3 ms·

I forget from what country. Years ago with a bunch of international friends one mentioned you don't really do taxes at all. If you received wages, it is the c

I forget from what country. Years ago with a bunch of international friends one mentioned you don't really do taxes at all. If you received wages, it is the company's duty to file them and it's done. Filing taxes does seem complicated here in the U.S. when you may have also other forms of ordinary income. So many rules, forms, etc. I wonder if people use something like TurboTax because they are just not aware how to complete this task, unless, systematically hand held in a way and just walk through getting it done before the deadline.

mtrower 6y ago
That's seriously a large part of it.
junon 6y ago
Ex-pat American living in Germany. Unless you have some slightly less common situation, you don't have to worry about taxe filing here.
- kall 6y ago
  You really should though. I would say it‘s only a safe bet if you worked the same job for the entire year, got no bonuses and had no other income at all (even from the state). Otherwise you either have to do it or you are missing out on credits. It‘s pretty straightforward too. If you want you can only file your basic personal data and bank account and have the information already submitted by the employer electronically picked up. That way you can get any obvious credits for e.g. uneven earnings.
  - junon 6y ago
    > if you worked the same job for the entire year, got no bonuses and had no other income at all I would wager this is most people working a 9-5. That's my point. It's optional, entirely. In the US, it is not. You are forced to file, every year, by penalty of law (really nasty IRS calls/visits/audits). And in order to file, you must wade through endless forms and confusing tax law, usually missing a tax break costing you more - unless, that is, you use software. And that's the rub - those software vendors are the ones lobbying against simplifying tax processess so that citizens are forced into using their software. It's not a "maybe this is happening". This is a "definitely happening" thing for decades now.
bpodgursky 6y ago
To be fair, paying taxes if all you're doing is receiving income from an employer isn't that bad. There's a simple form for it. Where it gets bad is the stuff your employer doesn't know about: * Investment income * House or other capital sales or purchases * Stock option purchases or sales * Child custody, dependents etc. I don't see how any country's tax code would capture these income or loss streams without some manual filing process.
- Munksgaard 6y ago
  Most of what you mention is filed automatically for me, here in Denmark. I think the only thing normal employees regularly file manually here is kms driven to and from work, which gives a tax deduction (kørselsgodtgørelse).
- divbzero 6y ago
  Perhaps these don’t need to be lumped into a single tax return and can instead be handled independently by the appropriate institutions — brokerages deducting tax on investments, closing agents deducting tax on house sales, IRS mailing a check each year for dependents, and so on. Sibling comments suggest that other countries successfully automate much of their taxes.
  - AnssiH 6y ago
    Just to add, regarding the "single tax return": In Finland many of the remaining have-to-input-manually things (e.g. kotitalousvähennys, tax credit for household expenses) can be reported on the tax web portal at any time.
jraby3 6y ago
Israel is like that. Unless you own a business. If you’re a salaried employee you never have to file.
bjoli 6y ago
I have a company as a side thing, so for me the process is more involved, but for most Swedes the following is what you do: - receive a tax summary of what the Swedish tax agency believes about your earnings. - check that tax summary if it is OK (you receive a summary from all your employers in the beginning of the year. Just check if it adds up) - go online and change any numbers you believe are wrong (in my experience they are usually usually they are correct down to a granularity of a couple of hundred SEK). At that level calculating it precisely gets very hard, due to how your employer reported sick leave and such. I have always ignored anything below 1000sek (~$100) - do any deductions. Many are already pre-filled (like deductions on interest, household services and such). - sign it with your online ID Done. Last year this process took my wife about 35 minutes. Most people are a lot less diligent.
Moru 6y ago
In Sweden most people get a prefilled paper form. You also get the sums from your employer and compare with the form. Then you either sign the paper and send it back or you send an SMS with the signature code on the form. The goal is to include more and more cases into this automatic taxform every year.
nikon 6y ago
The UK

mtrower 6y ago

That's seriously a large part of it.

junon 6y ago

Ex-pat American living in Germany. Unless you have some slightly less common situation, you don't have to worry about taxe filing here.

kall 6y ago
You really should though. I would say it‘s only a safe bet if you worked the same job for the entire year, got no bonuses and had no other income at all (even from the state). Otherwise you either have to do it or you are missing out on credits. It‘s pretty straightforward too. If you want you can only file your basic personal data and bank account and have the information already submitted by the employer electronically picked up. That way you can get any obvious credits for e.g. uneven earnings.
- junon 6y ago
  > if you worked the same job for the entire year, got no bonuses and had no other income at all I would wager this is most people working a 9-5. That's my point. It's optional, entirely. In the US, it is not. You are forced to file, every year, by penalty of law (really nasty IRS calls/visits/audits). And in order to file, you must wade through endless forms and confusing tax law, usually missing a tax break costing you more - unless, that is, you use software. And that's the rub - those software vendors are the ones lobbying against simplifying tax processess so that citizens are forced into using their software. It's not a "maybe this is happening". This is a "definitely happening" thing for decades now.

bpodgursky 6y ago

To be fair, paying taxes if all you're doing is receiving income from an employer isn't that bad. There's a simple form for it. Where it gets bad is the stuff your employer doesn't know about: * Investment income * House or other capital sales or purchases * Stock option purchases or sales * Child custody, dependents etc. I don't see how any country's tax code would capture these income or loss streams without some manual filing process.

Munksgaard 6y ago
Most of what you mention is filed automatically for me, here in Denmark. I think the only thing normal employees regularly file manually here is kms driven to and from work, which gives a tax deduction (kørselsgodtgørelse).
divbzero 6y ago
Perhaps these don’t need to be lumped into a single tax return and can instead be handled independently by the appropriate institutions — brokerages deducting tax on investments, closing agents deducting tax on house sales, IRS mailing a check each year for dependents, and so on. Sibling comments suggest that other countries successfully automate much of their taxes.
- AnssiH 6y ago
  Just to add, regarding the "single tax return": In Finland many of the remaining have-to-input-manually things (e.g. kotitalousvähennys, tax credit for household expenses) can be reported on the tax web portal at any time.

jraby3 6y ago

Israel is like that. Unless you own a business. If you’re a salaried employee you never have to file.

bjoli 6y ago

I have a company as a side thing, so for me the process is more involved, but for most Swedes the following is what you do: - receive a tax summary of what the Swedish tax agency believes about your earnings. - check that tax summary if it is OK (you receive a summary from all your employers in the beginning of the year. Just check if it adds up) - go online and change any numbers you believe are wrong (in my experience they are usually usually they are correct down to a granularity of a couple of hundred SEK). At that level calculating it precisely gets very hard, due to how your employer reported sick leave and such. I have always ignored anything below 1000sek (~$100) - do any deductions. Many are already pre-filled (like deductions on interest, household services and such). - sign it with your online ID Done. Last year this process took my wife about 35 minutes. Most people are a lot less diligent.

Moru 6y ago

In Sweden most people get a prefilled paper form. You also get the sums from your employer and compare with the form. Then you either sign the paper and send it back or you send an SMS with the signature code on the form. The goal is to include more and more cases into this automatic taxform every year.

nikon 6y ago

The UK