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I.R.S. to Begin Trial of Its Own Free Tax-Filing System (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 10 months ago by HeartyBeast@kbin.social to c/news@beehaw.org

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Residents of 12 states are eligible to participate if they meet certain criteria. But the agency’s plans have already met resistance from tax preparation companies.

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[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 52 points 10 months ago (2 children)

A spokeswoman for Intuit, Tania Mercado, criticized the direct file project as a “half-baked solution” and a waste of taxpayer money.

Yeah, screw you. You shouldn't have to pay to file your taxes. End of story.

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 10 points 10 months ago

waste of taxpayer money

The existence of Intuit as a company has wasted taxpayers (checks notes) $14.37 billion dollars.

[–] Hazzia@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Paying for the honor of either giving the government more money, or convincing them that they took too much and to give it back. But don't worry, they'll double check your work sometimes to make sure you gave them enough (fuck you if you gave them too much though). Oh, thinking "if they know how much I owed them anyway, why do I have to do this shit in the first place?" Fuck you, that's why.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, thinking "if they know how much I owed them anyway, why do I have to do this shit in the first place?"

They do that in pretty much all other developed countries. Never had to worry about filing taxes when I lived overseas. Just double check their work and forget about it until next year.

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In the UK, if you are basically employed by one employer with minimal savings, you don’t have to fill in a tax return. As soon as things get a bit more complicated- you are self-employed or have multiple streams of income, you have to fill in a return

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the UK often tries to imitate the US whether or not they should.

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’m not sure how you drew that conclusion from what I said.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

As soon as things get a bit more complicated- you are self-employed or have multiple streams of income, you have to fill in a return

Maybe I misunderstood.

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago

That’s not to do with copying anyone though. It’s just an intrinsic problem with the complexity: “We’re pretty sure we have the information needed to calculate your tax? No worries, we won’t brother you. Affairs are more complicated? We’ll have to ask you for help”

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago

In the UK, I’ve certainly had times when I’ve paid too much and they refunded me.