"Fun fact: the {federal|state|local} government has the {information|resources|capability} to {something}. However, this has been prevented by lobbyists from the {group that opposes something or makes a killing doing something very inefficiently}."
Feel free to insert everything from tax filing data to broadband-as-an-infratructure.
This is only true if you have a relatively straightforward tax return. Once you itemize deductions, there are all sorts of things the federal government doesn't know about, like how much real estate tax you paid, how much you gave to charity, what your medical and miscellaneous expenses were, etc. They only know about what's on your W-2, 1099s, K-1s, etc.
For the really simple tax returns (like 1040-EZ), I think there's already an option to have the IRS compute your tax for you.
1: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/readyreturn/
A federally-based solution for this would be ideal; the government is already well-aware of the relevant data. The only reason we have to do any work at all is because of the bizarre vagaries and loopholes of the tax code (and the gigantic amount of lobbying from the 'tax prep industry').
> ReadyReturn survived, but with essentially no marketing budget it is not widely known. Fewer than 90,000 California taxpayers used it last year – although those who do use it seem to be happy. Ninety-eight percent of users who filled out a survey said they would use it again.
http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax-...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/intuit-turbotax-... - another, more recent, report.
Intuit's lobbying is intended (it seems) to reduce funding to the program and replace it with their own variation. Not in CA so this whole thing is news to me, otherwise I'd probably have been paying attention to the details (like I did when Time-Warner-bought legislators were screwing over city-owned broadband in NC).
It would be cool if someone not associate with the FFA would create a tax prep site. The IRS APIs and standards are here: http://www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/e-File-Providers-&-Part...
I started my 2013 filing in H&R but hadn't submitted. I stumbled on this post and saw all the votes for TurboTax and re-entered my info into TurboTax and it saved me 5K.
Even the UI and help sections are nicer in TurboTax than H&R.
Having assets in other states that don't recognize same-sex marriages just makes things too complicated; it's no longer "married filing jointly."
http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax-...
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/26/175332655/what-would-the-u-s-b...
--
http://theweek.com/article/index/241919/why-turbotax-tried-t...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/leonardburman/2013/04/15/the-tax...
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4150900/intuit-lobbies-aga...
Intuit's statement on the matter: http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/621241-intuit-state...
You then just go through and answer a bunch of questions, entering relevant info wherever you need to and at the end you press submit. The info you enter essentially amounts to any deduction claims you want to make, plus any other niche pieces of info you may have to supply.
It covers the vast majority of people who don't have crazy complex tax returns. You can still do it by hand, or pay someone else to do it, but for most people it is an hour or two long exercise to do it via e-tax and at the end your return is either directly deposited into your bank account or you receive a bill to pay your tax owing.
It's nice and easy and makes tax return for most of us a pretty painless affair.
[1]: http://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Lodging-your-tax-return/E-... [2]: http://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Lodging-your-tax-return/In...
Linked from there, this will take JSON input and fill the IRS's PDF forms: https://github.com/codehero/OpenTaxFormFiller
All of it's a bit rough, but if you're looking for a place to start on the problem from a programmer perspective, these are pretty good.
Why do we use it? Simple, TurboTax Online _still_ in _2014_ says my system is not supported. I run Chrome on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
H&R Block Online is just fine with my system, doesn't complain and works great, we've used it for six years, on Ubuntu.
Every year I have one or two W-2 forms, and a income deduction form for interest paid on student loan. For federal, state, and local combined, it all takes no more than 3 hours. Invariably, the state taxes have the worst instructions, and they are usually very poorly designed, compared to the federal IRS-1040. That goes for KY, CA, and MD, the 3 states I've filed taxes in. My refund (if any) never takes more than 4-6 weeks to arrive via direct deposit.
Doing taxes manually gives me (a perhaps false) sense of control over the process. Most importantly, it only costs two postage stamps.
It would be very hard to keep a deal like that secret, since many of the companies' employees would potentially know about it (the executives who made the decision, plus anyone whose job it was to make sure the code was working correctly: accountants, programmers, testers). Also, any outside accountant who looked at the software would be able to figure it out.
And think of the risk to these companies' and the IRS' reputations if they did something like that and it was exposed by the media. The people involved in the decision would almost certainly lose their jobs, and the whistleblowers who leaked it to the media would become heroes.
For example if one has:
- Exercised stock options. (Filed an 83(b) - or forgotten to file an 83(b).)
- Sold stock.
- Sold derivatives contract on stock using something like ESO / EquityZen / Equidate.
In my particular case (foreign citizen, resident alien) this means that I currently pay 100% of my taxes in the United States (where I also reside). In case I would move back to my home country the tax treaty wouldn't allow the United States to tax the income I make in my home country.
Tax treaties only handle who you pay when payment is ambiguous; e.g. If I work for Microsoft china and go on a business trip to Seattle, I'm liable for taxes by both china and the USA (I.e. Double taxation) because the tax treaty is crappy. They are meant to normalize tax policies between two countries, they have nothing to do with tax avoidance (well avoiding double taxation is a goal).
Although I used TurboTax because as military, I get service for free, including direct deposit. I could've filled out the tax forms myself (done so multiple years in the past), but it's a lot of time, and I had 3 W-2s to do this time.
States have their own programs (e.g. New York http://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/efile/pit_webfile.htm )
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/Free_Online_Electronic_Tax_Fi...
Under Summary: "During the term of this Agreement, the IRS will not compete with the Consortium in providing free, online tax return preparation and filing services to taxpayers."
Generally speaking, the comment section is specifically designed to provide additional details or commentary. Using the comments to cast your vote, or simply echo it, doesn't fall into the category of appropriate usage.
Again, welcome to Y Combinator News aka Hacker News!
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I wish I could use your app, as it is one of the sexiest HN apps I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately, the amount of quality HN apps on the Android market is well below acceptable.
Perhaps a port of yours? :D
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mattyork.j...
Filing by hand means the IRS copies only the most important information, then archives/destroys the original. The end result is less chance of an audit, as there is less information up front. At least that's the rumor.
I'd venture a guess that complexity of taxes is more related to health of the economy than the particular system of government.
Now we study the tax laws to find out which parts we can qualify for and are advantageous to us. For example, knowing certain laws ahead of time can suggest which entity to form for a given business venture.