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I found out from a friend that she paid $600 to have her taxes done because (presumably) she falls for the dark patterns that TurboTax uses. She's a low paid s
by mywittyname 5y ago
I found out from a friend that she paid $600 to have her taxes done because (presumably) she falls for the dark patterns that TurboTax uses. She's a low paid service worker whose tax return can probably be done for free. And it is a sizable portion of her income because of things like Earned income tax credits, child tax credits, etc.
Fuck these companies.
- sillysaurusx 5y agoRealistically, how would you do your tax return for free? Keep in mind that every service worker is terrified of an audit. The cost is much higher when you don’t have resources. EDIT: I think I didn't phrase this very well. My point was that the average service worker is trained to be terrified of the IRS. These people are already usually paying hefty fines because they missed their returns in prior years. That's why they take the path of least resistance, and just pay someone else as a shield against this. So it's not particularly surprising that TurboTax has swindled this person out of $600 with their upsells. Nor should she be condemned as a fool. If you were in her shoes, you might do the same thing.
- rurp 5y agoThere are many free filing options for anyone with an average salary from a straightforward W2 source. I went years without paying to file, until I got into freelancing and a higher tax bracket. Being audited isn't much of a concern if your only source of income is a typical W2 job. The average service worker isn't throwing money around in stocks, crypto, blackjack, and corporate entities.
- ghaff 5y agoEven if you toss in a 1099 or two taxes are still mostly straightforward. I’ve always had mine done but it’s mostly only in the last ten years or so that they’ve gotten genuinely complicated.
- recursive 5y agoOne time I had a single 1099 form, and I screwed it up badly enough that it took months to resolve, and dozens of hours on my part. Someone who understood the process probably could have sorted it out in minutes.
- washadjeffmad 5y ago1090ez, or any of a dozen free-file options? State returns are cheap if not free almost everywhere. The vast majority of the people who qualify for free tax filing have nothing to audit. The government makes enough money off their deductions, not to mention what they generate having to spend >50% of their income to stay afloat, to overlook a few unreported tips or sneaker sales.
- deathanatos 5y agoDo you mean the 1040ez, which was discontinued, & no longer a form? (I agree with the rest of your comment. While I disagree with the parent's perspective, I think the FTC's here is that Intuit's advertising leads people towards their not-free products, instead of the actually free stuff that does exist. I don't think most people have the self-confidence to do the 1040 by hand.)
- washadjeffmad 5y agoYou're correct, I did mean the 1040ez and was unaware of it's discontinuation.
- tonguez 5y agoI would get rid of the tax return process as the only purpose for its existence is to waste the time of poor people and thus keep the government boot on their face.
- andybak 5y agoMaybe look how other countries do it? Like with your health system, a lot of us are slightly baffled by how broken things are in the US.
- cscurmudgeon 5y agoMost other countries are comparable to US states rather than all of US. The US is incredibly diverse (in humans and govermental systems) in a lot of ways. So using one system is not easy as in other countries.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ngokevin 5y agoThe government has enough information to process the taxes for most of us or at least publicly make it super easy. TurboTax just lobbies the government to not do so.
- tombert 5y agoAbout two weeks ago, I got a letter from the IRS telling me that I owe an extra eight-thousand dollars from my 2020 return, with a $1000 fine and $200 interest as a result. [1] I'm not mad about owing the money, but what annoys me is if they have enough information to know that I underreported, then why am I part of this equation to begin with? Clearly they have enough of my tax data to know I screwed up, so why don't they just send me a bill once a year? I don't see why Intuit (or HR Block or TaxAct or Jackson Hewitt etc) need to be part of this transaction at all. [1] It was an honest mistake on my end, I forgot to report a sizeable stock sale I did in 2020.
- thepangolino 5y ago
- lupire 5y agoYou can file taxes without a software package, if you want. You have to file because they want you to report things they don't know about, and also if you want to claim itemized deductions.
- NeutronStar 5y ago
- mattnewton 5y agoIt'd be great if they just billed me and I was on the hook for correcting them however. The current method is doing math homework under penalty of being fined.
- codetrotter 5y agoHere in Norway, the government fills out our tax forms for us with all of the information that has been reported to them by our banks, our employers, etc. It is then our responsibility as tax payers to look over the tax forms, add anything not included, and adding any additional claims for deductions. By comparison, the needless busywork that the IRS puts the tax payers through is nothing short of ridiculous really. It only serves to waste time and effort, and there is plain and simple no reason whatsoever why the IRS could not do it like Norwegian tax authorities does. Our system here in Norway is not perfect either, but the citizens of the United States, and the US government, would benefit hugely from a tax filing system built to help you file taxes the way that ours does for us.
- jdavis703 5y agoHeck I’m a high skilled, non-essential employee and I fell for this trap for years. Next year I’m using Cash App. But it’s wild what brand recognition can do.
- naoqj 5y ago
- paxys 5y agoTurboTax's dark patterns charge people $50, not $600. How exactly did she end up paying that much?
- somethingwitty1 5y agoHave you gone through TurboTax's filing process? It starts with ~$149 upgrade for me, I believe. They have countless add-ons that popup throughout the filing process beyond just that (annual audit defense membership, get your refund faster, etc). So many up-sells and cross-sells, it is pretty disgusting. I stopped using them last year because it was just too much. I can easily see how someone could end up with a multi-hundred dollar bill from them. Many of the popups are tailored to look like you need to say yes.
- redler 5y agoSo they're trying to completely fill the price shadow underneath the $500 or so a very basic "entry-level" accountant relationship would cost — and fill it with a zero-marginal-cost roster of non-product products and non-service services. Terrible.
- masklinn 5y agoIt makes complete sense if you’re utterly amoral, as long as you remain below “hire a cpa” threshold any money you can scam out is free profit.
- usefulcat 5y agoAgreed, I’ve used turbotax in the past and never paid anywhere near that much. You could get a real accountant to do your taxes for less than that, maybe depending on the state. I know because I’ve done so.
- peter303 5y agoSome tax preparers offer "immediate refund" for a hefty fee, instead waiting three weeks for the IRS to deposit it.
- 5y ago