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Comment by Beached | Hacker News Reader

how would you handle the large number of deductions and credits everyone files for yearly? does the fed know of o bought a solar generator and plan on taking a credit? do they know if I had my windows replaced and plan on a deduction? do they know how many square feet my at home office is, or how much I spent in supplies? do they know if I plan on taking the general deduction or itemizing?

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Every single rational country provides a tax form to their residents, that is prefilled. You get the bill, with explanations. You file documentation with the tax authorities and then you get a response.

I have done that in multiple countries - getting tax refunds and other benefits at the end of the tax year. I even ran a business in the "tax heavy EU", where all of my tax related duties were at most 30 minutes per month(that's with payroll and other common business bookeping)

Meanwhile in US - IRS knows what you owe, IRS is legally banned to tell you and you're forced to pay a third party to send your documentation to IRS... oh... and they also make mistakes very often.

Yet for some reason, people like you are up in arms.. do you work at Intiut or something?

All of those purchases and deductions put you outside of the 42-48% that the parent is referencing.

File your own not using the pre-filled forms as you do today? While it won't for some doesn't mean it can't be the default option for many

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