4 ms·

What parts are the "weird parts of filing a tax return"? Not trying to come across as combative, I'm just genuinely curious.

justin66 7y ago
There are a few things that are always extremely odd to figure out (or at least, I always waste a lot of time on them) when preparing the forms. What's deductible vs what isn't with retirement accounts, student loan repayments, and - for the love of God - the Health Savings Account stuff. It's been a long time since I had to think about it but I'm sure some hn users have struggles figuring out their stock options. TurboTax asks you questions and guides you through entering the data. It's all fairly intuitive and you'll have a feel for whether you've done everything completely. Free Fillable Forms, which I've used the last couple of times, is just one step up from doing everything on paper. It is not bad if you know what you're in for, but it is not the same experience as something like TurboTax or the H&R Block tool.
bluGill 7y ago
Copy line 13 of form 8765 to line 32 of form 5432... This is more tedious, except that it gets very easy to miss one of those steps in the list of things that don't apply. (most people have never worked for the railroad and skip a bunch of steps for railroad retirees)
joezydeco 7y ago
Think of these "free fillable forms" as a spreadsheet. Numbers go in boxes, other boxes compute themselves and nothing more. Now go look at the IRS instructions for a typical schedule. Here's a common one, Schedule A for itemized deductions: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf It's a mere 17 pages including lookup tables. Pretty lightweight. Some go way longer. Now, is all of this information and logic put into the free form calculator? It's not. So you need to read along with these instructions and follow all of the conditionals and detours described inside. This is what you're buying when you buy a tax prep program, and this is what's missing from the free options.

justin66 7y ago

There are a few things that are always extremely odd to figure out (or at least, I always waste a lot of time on them) when preparing the forms. What's deductible vs what isn't with retirement accounts, student loan repayments, and - for the love of God - the Health Savings Account stuff. It's been a long time since I had to think about it but I'm sure some hn users have struggles figuring out their stock options. TurboTax asks you questions and guides you through entering the data. It's all fairly intuitive and you'll have a feel for whether you've done everything completely. Free Fillable Forms, which I've used the last couple of times, is just one step up from doing everything on paper. It is not bad if you know what you're in for, but it is not the same experience as something like TurboTax or the H&R Block tool.

bluGill 7y ago

Copy line 13 of form 8765 to line 32 of form 5432... This is more tedious, except that it gets very easy to miss one of those steps in the list of things that don't apply. (most people have never worked for the railroad and skip a bunch of steps for railroad retirees)

joezydeco 7y ago

Think of these "free fillable forms" as a spreadsheet. Numbers go in boxes, other boxes compute themselves and nothing more. Now go look at the IRS instructions for a typical schedule. Here's a common one, Schedule A for itemized deductions: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf It's a mere 17 pages including lookup tables. Pretty lightweight. Some go way longer. Now, is all of this information and logic put into the free form calculator? It's not. So you need to read along with these instructions and follow all of the conditionals and detours described inside. This is what you're buying when you buy a tax prep program, and this is what's missing from the free options.