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It's one political party wants to make taxes hard so people hate it. If your taxes are simple and if you misfile something, government will fix it before send

It's *one* political party wants to make taxes hard so people hate it. If your taxes are simple and if you misfile something, government will fix it before sending you refund or send you notice that you owe them. That means IRS can calculate the taxes. But it doesn't have authority for send you prefilled tax documents.

giantg2 5y ago
Which one is that? I've seen proponents and opponents of simplified tax reform on both sides and for different reasons.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  Two things going on here: 1. "simplified tax reform" as in "change the tax code to eliminate a bunch of complexity that we think adversely affects the people who vote of us" 2. "simplified tax reform" as in "enable the IRS to precompute the tax forms for 80% of the US population, since they can" Sure, #1 is bipartisan (even if the things to be eliminated are not). #2 is opposed almost entirely by Republicans only, just as they are the only party to consistently oppose realistic funding levels for the IRS given the current tax code and legal requirements.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    True. Ostensibly, doing #1 could lead to number #2 to a degree. I think both parties have come up with plans to make the filing part easier, but plans from both sides have incomplete or only partially easier implementation.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
      I think the IRS has made it fairly clear that there are no real technical hurdles to doing 2. right now (certainly, free e-filing is absolutely not a technical problem). I might or might not support 1., but 2. is doable regardless.
      - giantg2 5y ago
        Well, 2 is only sort of doable currently. There are many things in current tax code that are not reported/recorded at transaction time but are required to be reported at filing time, either on the income side or the deduction side. So there's still a lot of manual work involved for many people, but prefilled forms could save some time for the parts you don't have to redo. You can already efile for free. Implementation and options could be better though. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f...
        PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
        2 included the phrasing "for 80% of the US population". That matches (roughly) the percentage with no itemized deductions and (I believe) the similar percentage with no income to report other than W2 and 1099 transactions. And yes, i use FreeFileFillableForms and have done for many years now. It works, but it's a bit clunky.
        giantg2 5y ago
        Ah, true, although I think 80% is high. That might be the number taking the standard deduction, but there are still credits and deductions even if not itemizing.

It's *one* political party wants to make taxes hard so people hate it. If your taxes are simple and if you misfile something, government will fix it before send

giantg2 5y ago

Which one is that? I've seen proponents and opponents of simplified tax reform on both sides and for different reasons.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Two things going on here: 1. "simplified tax reform" as in "change the tax code to eliminate a bunch of complexity that we think adversely affects the people who vote of us" 2. "simplified tax reform" as in "enable the IRS to precompute the tax forms for 80% of the US population, since they can" Sure, #1 is bipartisan (even if the things to be eliminated are not). #2 is opposed almost entirely by Republicans only, just as they are the only party to consistently oppose realistic funding levels for the IRS given the current tax code and legal requirements.
- giantg2 5y ago
  True. Ostensibly, doing #1 could lead to number #2 to a degree. I think both parties have come up with plans to make the filing part easier, but plans from both sides have incomplete or only partially easier implementation.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    I think the IRS has made it fairly clear that there are no real technical hurdles to doing 2. right now (certainly, free e-filing is absolutely not a technical problem). I might or might not support 1., but 2. is doable regardless.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      Well, 2 is only sort of doable currently. There are many things in current tax code that are not reported/recorded at transaction time but are required to be reported at filing time, either on the income side or the deduction side. So there's still a lot of manual work involved for many people, but prefilled forms could save some time for the parts you don't have to redo. You can already efile for free. Implementation and options could be better though. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f...
      - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
        2 included the phrasing "for 80% of the US population". That matches (roughly) the percentage with no itemized deductions and (I believe) the similar percentage with no income to report other than W2 and 1099 transactions. And yes, i use FreeFileFillableForms and have done for many years now. It works, but it's a bit clunky.
        giantg2 5y ago
        Ah, true, although I think 80% is high. That might be the number taking the standard deduction, but there are still credits and deductions even if not itemizing.