11 ms·

Elizabeth Warren thinks the IRS should fill out your tax returns

29 points by ourmandave 11y ago

paulcole 11y ago
The IRS can reject my efiled return if the information I enter doesn't match what they have on their end. So why not just save me the hassle of entering a bunch of data if they already have it? This seems like such an obvious no brainer that could save millions of people hours of frustration. That's why I'm 100% sure it'll never happen.
- thyrsus 11y ago
  But who will provide employment to the newly idle folks as H&R Block, Intuit(TurboTax) and others? And what would happen to their campaign contributions? And what about the primary opponents who will lambaste this million dollar expansion of the IRS?
- lakkal 11y ago
  Yeah. As part of buying a house a few years ago, I prematurely drained a couple of small 401k accounts from previous employers to pay for some repairs. That was in Feb-March. Then a year later when I was doing my taxes, I had received the appropriate 1099-whatever for only one of them - I either lost the other, or it didn't get forwarded to my new address- I don't know. And by that time, I had forgotten all about it. The following year (2015) I wound up getting whacked for under-reporting my income in 2014 (house purchase was 2013). It's annoying that since the IRS knew about this (the 401k company had reported it to them, of course), but I had long since forgotten. There must be a better way.
blisterpeanuts 11y ago
What about people who file Schedule C? The IRS isn't going to know about our business deductions, expenses, etc.
- paulcole 11y ago
  Those people continue as usual. Everything doesn't have to benefit everyone equally.
- davidgerard 11y ago
  Covered in article. Even in countries that already do this, you have the option of doing it yourself.
pmiller2 11y ago
This is a great idea, if implemented correctly. In the UK, most regular employees don't have to file a return because the correct amount is automatically withheld. I'd love to never get another tax refund again and offload the work of filing taxes to the government!
- ves 11y ago
  But why via witholdings? I don't take witholdings and then just cut the appropriate check come April. They're basically a zero interest loan to the government.
  - pmiller2 11y ago
    Under the UK scheme, for an ordinary employee (basically the kind of person the cheap and free editions of TurboTax are designed for), you're simply paying your tax as you go. It's not really a zero interest loan to the government; it's just paying off what you owe one paycheck at a time.
drallison 11y ago
Why limit this approach to tax filings? Perhaps we should move to a federal banking system where the federal government takes over the services currently provided by the Consumer and the Merchant banking systems? Because all financial transactions would go through the federated banking system and would be cross-checked mechanically, studied by big-data AI systems for anomalies, errors, and fraud. Risks could be substantially reduced. The accuracy of economic projections could be improved because they could be based on real data. A Federal bank account would become a birthright. Bank accounts could be merged with Social Security and Health accounts. If this were to happen, Federal Cybersecurity would need to be improved significantly. The implementation would need to be operated and managed directly by the Federal Government and NOT SUBCONTRACTED to commercial enterprises to ensure systems integrity. There is also the question whether, in this instance, financial information of individuals, business entities, and the government would be entitled to privacy and confidentiality. It might be argued that making all financial information open and available to everyone would have positive benefits. Others might argue that to do so would kill the free market. More study is needed.

29 points by ourmandave 11y ago

The IRS can reject my efiled return if the information I enter doesn't match what they have on their end. So why not just save me the hassle of entering a bunch of data if they already have it? This seems like such an obvious no brainer that could save millions of people hours of frustration. That's why I'm 100% sure it'll never happen.

thyrsus 11y ago
But who will provide employment to the newly idle folks as H&R Block, Intuit(TurboTax) and others? And what would happen to their campaign contributions? And what about the primary opponents who will lambaste this million dollar expansion of the IRS?
lakkal 11y ago
Yeah. As part of buying a house a few years ago, I prematurely drained a couple of small 401k accounts from previous employers to pay for some repairs. That was in Feb-March. Then a year later when I was doing my taxes, I had received the appropriate 1099-whatever for only one of them - I either lost the other, or it didn't get forwarded to my new address- I don't know. And by that time, I had forgotten all about it. The following year (2015) I wound up getting whacked for under-reporting my income in 2014 (house purchase was 2013). It's annoying that since the IRS knew about this (the 401k company had reported it to them, of course), but I had long since forgotten. There must be a better way.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

What about people who file Schedule C? The IRS isn't going to know about our business deductions, expenses, etc.

paulcole 11y ago
Those people continue as usual. Everything doesn't have to benefit everyone equally.
davidgerard 11y ago
Covered in article. Even in countries that already do this, you have the option of doing it yourself.

pmiller2 11y ago

This is a great idea, if implemented correctly. In the UK, most regular employees don't have to file a return because the correct amount is automatically withheld. I'd love to never get another tax refund again and offload the work of filing taxes to the government!

ves 11y ago
But why via witholdings? I don't take witholdings and then just cut the appropriate check come April. They're basically a zero interest loan to the government.
- pmiller2 11y ago
  Under the UK scheme, for an ordinary employee (basically the kind of person the cheap and free editions of TurboTax are designed for), you're simply paying your tax as you go. It's not really a zero interest loan to the government; it's just paying off what you owe one paycheck at a time.

drallison 11y ago

Why limit this approach to tax filings? Perhaps we should move to a federal banking system where the federal government takes over the services currently provided by the Consumer and the Merchant banking systems? Because all financial transactions would go through the federated banking system and would be cross-checked mechanically, studied by big-data AI systems for anomalies, errors, and fraud. Risks could be substantially reduced. The accuracy of economic projections could be improved because they could be based on real data. A Federal bank account would become a birthright. Bank accounts could be merged with Social Security and Health accounts. If this were to happen, Federal Cybersecurity would need to be improved significantly. The implementation would need to be operated and managed directly by the Federal Government and NOT SUBCONTRACTED to commercial enterprises to ensure systems integrity. There is also the question whether, in this instance, financial information of individuals, business entities, and the government would be entitled to privacy and confidentiality. It might be argued that making all financial information open and available to everyone would have positive benefits. Others might argue that to do so would kill the free market. More study is needed.