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I know people who have optimized this: - they fill out their taxes with rough estimates, - the IRS helpfully corrects their errors, and sends the form back -
by dguest 5y ago
I know people who have optimized this:
- they fill out their taxes with rough estimates,
- the IRS helpfully corrects their errors, and sends the form back
- they sign the corrected form, send it back
- the IRS accepts the second round.
This is basically the same "pre-filled" workflow as every other developed country. The difference is that we have a first round where you put in a semi-plausible effort to placate the tax preparation lobby.
Has anyone with a normal job (not self-employed, regular paycheck from a company registered with the IRS) ever been fined etc for this?
- legalcorrection 5y agoBeware: if you owe the government money due to your mistakes, you will have to pay penalties and interest.
- kristopolous 5y agoIf you overpay they'll credit you next year. They're pretty lenient as long as your act promptly in good faith
- pm90 5y agoThe main thing in this strategy is that your estimate is pretty close to the amount owed. So you may overshoot or undershoot, but likely by a pretty small amount, which is likely to make the difference owed small. I guess it could be considered a cost of filing taxes.
- dguest 5y agoHow much are the penalties? If they are charging some absurd (say 20%) interest and you're off by 10k, you might pay them a few hundred in interest if the process is prolonged a month, which is on par with a tax prep service.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]