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>Now companies are barred from hiding their free products from search engines such as Google, and a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online fil
by granzymes 7y ago
>Now companies are barred from hiding their free products from search engines such as Google, and a years-old prohibition on the IRS creating its own online filing system has been scrapped.
>Under the new rules, participating companies also have to standardize the naming convention of their Free File version as “IRS Free File program delivered by [product name].”
Respect to ProPublica for their commitment to this issue. I first learned of the Free File deal from their reporting and enjoyed the HN comments on their articles.
On the 20-year fight to stop Americans from doing their taxes for free: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21281411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21281411
On hiding Free File from search engines: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19758126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19758126
On tax industry lobbying: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21393758 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21393758
- jfc 7y agoProPublica reported that after they published this story, people eligible for free filing contacted TurboTax to get refunds. At first, they were able to get refunds of the fees that they paid but once word got out the customer service reps stonewalled them. So ProPublica invited readers to submit stories of their experiences with TurboTax customer service. Quality journalism.
- epmaybe 7y agoNot only quality journalism, but a really solid look at what modern data-driven journalism should be like.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Florin_Andrei 7y agoThis is great news. The US is making great strides towards joining the rest of the civilized world in the 20th century, finally.
- badatseciruty 7y agoEveryone knows that the first 20 years of a Century are for the early adopters. It's best to wait until all the bugs have been worked out.