The IRS Tax Filing Software TurboTax Is Trying to Kill Just Got Open Sourced
Submitted 3 weeks ago by DesertDwellingWeirdo@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.404media.co/directfile-open-source-irs-tax-filing-software-turbotax-is-trying-to-kil/
Comments
eager_eagle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
dhork@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Hurry up and clone that ASAP, this is gonna get taken down once they realize what it is
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
More likely they’ll just turn off or unpublish the API that it depends on.
scott@lemmy.org 3 weeks ago
That was my thought too and I did so but it’s been up for over a week now.
Kowowow@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I wonder if this could be altered to work for other countries
iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
We’ve already got free software for filing taxes, kthxbye!
gian@lemmy.grys.it 3 weeks ago
It would be nice but I think it is not really possible. Too many difference in the laws I suppose.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
I can see the EU funding it. This could be a measure to allow Blue States circumvent the federal system - a CaliTAX, AlohaTAX, ect. This would be vital during a civil war scenario, so that the Blue States can having working taxation systems without having to redo everything.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
because this is the first pull request and something many people will see, I would like to say that I learned from a former project manager at the IRS that development on Direct File has stopped since January. the source code is only public because of federal law. it’s not likely that this is going to be merged but it’s possible that the components of Direct File might be used elsewhere
Don’t get your hopes up too much.
UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
TurboTax owned buy intuit, part of H&R block who has partnered with credit karma. Everything is a monopoly now
smashing3606@feddit.online 3 weeks ago
I'm pretty sure intuit and h&r block are competitors, not the same compamy.
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
You are correct.
Here’s an annoying thing i just learned about H&R Block:
As of 2022, H&R Block’s tax preparation service shares user data with Facebook, which can be used for targeted advertising. This can include sensitive financial information from health savings accounts and college expenses, and this tax data is shared without consent even for users who opt out of the service.
CluckN@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah I saw Monopoly Fortnite I wonder what is next?
raltoid@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I know, what are they making next? Lord of the Rings edition? Star Wars? Oh the humanities.
Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 3 weeks ago
It’s already got 4 PRs
lol
jayandp@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
7 open now, 2 closed
XD
Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 weeks ago
Unless it’s maintained it won’t be of much use. It needs to be kept up to date with tax laws, and it relies entirely on the IRS accepting the generated returns. It seems it may function for now, though.
Direct File interprets the United States’ Internal Revenue Code (26 USC) as plain language questions, the answers to which should be known to taxpayers without need of external instructions or publications. Taxpayers’ answers are then translated into standard tax forms and transmitted to the IRS’s Modernized e-File (MeF) API, which is available for authorized public use
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Linux geeks, assemble!
WhiteRice@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
axEl7fB5@lemmy.cafe 2 weeks ago
Web devs too!
Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Direct File is maintained by the IRS themselves though. So I would imagine it will be alright.
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 weeks ago
businessinsider.com/trump-house-republican-kill-i…
Will it continue to be?
LordCrom@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The code to generate the forms should be simple enough… But the amounts, the deductions, the laws, the rules…etc, these all need to be checked by an accountant or lawyer… It might be a good method to double check a return, but if the return isn’t guaranteed to be correct by the IRS or an accountant is checking details…I would be worried
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 weeks ago
Right. Well it should be good for 2025, so it depends on how much/if any changes there are in the next year.
Smoogs@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
What happened to the title of this?? Jeez
OccasionallyFeralya@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
“The IRS Tax Filing Software that TurboTax Is Trying to Kill Just Got Open Sourced” might be more clear but headlines try to cut those sorts of words out, unfortunately at the cost of readability sometimes.
jsomae@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
They accidentally included 8 verbs. (tax, filing, is, trying, kill, got, open, sourced)
fluxion@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Suck a bag of dicks, TurboTax
HawlSera@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I got told I couldn’t get a tax return because they flagged me for potential fraud, so I have to go to ID.me to verify… but then my account got banned while trying to verify my information.
Fml
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Guess that means they don’t want your money! Woo! (this is not legal advice, pay your taxes)
JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I love id.me, I’m so glad I had to give my facial data to them to collect unemployment insurance!
demizerone@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The more money you pay someone to find the loop holes in the tax code the less likely you are to support out government and its war machine.
eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Oh that’s awesome. I hope it can still be accepted by the IRS for the future (if we still have one in ~3 years) but it would be neat to just be able to have an open standard for online filing.
Bluewing@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
Don’t worry, there will always be an IRS for us plebes.
LorIps@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s licensed under CC0 to anyone wondering. BSD 0-Clause would probably be better but still fantastic.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
CC0 is a horrible thing to use for software. It seems great, but it specifically does not give patent rights. Compare that to MIT which implicitly does so. CC0 specifically says it does not.
fiddledeedee@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
HA get fucked turbotax
Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
Was the US so behind that they didn’t have a way to file taxes online for free?
Sine_Fine_Belli@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Unfortunately yes
psud@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
Not just that. The tax preparation industry has gotten tax more complex and harder to file in the US
You get the government you can afford. The tax preparation industry has been able to buy several governments
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not behind, ahead. Just you wait.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
THIS is the way.
smikwily@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Archive of the full article: archive.ph/6qJ6v
Xanza@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
hahahahahaha!
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Lmao, nice
bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 3 weeks ago
really good article with a couple surprises in there.
"some people speculated that, because of the political pressure against it, its release must have been an act of resistance by someone within the IRS. But the open sourcing of the program was always part of the plan, and was required by a law called the SHARE IT Act. It happened “fully above board, which is honestly more of a feat!,” Given told 404 Media. “This has been in the works since last year.” "
Vinton told 404 Media in a phone call that the open sourcing of Direct File “is just good government.”
“All code paid for by taxpayer dollars should be open source, available for comment, for feedback, for people to build on and for people in other agencies to replicate. It saves everyone money and it is our [taxpayers’] IP,” she said. “This is just good government and should absolutely be the standard that government technologists are held to.”
outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Dunno, sounds like some fucking commie shit to be. And not the kind i can someyimes get on board with when it comes time to do secret police shebanigans, but the bad scary kind where they dont even have a use for police.
Wouldn’t it be better to just give the code for free to a good corporate citizen who can be entrusted with its stewardship?
bitofarambler@crazypeople.online 3 weeks ago
only if the corporate citizen promise really hard we can trust them. like a super promise.
czl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Bro why are people downvoting this when it is so clearly a joke
Gladaed@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
/s dude, this is the Internet and you are not a person with a widely known stance.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
To be fair, since it’s public domain, anyone can take it, modify it (and not release modifications), and try to screw you over w/ it.
officermike@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Nice sentiment, but bad take. Open-sourcing the software that runs our military equipment would be a fantastic gift to the bad actors of the world.
hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
security through obscurity is not security
CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Our entire Internet, the backbone of all encryption, all runs on open source software.
It is more secure because people can see and audit the code.
Let me flip what you wrote:
Our military equipment already is vulnerable. We just don’t know how badly because it’s not open source.
Prove it’s secure by releasing the code.
TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 3 weeks ago
The GitHub page has a section for this:
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Maybe it’s the military that’s incompatible with our values, not open source
pastermil@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
yet just a few days ago, open source software was the key to destroying dozens of bomber planes in Russia
snek_boi@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
The problem you’re describing (open sourcing critical software) could both increase the capabilities of adversaries and also make it easier for adversaries to search for exploits. Open sourcing defeats security by obscurity.
Leaving security by obscurity aside could be seen as a loss, but it’s important to note what is gained in the process. Most security researchers today advocate against relying on security by obscurity, and instead focus on security by design and open security. Why?
Security by obscurity in the digital world is very easily defeated. It’s easy to copy and paste supposedly secure codes. It’s easy to smuggle supposedly secret code. “Today’s NSA secrets become tomorrow’s PhD theses and the next day’s hacker tools.”
So what’s the alternative? If you can’t secure some and hack others, you’ve got to choose between insecurity for all or security for all. If you rely on security by design and open security for military equipment, it’s possible that adversaries will get a hold of the software, but the attack surface will be smaller than if relying on security by obscurity.
So, insecurity for all or security for all? I’d go for security for all every time. I want my critical infrastructure without ransomware. I want tyrannical governments out of my private life. I want reliable software. If someone is waging a war, they’re going to have to use methods that can actually create a technical asymmetry of power, and insecure software is not the way to gain the upper hand.
SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’m sure there are exceptions for classified systems. Personally, I do believe all things developed by tax payer money should be released to the public including classified systems, given enough time has passed that the release of such information wouldn’t put anything or anyone at risk.
jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
I am fairly confident that theNSA is aware of this kind of concern and they have an pretty cool repo.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
So open sourcing Tor, which protects our foreign operatives, was a bad idea? Implementing secure sockets for the web (TLS) was a bad idea? Publishing security vulnerabilities publicly (CVE system) was a bad idea?
All of those help our adversaries, but our adversaries also have an incentive to improve the code so everyone benefits.
Sure, there are probably some things that shouldn’t be released (i.e. something w/ a legitimate national security concern), but by and large, most things should. Tax software absolutely should, because there’s zero reason for the software you use to file your taxes (which is a legal requirement) to not be publicly auditable, because you’re on the hook for any mistakes it makes.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Watch this thread from here on in carefully separate the idealists from those who know what defence is like.
Anything I missed?
Yes, Virginia, it’s better to open all the things right now, but there are risks you haven’t taken into account because you’re not aware of them. The pros are; it’s their job and their work, so listen to their expertise no matter what the oppositional/defient disorder suggests otherwise.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Depends on the application.
In some cases, it would be fantastic. But it’s clearly not a one size fits all, yeah.
outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Good thing no bad actors have root access. Agreed though; open source software is so notoriously insecure.
OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
You know open-source doesn’t mean publicly available. It means the person, or in this case the US government, that brought the software should have free access to the source code to edit and distribute it as they like.
So yes, the military should use something functional equivalent to open source to prevent vender lock in and to allow for external audits. They probably shouldn’t give it to Russia or make it freely available online though.
DesertDwellingWeirdo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’m sure a lot of military software, in contrast, is acquired from private companies that retain IP rights. Likely legal exceptions aside.
plz1@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Don’t worry, that’s all written by defense contractors anyways, so they’ll sell it to the US, and to others the US allows, all closed source. The source won’t even be open to the US government, either, as that’d harm the bottom line of the contractor (support & maintenance contracts for that closed-source software).
untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
as long as its not military stuff, I don’t want to be able to download a simulator for nuclear bombs or something on my PC