4 ms·

The IRS Wants to Look at Your Bank Account

13 points by jonkratz 5y ago

akerl_ 5y ago
I’m gonna report my interest income at tax time anyways. Is there a way I can opt in to the government just collecting all my finance records and then filing my taxes on my behalf?
- cmaxmagee 5y ago
  Government is prohibited from doing this. Intuit and anti-tax groups have made it so.
  - josephd79 5y ago
    No. The government including the IRS allowed them to prohibit this. They also allowed them to scam the United States citizens into paying to have your taxes done when they were supposed to provide a free means for most people to do them. Intuit and the others like them should be banned from providing tax services to anyone for life.
    - landemva 5y ago
      I'm still amazed that most people in USA refuse to structure their affairs so they do not qualify as a person who files a tax return. Most of this nonsense is voluntary if you are set up corectly.
      - eigengrau5150 5y ago
        How do you do this without getting nailed for tax evasion?
        landemva 5y ago
        Start reading the actual rules about 'taxpayer'. Typical people voluntarily contribute because they don't want the hassles of learning and implementing effective strategies. Basically, if you submit a yearly signed document to the IRS then you are at their mercy. Or be like rich entrepreneurs and run everything through a business (or foundation like Clintons).
        eigengrau5150 5y ago
        Oh, so you're one of those "tax protesters"? GTFO. People like you are worse than useless.
      - jjeaff 5y ago
        There is no legal structure for a US citizen to avoid paying taxes legally. You are taxed on your global income as long as you are a US citizen.
    - u801e 5y ago
      I've been using Free Fillable Forms[1] for several years without having to pay money to file either my federal or state taxes. I assume it's also still possible to fill the forms manually and mail them by the filing deadline without having to pay any more than the cost of postage. [1] https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...
- RileyJames 5y ago
  This is pretty much how tax works in New Zealand. I received a tax return this year, which surprised me because I hadn’t filled anything out. Turns out they just use the details provided by your employer, tax paid and send you your return. I assume you can request a revaluation to submit additional expenses, etc. Note: this is for standard employment. I’ve been contracting since then and have an app/service handling taxes for me now.
- naveen99 5y ago
  Are you going to report all your promises and I owe you’s to the government also ? What about any favors you have done people. Are you going to report them as assets ? Are you going to report the number of friends you have ? Your height ; weight , symmetry of your face ? You strength ? Your iq ? Your number of admirers and followers ?
nightowl_games 5y ago
I think the American elite, and the Republican party are trying to frame this issue as if it is about regular Americans. Even the title of this link does that. I imagine the IRS would use this to pursue the wealthy who regularly use tax loop holes. I've heard that the IRS is massively defunded and toothless. We all know the American elite pay very little taxes and we all know the WSJ carries water for the American elite. Disclaimer: I'm not American.
- cheschire 5y ago
  One could imagine this could even be used by the elite to ensure nobody else can become elite. Anonymous tips, some comments made during an audit, and the multimillionaires suddenly struggle to make that third comma.
- Proven 5y ago
  Everyone should pay very little in tax (or in fact nothing, if at all possible). That's common sense.
- marcinjachymiak 5y ago
  The trigger for surveillance is $600 which is practically every American. It is certainly about regular people. Larger sums of many are already tracked, so wealthy people would have already been monitored.
  - ultrarunner 5y ago
    The current limit is $10,000 (but practically less in an attempt to nail those who engage in "structuring" transactions to avoid the $10k limit). That's a car or any other number of things in reach of normal not-considered-wealthy people. [0] is interesting reading, but honestly just searching for "structuring" leads to several cases like [1] where the government seized $107,000 from a convenience store owner due to the deposits from that business being under the reporting threshold. I don't know how you get under a $600 threshold, but exposing orders of magnitude more people to this policy is likely to do far more damage than to result in any good. This is already not just about wealthy people. [0] https://www.overlawyered.com/2012/04/structuring-who-can-get-away-with-it-and-who-cant/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2012/04/structuring-who-can-get... [1] https://reason.com/2015/05/01/irs-steals-107000-from-convenience-store/ https://reason.com/2015/05/01/irs-steals-107000-from-conveni...
haspoken 5y ago
https://archive.is/Te6Lv https://archive.is/Te6Lv

13 points by jonkratz 5y ago

I’m gonna report my interest income at tax time anyways. Is there a way I can opt in to the government just collecting all my finance records and then filing my taxes on my behalf?

cmaxmagee 5y ago
Government is prohibited from doing this. Intuit and anti-tax groups have made it so.
- josephd79 5y ago
  No. The government including the IRS allowed them to prohibit this. They also allowed them to scam the United States citizens into paying to have your taxes done when they were supposed to provide a free means for most people to do them. Intuit and the others like them should be banned from providing tax services to anyone for life.
  - landemva 5y ago
    I'm still amazed that most people in USA refuse to structure their affairs so they do not qualify as a person who files a tax return. Most of this nonsense is voluntary if you are set up corectly.
    - eigengrau5150 5y ago
      How do you do this without getting nailed for tax evasion?
      - landemva 5y ago
        Start reading the actual rules about 'taxpayer'. Typical people voluntarily contribute because they don't want the hassles of learning and implementing effective strategies. Basically, if you submit a yearly signed document to the IRS then you are at their mercy. Or be like rich entrepreneurs and run everything through a business (or foundation like Clintons).
        eigengrau5150 5y ago
        Oh, so you're one of those "tax protesters"? GTFO. People like you are worse than useless.
    - jjeaff 5y ago
      There is no legal structure for a US citizen to avoid paying taxes legally. You are taxed on your global income as long as you are a US citizen.
  - u801e 5y ago
    I've been using Free Fillable Forms[1] for several years without having to pay money to file either my federal or state taxes. I assume it's also still possible to fill the forms manually and mail them by the filing deadline without having to pay any more than the cost of postage. [1] https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...
RileyJames 5y ago
This is pretty much how tax works in New Zealand. I received a tax return this year, which surprised me because I hadn’t filled anything out. Turns out they just use the details provided by your employer, tax paid and send you your return. I assume you can request a revaluation to submit additional expenses, etc. Note: this is for standard employment. I’ve been contracting since then and have an app/service handling taxes for me now.
naveen99 5y ago
Are you going to report all your promises and I owe you’s to the government also ? What about any favors you have done people. Are you going to report them as assets ? Are you going to report the number of friends you have ? Your height ; weight , symmetry of your face ? You strength ? Your iq ? Your number of admirers and followers ?

nightowl_games 5y ago

I think the American elite, and the Republican party are trying to frame this issue as if it is about regular Americans. Even the title of this link does that. I imagine the IRS would use this to pursue the wealthy who regularly use tax loop holes. I've heard that the IRS is massively defunded and toothless. We all know the American elite pay very little taxes and we all know the WSJ carries water for the American elite. Disclaimer: I'm not American.

cheschire 5y ago
One could imagine this could even be used by the elite to ensure nobody else can become elite. Anonymous tips, some comments made during an audit, and the multimillionaires suddenly struggle to make that third comma.
Proven 5y ago
Everyone should pay very little in tax (or in fact nothing, if at all possible). That's common sense.
marcinjachymiak 5y ago
The trigger for surveillance is $600 which is practically every American. It is certainly about regular people. Larger sums of many are already tracked, so wealthy people would have already been monitored.
- ultrarunner 5y ago
  The current limit is $10,000 (but practically less in an attempt to nail those who engage in "structuring" transactions to avoid the $10k limit). That's a car or any other number of things in reach of normal not-considered-wealthy people. [0] is interesting reading, but honestly just searching for "structuring" leads to several cases like [1] where the government seized $107,000 from a convenience store owner due to the deposits from that business being under the reporting threshold. I don't know how you get under a $600 threshold, but exposing orders of magnitude more people to this policy is likely to do far more damage than to result in any good. This is already not just about wealthy people. [0] https://www.overlawyered.com/2012/04/structuring-who-can-get-away-with-it-and-who-cant/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2012/04/structuring-who-can-get... [1] https://reason.com/2015/05/01/irs-steals-107000-from-convenience-store/ https://reason.com/2015/05/01/irs-steals-107000-from-conveni...

haspoken 5y ago

https://archive.is/Te6Lv https://archive.is/Te6Lv