Hacker News Reader

Comment by yladiz | Hacker News Reader

Have you ever filed your taxes by hand? The system is set up to basically force you to use a tool, and many tools aren’t free, especially if your income is above a certain amount.

While not every point in the parent is fully accurate, dismissing all of them does a disservice to the point that the hidden costs do add up and generally you aren’t as well off in USA as you would think based on salary alone.

View on HN

Even if you hire an accountant, it's what, $1000?

This reminds me of the argument (always given by people in HCoL areas) that it's not bad to earn less in LCoL areas because you might get paid 50% less, but also rent is 50% less. Forgetting that most other expenses are the same, and even if all living expenses were 50% less, that's only equal if 100% of your income goes towards expenses.

Salaries in tech in the US are so far off the rest of the world that a few more expenses really don't matter.

My American boss says he does taxes for himself and parent and it's no biggie.

For most people it will take ~4 hours to do on their own with free software.

Yes. I file by hand every year using Free Fillable Forms.

Am I saying it's a good system? No. Would I ever factor it into compensation when moving abroad? Also no.

If you have a regular job and maybe simple investments like a retirement account or stocks, can follow written directions, and use a calculator, it's really not that hard to do your taxes by hand.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com