4 ms·

90% of people in the US could fill out their taxes by hand in less than 5 minutes. It's <12 lines on a one page form (1040-EZ) and half of those won't even appl

90% of people in the US could fill out their taxes by hand in less than 5 minutes. It's <12 lines on a one page form (1040-EZ) and half of those won't even apply to everyone. Yes, the IRS could do even this for you, but there's a myth that US taxes are always monstrously complicated that everyone likes to perpetuate: 1) The tax companies like it because it keeps people scared of doing it themselves 2) Tax reform advocates like it because it's they can cluck and shake their head at the corrupt government and tax companies 3) It _can_ get complicated if you have a complicated tax situation

AmericanChopper 5y ago
US tax laws are monstrously complicated. There’s a couple thousand pages of tax code, along with close to 10,000 pages of IRS regulations, that you won’t understand adequately unless you’ve also studied the many tens of thousands of pages of related case law. There is no single person alive who fully understands US tax laws, and even a well resourced team of people likely won’t when combined. It’s possible to understand it well enough to get by, but you’re pretty much guaranteed to make mistakes in one way or another, and some of those mistakes are pretty much guaranteed to be criminal offences. You could live your whole life without that ever becoming an issue, but the gamble you’re taking isn’t that you’re never going to make a mistake (you will), it’s that the IRS will never commit any considerable resources to investigating your mistakes.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  There is a ton of tax code, but if you have W2 income in one state and only contributed to a 401k then virtually none of those pages of laws apply to you. Most people fall into this category. Genuine errors on your taxes are also not criminal offenses.
- NikolaeVarius 5y ago
  > some of those mistakes are pretty much guaranteed to be criminal offences. Unless there is malicious intent, the IRS does not give a fuck. They will bring it up, and ask you to fix it.
pessimizer 5y ago
This poster agrees with you. It only took them a single weekend to get them done this year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756358 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756358
throwaway889900 5y ago
The 1040EZ is deprecated. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1040-ez https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1040-ez
NovemberWhiskey 5y ago
>90% of people in the US could fill out their taxes by hand in less than 5 minutes. It's <12 lines on a one page form (1040-EZ) Even when 1040-EZ was a thing (which it isn't any more), it was only relevant for filers with no dependents (e.g. no children), and given that something like 40% of households have children under 18 I am pretty sure that 90% is a bogus.

AmericanChopper 5y ago

US tax laws are monstrously complicated. There’s a couple thousand pages of tax code, along with close to 10,000 pages of IRS regulations, that you won’t understand adequately unless you’ve also studied the many tens of thousands of pages of related case law. There is no single person alive who fully understands US tax laws, and even a well resourced team of people likely won’t when combined. It’s possible to understand it well enough to get by, but you’re pretty much guaranteed to make mistakes in one way or another, and some of those mistakes are pretty much guaranteed to be criminal offences. You could live your whole life without that ever becoming an issue, but the gamble you’re taking isn’t that you’re never going to make a mistake (you will), it’s that the IRS will never commit any considerable resources to investigating your mistakes.

UncleMeat 5y ago
There is a ton of tax code, but if you have W2 income in one state and only contributed to a 401k then virtually none of those pages of laws apply to you. Most people fall into this category. Genuine errors on your taxes are also not criminal offenses.
NikolaeVarius 5y ago
> some of those mistakes are pretty much guaranteed to be criminal offences. Unless there is malicious intent, the IRS does not give a fuck. They will bring it up, and ask you to fix it.

pessimizer 5y ago

This poster agrees with you. It only took them a single weekend to get them done this year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756358 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756358

throwaway889900 5y ago

The 1040EZ is deprecated. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1040-ez https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1040-ez

NovemberWhiskey 5y ago

>90% of people in the US could fill out their taxes by hand in less than 5 minutes. It's <12 lines on a one page form (1040-EZ) Even when 1040-EZ was a thing (which it isn't any more), it was only relevant for filers with no dependents (e.g. no children), and given that something like 40% of households have children under 18 I am pretty sure that 90% is a bogus.