a penny, it should have been laid out at the start to allow me, the consumer, the common decency of accepting it rather than having it demanded of me to proceed.

Sam_Bass ,

And yes i had a 1099R, and a 1099B to add to the mix but nothing was said by way of cost to add before or after. Possibly could be buried in their lessthanobvious TOS dunno didnt look

khannie , (edited )
@khannie@lemmy.world avatar

Dearest American friends,

I'm happy for you. Given your tax system this seems like a really positive step forward.

I hope it makes your lives better.

ColeSloth ,

Inuit lost like 16% this past week. That's a $113 drop per share for em.

Furbag ,

I signed up to do the free IRS filing but got rejected unfortunately because I had entered into a domestic partnership which made me ineligible. Not really sure why since I was filing single anyway but oh well, this is good news and I can't wait to try it next year.

mosiacmango , (edited )

The test was limited to make sure the core fundamentals worked. Your situation is an "edge case," i.e an unlikely situation that makes things much harder to code.

It sounds like they cut you out to make sure the product worked, and will now be on working "edge cases," by far the hardest part of any computer engineering.

Tronn4 ,

Any takers on what party of small government will try to dismantle this?

barsquid ,

You want a Biden TAX PANEL to decide if your grandmother has to pay or not? We will defend your right to choose the tax prep service of your choice!

Fedizen ,

"Tax preparer vouchers!" GOP, soon

ConstipatedWatson ,

"TurboTax must die"

That would be the perfect title of a multi billion dollar franchise about rebels from the IRS tryijg to thwart known scammers from Intuit.

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