this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 318 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Eat shit, lobbying to make simple tax returns something you have to pay Turbo Tax, H&R Block, etc for.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I don't know much about investing, but i wonder if it would it be a good time to short those companies?

[–] [email protected] 114 points 2 months ago (6 children)

If you don't know much about investing then you shouldn't short anything ever. People who know about investing will tell you that even when your logic is 100 percent sound, the market isn't that predictable and in general the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago

Plus, the news of this would already be priced into the stock, so if anything the price is already low and these companies would need to pivot their business (which would increase the value again) or die (which would lower the price marginally, to zero). Either way, shorting is a bad strategy in this case.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 months ago

it wouldve been earlier, but now this is priced into the stocks already.

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[–] [email protected] 133 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Eat shit [insert private company here]

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (14 children)

I hope every CEO gets the worse form of cancer and dies slowly.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 2 months ago (14 children)

Free if you have no other exemptions to file.

1099? Nope Depreciation? Nope Tax credits? Nope

Makes for a great headline though.

Im sure those of us that do have exemptions other than the standard will see our tax prep fees skyrocket

[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 months ago

Some progress is better then no progress, and TurboTax et. al. losing in any way is a victory for the rest of us.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Why is the USA the only country to have those problems, AND complain about getting free stuff?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (4 children)

are you not capable of taking a win? it's a HUGE step towards disassembling predatory cpas and tax software.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Maybe not. You will have the same number of tax preparers chasing less work. Through the magic of the Free Market™️, shouldn’t that mean pressure to reduce prices? We can only hope.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Yeah, very limited, but it's very good for more than half of the population that don't have enough deductions to exceed the standard and don't own property (if you properly count houseless "households" that earn income as not owning property and not just renters like most statistics). It's dumb that they have to file a return anyway just to acres money that never should have been collected. Most just don't know how to properly file their W-4 to not have taxes withheld in the first place. Mostly because they follow the directions and/or are afraid of paying a fine plus interest.

Anyway, it's a step in the right direction. And if we can unbury all of the staff out of the pile of paper returns, we can devote some to go after the rich and their frivolous, often fraudulent deductions and have them pay the tax they owe.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 months ago (4 children)

why isn't this constitutionally protected.

Can we pass an amendment for this shit? It's actually kind of fucked up.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

Kind of? Are you going to tell us that the US healthcare system is "sorta silly" next?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Sorta silly?! It's fucked beyond belief. Source: me, someone who profits off the healthcare industry as a corpo. Sorry 🤷.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think that some companies like turbotax are employing lobbyists to make impossible filing for taxes unless you go through a gatekeeper

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 2 months ago (10 children)

Wait really? What's the catch?

[–] [email protected] 190 points 2 months ago (15 children)

Doubt there is one. The hard truth is that most Americans' taxes are pretty simple and straightforward. We can stop pretending that copying some boxes from a W2 and a 1099 is difficult.

I mean, personally I wish we'd stop pretending that the IRS isn't already fully aware of what you owe and could just do the filling for you, like in other countries, but until Grover Norquist fucks off forever we're stuck where we are.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 2 months ago (9 children)

Right. Filing taxes should only be necessary if you have itemized writeoffs or wish to contest the IRS's statement of your tax liability. They already know what you earned their your employer, what's been paid in taxes, what basic credits your qualify for, etc. They know what you owe so long as you didn't have expenses to apply for that they couldn't assume or know about. The only reason they don't already do that or, at least until now, have a free public system for filing, it's because tax companies have lobbied for decades to be able to milk the public for cash to help them file and navigate their tax liability.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (6 children)

The argument has been since free filing means only the wealthy will hire accountants, free filing would discriminate against the poor given a few mistakes will be made here and there.

I may not need to mention that disingenuous argument is made by the pirates at Intuit and their lobbyists.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (5 children)

free filing would discriminate against the poor

As opposed to the current system where the richest among us can hire a whole team of accountants to find every deduction possible?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I've been in the US for a few years now. All my colleagues told me that doing taxes is hard. So I used to reluctantly pay money to do it through Sprintax. This year, I decided to do it by hand. It took almost the same amount of time as it would've taken to do it through Sprintax, which is around 30 minutes.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Unless it's changed from the pilot, it's only useful if you file a 1040EZ or take some really basic deductions. Anything beyond the basics, like any kind of investments, means you need to use a different tool.

But freetaxusa is still free for all but the most complex cases.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago

I expect that you'll have to pay the money according to the statement

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

The catch is that Turbo Tax and H&R Block are gonna lose a ton of revenue

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 months ago (17 children)

The catch is that it requires ID.me, and there is no way in hell I'm giving some third party a picture of my fucking drivers license.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 months ago

I hope more scrutiny is given to ID.me. I'll only be using Direct File if they remove it as a dependency.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Seems odd. They've been pushing login.gov like everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It will eventually be supported, and in the interim they have stated that they won't keep biometric data obtained through ID.me once a verification is completed, or you can opt for an online interview where no biometrics are collected in the first place.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-new-features-put-in-place-for-irs-online-account-registration-process-strengthened-to-ensure-privacy-and-security

Who knows if ID.me will actually delete the data on their end though, or if the online interview is recorded by the provider.

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 2 months ago (13 children)

Mine was too complicated to file for free because I have retirement investments? Seems like a silly reason to force someone to use a paid service.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You’re not supposed to be wrecking our economy like that. Spend, baby, spend.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 months ago

Thank fuck. Finally

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago

Biden did that, among many other great things for the average american citizen

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Even without access to Direct File since I wasn't in a pilot state, I've been using the IRS' "Free Fillable Forms" for the last few years and they've worked great! They don't hold your hand as much as the paid software but for my returns they've been more than adequate and free!

Does anyone know how "Direct File" differs from the "Free Fillable Forms"? Does it hold your hand a little more and help you find credits/deductions? Free Fillable Forms worked well, but only so long as I knew what I needed to file. New circumstances, like adding a dependent, lead to a lot of research.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago

Good. Now make it work for everyone's tax situation.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

You need to enable JavaScript to use Direct File.

On the plus side, UBO only had to block one script (on the login page at least).

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Fuck TurboTax, fuck H$R Block

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

how much longer til they just do it for me and leave me the fuck alone?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

Now if we could do like other countries and just have the government send a pre formatted document of things like wages, dependents, and other taxable items so we all know what we owe because the government has all that information already. Add what you need as far as write offs or other income and send it back. Done. None of this collection of tons of different forms, figuring out what percent you can write off, etc. and submitting it all hoping you don’t get it wrong and get audited or owe fines and interest.

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