Comment on IRS will pilot free, direct tax filing in 2024

Arghblarg@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• SilentCal@lemmy.basedcount.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Oh no they’ve always collected it themselves, you just have to wade through ~4K pages of tax code that has averaged one change a day for the last decade.

  But if you get it wrong, they’ll happily mail you a correction if you erred low. Plus penalties and interest of course.

  The middle men like Intuit are a symptom of the legislature trying to use taxes to incentivize or disincentivize every little thing and still get pork for their districts. There’s a good 20 pages of code and case law on the depreciably of race horses that I’m sure the Senators from Kentucky had a hand in.

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• uis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Oh my, where is mah fainting couch?

  Image Here it is, RariJack

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  • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Beautiful :)

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• sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  You always had the ability to freely file your taxes.

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  • Goblin_Mode@ttrpg.network ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That guy is obviously exaggerating for effect and you are technically correct, but he’s not wrong.

    Companies like Inuit and H&R Block have been lobbying for ages to keep the free file forms ridiculously overcomplicated, difficult to navigate/complete, and dangerously generalized to the point where if you mis-interpret a line on one of your several non-intuitively named financial forms you will be committing tax fraud

    It is objectively easier, safer, and more convenient to file taxes through one of these private companies and the is by design.

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    • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Thank you – the point I was trying to make is that technically USians can file their own taxes, but that it’s overly complicated, and many believe intentionally obfuscated, in order to push citizens to use private corps to do it for them (at a healthy profit for said corps).

      Whereas, in Canada (and as I understand it, most other nations) the tax system is not so baroque as to discourage people from doing it themselves.

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    • sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’ve been doing my own taxes for 22 years, it’s not hard

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  • hansl@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    In Canada, unless you have some weird stuff, the tax filing form is smaller than the census. They just need to confirm things that links your accounts. They already have your pay and taxes amounts from your employer, your bank tax statements from your banks, etc. So unless you’re doing something only like 1% of the population does, it’s a two pager online, 20 minutes in and out, that’s it.

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    • locuester@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      That’s not far from the same for simple filings here. Both my adult kids do their own in about 10-15 min. Maybe less after the first year. This is through TurboTax online.

      Also, it’s free as long as you don’t make much or have things like HSA or 401k.

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      • uis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Isn’t 401k pension payment? Not from USA.

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  • sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    sure down vote the truth

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