Free IRS software for filing taxes to be banned by US Congress in win for TurboTax
Independent (UK),
by
Clark Mindock
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
4/11/2019 6:06:37 PM
Congress is poised to pass a bill that would hand a major policy victory to the for-profit tax preparation industry, just in time for Tax Day in America. The bill, titled the Taxpayers First Act, is a wide-ranging bill that includes a provision that would ban the US government from developing a free electronic tax filing system, and is supported by companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block. Those companies have lobbied Congress for years now to block the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from developing a free system to help taxpayers file online and would compete
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Mushroom 4/11/2019 6:14:19 PM (No. 30967)
Up until 3 yrs ago I spent $50-$75 every year to file a standard deduction return. I didn´t get anything for my money and in fact, I had to pay even more to file my State.
For the last couple of years I used CreditKarma´s free service. They already have most of my financials so it wasn´t a big privacy leap.
I´m not going to get in an uproar, because although the paid people can´t learn new tricks, this actually has to PASS both houses and get a signature from someone that I believe is actually looking out for us.
16 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
helibobber 4/11/2019 6:17:15 PM (No. 30945)
What happened to your tax return filed on a single postcard idea?
39 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 4/11/2019 6:20:47 PM (No. 30963)
If the government developed the program it would cost billions and wouldn´t work.
42 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 4/11/2019 6:37:34 PM (No. 30969)
TurboTax does a very good job, we have used it for many years.
40 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
stablemoney 4/11/2019 6:42:50 PM (No. 30953)
I do not trust the government, so I don´t think their free tax service is a good idea.
19 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
msjena 4/11/2019 6:44:08 PM (No. 30960)
If someone just has ordinary income and uses the standard deduction, it is a waste of money to use any tax service--Turbo Tax included.
22 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Vesicant 4/11/2019 7:00:57 PM (No. 30949)
According to Open Secrets, Intuit made $335,131 in political donations in 2018, 82% of it to dhimmicrats. Intuit spent $2.6 million on lobbying in 2018. H&R Block made $267,042 in political donations, about equally split between dhimmicrats and uselessicrans. H&R Block spent $4.0 million on lobbying in 2018.
Call your congresscritter and tell them to pass HR 3641, the Free File Permanence Act of 2017.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
joew9 4/11/2019 7:20:13 PM (No. 30958)
Would the governments tax return software offer to represent you in court against the IRS? If their software screws up our return can we sue them?
22 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Bohallx 4/11/2019 7:33:49 PM (No. 30959)
All the majors provide tax software that CANNOT be enlarged so that those with severe visual defects can use it easily to prepare taxes.
I think somebody should get this bill crushed with an application of the Handicapped Accessibility Laws!
Just give it a field goal out of the ball park of life.
Then I can turn my attention to the gub´mnt itself to get that little problem FIXED. They are REQUIRED to adhere to the law.
14 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Illinois Mom 4/11/2019 7:41:54 PM (No. 30955)
Turbo Tax has a free option for standard deduction only filers. I use it because they can import our W2´s and they do the Math.
I let Turbo Tax do the math for my state taxes, write it all down, and then file on the state website that is also free to file.
It´s just about the only thing I can think of that Illinois actually does for us without a fee attached but now they will probably think twice and use it as another pension shortfall "funding plan."
11 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
snakeoil 4/11/2019 7:48:04 PM (No. 30950)
This year for the first time I gave up and use the free Turbo Tax online software. The IRS forms wouldn´t let me just print out blank forms. The first thing Turbo Tax did was tell me I´d be better off paying for something better than the free version. Didn´t. It took me hours to fill out the form with Turbo Tax. It asked me so many questions I didn´t know the answer to I just started picking random answers. Amazingly I got a refund from the fed and state. First time in 10 years.
15 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/11/2019 7:53:20 PM (No. 30962)
Good luck, #10. I wouldn´t trust Illinois to do anything fairly for its citizens.
I paid three hundred bucks to use one of those paid services last year because I had self-employment income and a few other complications. I had to sit there for two hours with the little twit and practically filled out the screens myself. When she wasn´t on the computer she was on the phone to her home office. I could have done the return in less than half the time it took her. When she was finished she told me in a bubbly voice, "hey, I just completed my FIRST self-employed tax return!" It took everything I had not to say, "No Shiite Shirley."
11 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
rushie 4/11/2019 8:12:45 PM (No. 30964)
Test
11 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
SALady 4/11/2019 8:23:53 PM (No. 30952)
Nothing is free!!! If you are giving these tax services all of your private information (including SSN´s) to prepare and file your tax report "for free", you know they are data mining that information and making a huge profit on it somewhere!!!!!
But the one good thing I see out of this proposed law is that the IRS will not be able to make filing electronically mandatory!!!
22 people like this.
As a self employed person, I spent hundreds of dollars with H&R Block so they would attest to filling it out. The final straw was the day I spent $500 for an imbecile (who they claimed was one of the two best in the office) to fill them out. She asked everybody that passed her desk for help. I was so ticked. The real prize was they do not have anyone to complain to in their business. AARP does it for free.
7 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Trigger2 4/12/2019 2:59:38 AM (No. 30957)
Who owns TurboTax and H&R Block? If libtards are for it, it means they have direct access to everyone´s return. This is going to be the next mega scandal.
10 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 4/12/2019 8:08:36 AM (No. 30966)
Hired a CPA to do my taxes for two years and the tax returns had to be redone each time. Then I discovered Turbo Tax. This was about 30 years ago. I have never looked back. It has worked first time every time. If the IRS owes me money I pay a small fee, file electronically and get my refund within two weeks.
I have not used the free version because in the past I had to itemize. That is no longer the case and may go to the free program next year.
For those of you who complain about all the questions. There is a reason and that is the complexity of our tax law.
P.S. I would not trust any computer program or app that is designed and issued by a government agency. Remember the Obamacare exchanges???
6 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
hoosierblue 4/12/2019 9:00:56 AM (No. 30951)
We had that for filing our state returns in Indiana. Then they discontinued it except for those on welfare.
1 person likes this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Rinktum 4/12/2019 9:20:56 AM (No. 30948)
Frankly, I don’t want anything that they say is “free” from the government. More “free” things means more government bureaucracy. I have enough of bureaucrats to last a lifetime. We use Turbo Tax and are quite satisfied with it.
4 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Jack44 4/12/2019 11:06:14 AM (No. 30968)
The "free" IRS version would certainly not be focused on getting you the maximum refund. I would certainly prefer that the IRS resources concentrate on finding and collecting from blatant tax cheats, of which there are a million or more.
4 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Franz 4/12/2019 1:05:50 PM (No. 30956)
The replacement for the old Form 1040 is a sham. It looks like somebody at the IRS went out of their way to make the new 1040 as complicated and intimidating as possible.
To create the illusion of a postcard size 1040, they chopped up the old 1040 to create 6 additional schedules (Schedules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). This added more lines to be filled in (transferring summation data from the 6 new schedules lines to the new 1040).
Faced with this maze of forms undoubtedly drove nearly all of those who used the 1040A and 1040EZ forms to the professional tax preparers.
I bet H&R Block made record profits this year.
And, this makes a mockery of the "Paperwork Reduction Act".
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
flutepilot 4/12/2019 1:07:30 PM (No. 30947)
I liked the ´Form EZEst´ that went around a few years back Two lines:
How much did you make last year?
Send it in.
1 person likes this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
P51DMustang 4/12/2019 2:00:29 PM (No. 30965)
I would never trust any software purchased or developed by the Feds. The IRS has to develop its mission statement, collect the attributes of the development, manage its build and testing. Then, provide for timely bug fixes and implement a nation wide rollout to U.S. citizens.
Can anyone really believe the Government is capable of creating an application like this...?
Highly unlikely.
0 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
cor-vet 4/12/2019 2:02:20 PM (No. 30946)
We started using ´Tax Act´ years ago, and it´s been a great program. It has gotten more expensive every year, and as we no longer itemize (Thanks President Trump), we may go to the free version. They still charge for the state tax work. Plus, we read that Turbo-Tax is a big contributor to PP and supports LGBTQ. Haven´t heard that about Tax-Act.
1 person likes this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
TLCary 4/12/2019 8:05:14 PM (No. 30944)
I found the perfect solution to doing State Taxes and I’d recommend it to all of you.
Move to Tennessee! (There are none)
NY, I haven’t missed you for a minute.
17 people like this.
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Comments:
Tax filing is indeed far more complex than it needs to be, specifically at the behest of tax accountants and tax software vendors. And they say we did away with slavery in 1865.