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Posts like this come around every year. There is a belief held by some that we should avoid making taxes easier to file. We shouldn't just take the number given

Posts like this come around every year. There is a belief held by some that we should avoid making taxes easier to file. We shouldn't just take the number given to us by our government. Some believe filing a tax return should be an explicit process so we are conscious of government burden. Also, a more practical reason. The government can't tell you all of the deductions you are entitled to.

maxxxxx 8y ago
The whole reasoning behind not prefilling makes no sense. The government tells you what it knows and you can then amned the return in whatever way you wish, e.g. deductions. There really is nothing negative for the tax payer as far as I can tell.
- sokoloff 8y ago
  My experience is that the IRS doesn’t have all of your data ready by April 15th. My tax guy requests a transcript of my account every year and the data is woefully incomplete in mid-April. Tends to be complete by mid-August. I have no idea what the delay is.
- perl4ever 8y ago
  As I just posted elsewhere, having a form prefilled would be a negative if the taxpayer is liable for mistakes, as is the current US system. I would like to know if, in countries where taxes are simpler, the government takes responsibility for its own mistakes. I mean, if the pre-filled return were grossly wrong, and the IRS changed its mind later and wanted more money, that would be tolerable. But it would not be tolerable to treat it as evasion or negligence to file what they provide me. I am wondering how it works in other countries now.
- BeetleB 8y ago
  >The whole reasoning behind not prefilling makes no sense. While I don't support the reasoning in the GP, it does make sense, and in my experience, is largely true. Many people I interact with (coworkers, etc) have very little understanding of the tax system - precisely because they don't do their own taxes (they either pay a very expensive person, or use something like TurboTax). If the government gave them a prefilled form, I fully expect that most people will not understand taxes. The reason I don't put much weight in the argument is that their feared scenario is already the current reality. Right now there is a burden to do taxes, and yet most people still have almost no understanding of it. They just pay someone to do it for them.
  - dmitriid 8y ago
    I live in Sweden now, and I understand my taxes way better now precisely because I'm given a pre-filled form I can correct if I wish to. Because I clearly see: ah, this is my income, it goes here, and I pay this much; ah, this is my additional income, it goes here; ah, these are the deductions I'm eligible for and pre-filled etc. I needed to correct the form only once to account for some stocks that were not reported for some reason. And I was warned about that by the bank handling my stocks. All I needed to do was to log in to the tax agency, go to my tax form, click on the "stocks and funds" tab and fill in the missing info.
- swebs 8y ago
  >There really is nothing negative for the tax payer as far as I can tell. Right, but its not the taxpayer making the laws, its the government. Right now, if you miss out on a few deductions and overpay, well too bad chump. If you miss some income and underpay, then you're getting audited. Making tax filing easier will make the government lose money from filers making mistakes, which is why they're resistant to change it.
deleted 8y ago
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maxxxxx 8y ago

The whole reasoning behind not prefilling makes no sense. The government tells you what it knows and you can then amned the return in whatever way you wish, e.g. deductions. There really is nothing negative for the tax payer as far as I can tell.

sokoloff 8y ago
My experience is that the IRS doesn’t have all of your data ready by April 15th. My tax guy requests a transcript of my account every year and the data is woefully incomplete in mid-April. Tends to be complete by mid-August. I have no idea what the delay is.
perl4ever 8y ago
As I just posted elsewhere, having a form prefilled would be a negative if the taxpayer is liable for mistakes, as is the current US system. I would like to know if, in countries where taxes are simpler, the government takes responsibility for its own mistakes. I mean, if the pre-filled return were grossly wrong, and the IRS changed its mind later and wanted more money, that would be tolerable. But it would not be tolerable to treat it as evasion or negligence to file what they provide me. I am wondering how it works in other countries now.
BeetleB 8y ago
>The whole reasoning behind not prefilling makes no sense. While I don't support the reasoning in the GP, it does make sense, and in my experience, is largely true. Many people I interact with (coworkers, etc) have very little understanding of the tax system - precisely because they don't do their own taxes (they either pay a very expensive person, or use something like TurboTax). If the government gave them a prefilled form, I fully expect that most people will not understand taxes. The reason I don't put much weight in the argument is that their feared scenario is already the current reality. Right now there is a burden to do taxes, and yet most people still have almost no understanding of it. They just pay someone to do it for them.
- dmitriid 8y ago
  I live in Sweden now, and I understand my taxes way better now precisely because I'm given a pre-filled form I can correct if I wish to. Because I clearly see: ah, this is my income, it goes here, and I pay this much; ah, this is my additional income, it goes here; ah, these are the deductions I'm eligible for and pre-filled etc. I needed to correct the form only once to account for some stocks that were not reported for some reason. And I was warned about that by the bank handling my stocks. All I needed to do was to log in to the tax agency, go to my tax form, click on the "stocks and funds" tab and fill in the missing info.
swebs 8y ago
>There really is nothing negative for the tax payer as far as I can tell. Right, but its not the taxpayer making the laws, its the government. Right now, if you miss out on a few deductions and overpay, well too bad chump. If you miss some income and underpay, then you're getting audited. Making tax filing easier will make the government lose money from filers making mistakes, which is why they're resistant to change it.

deleted 8y ago

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