7 ms·

I would think tax attorneys would appreciate more billable hours. The 'postcard sized tax form' touted by the GOP left me wondering what the makers of TurboTax

I would think tax attorneys would appreciate more billable hours. The 'postcard sized tax form' touted by the GOP left me wondering what the makers of TurboTax and other tax preparation software think about that specific proposal.

jonas21 9y ago
The "postcard sized tax form" is essentially the same level of complexity as the 1040EZ, which already exists. See: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/30/16219906/paul-ryans-postcard-tax-return https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/30/16219906/p...
- colek42 9y ago
  The standard deduction doubling will mean that most people will be able to use a simple form rather than itemizing.
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    Regardless of what the standard deduction is, don't you still have to first itemize in order to figure out whether you should itemize?
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - greenleafjacob 9y ago
      If you have itemized before and no material changes have occurred in your tax situation then you don’t have to itemize again.
      - sokoloff 9y ago
        > If you have itemized before and no material changes have occurred in your tax situation then you don’t have to itemize again. Explain this a bit more? I mean, it's technically true for most taxpayers that they aren't forced to itemize, but I doubt that's what you meant.
        ghaff 9y ago
        I think several people on this thread as using "itemized" as shorthand for "did the paperwork to figure out their total deductions and discovered it was less than the standard deduction."
    - philwelch 9y ago
      Eh, once you work through the big ticket deductions (like home mortgage interest), it's usually easy to tell.
    - toast0 9y ago
      If your income is less than the standard deduction, you don't need to itemize. If you're living off of stock dividends, or other capital gains, the threshold is when income minus standard deduction hits the top of the bracket for 0% on cap gains. If you have a general idea of what's itemizable, and an approximate amount for those, and it's much less than the standard deduction, you don't need to find all the receipts and do the work.
    - sokoloff 9y ago
      Not necessarily. You could just take the standard deduction without regard to whether or not it was good for you to do so. Many people are in the situation where they just know that there's no point in itemizing, and more will be in that boat when state/local income taxes are excluded and the standard deduction is raised.
mikeash 9y ago
TurboTax et al absolutely hate it, of course, and work hard lobbying Congress to ensure it doesn't happen. https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-block-intuit-lobbying-against-it https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- shmerl 9y ago
  Quite disgusting to lobby for keeping the process complicated, to justify the middleman. I'm not using Intuit. TaxAct doesn't seem to do such stunts.

jonas21 9y ago

The "postcard sized tax form" is essentially the same level of complexity as the 1040EZ, which already exists. See: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/30/16219906/paul-ryans-postcard-tax-return https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/30/16219906/p...

colek42 9y ago
The standard deduction doubling will mean that most people will be able to use a simple form rather than itemizing.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Regardless of what the standard deduction is, don't you still have to first itemize in order to figure out whether you should itemize?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - greenleafjacob 9y ago
    If you have itemized before and no material changes have occurred in your tax situation then you don’t have to itemize again.
    - sokoloff 9y ago
      > If you have itemized before and no material changes have occurred in your tax situation then you don’t have to itemize again. Explain this a bit more? I mean, it's technically true for most taxpayers that they aren't forced to itemize, but I doubt that's what you meant.
      - ghaff 9y ago
        I think several people on this thread as using "itemized" as shorthand for "did the paperwork to figure out their total deductions and discovered it was less than the standard deduction."
  - philwelch 9y ago
    Eh, once you work through the big ticket deductions (like home mortgage interest), it's usually easy to tell.
  - toast0 9y ago
    If your income is less than the standard deduction, you don't need to itemize. If you're living off of stock dividends, or other capital gains, the threshold is when income minus standard deduction hits the top of the bracket for 0% on cap gains. If you have a general idea of what's itemizable, and an approximate amount for those, and it's much less than the standard deduction, you don't need to find all the receipts and do the work.
  - sokoloff 9y ago
    Not necessarily. You could just take the standard deduction without regard to whether or not it was good for you to do so. Many people are in the situation where they just know that there's no point in itemizing, and more will be in that boat when state/local income taxes are excluded and the standard deduction is raised.

mikeash 9y ago

TurboTax et al absolutely hate it, of course, and work hard lobbying Congress to ensure it doesn't happen. https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-block-intuit-lobbying-against-it https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre...

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
shmerl 9y ago
Quite disgusting to lobby for keeping the process complicated, to justify the middleman. I'm not using Intuit. TaxAct doesn't seem to do such stunts.