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They already have the data to auto-prepare most tax returns. That would be very bad news for the tax prep companies, though. There also is the problem that if

They already have the data to auto-prepare most tax returns. That would be very bad news for the tax prep companies, though. There also is the problem that if they auto-prepare returns they're telling the taxpayer exactly what they know and thus how the taxpayer can cheat with a low probability of detection. I don't think that's an adequate reason against automating it, though. What I would like to see is say March 1 they mail out pre-filled tax forms, except every line has an extra box on it that's empty. If you think it's right you simply sign and return it with payment if needed. If you have minor disagreements with it (for example, it's unlikely they'll know everything for schedule A) you can fill in the extra boxes with the correct values. You may then either propagate those numbers through and pay the adjusted amount, or you can ignore this part, they update the return with your new numbers and send you a bill. Lastly you can bin it and do it yourself from scratch.

kube-system 4y ago
Yes, that's a very reasonable proposal that I would personally be in favor of. Although, the consequences of the "default" values are something that both sides of the aisle are almost certain to take issue with. The left will likely not be happy that the default values result in "overcharging" those due social credits, and the right will not be happy that the default values make it easy to get away with failing to report income that isn't 1099/W2. This would likely result in arguments over how to solve that problem ... this is the data collection issue I'm referring to.
sokoloff 4y ago
See https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript to get the IRS to show you what they have on your account. We do this every year to double check that we haven’t missed anything. It’s usually incomplete on April 15, but tends to be pretty complete by mid-summer (and 4868 gives you an automatic extension of time to file [but not to pay]) There’s no secrecy need at play here.

kube-system 4y ago

Yes, that's a very reasonable proposal that I would personally be in favor of. Although, the consequences of the "default" values are something that both sides of the aisle are almost certain to take issue with. The left will likely not be happy that the default values result in "overcharging" those due social credits, and the right will not be happy that the default values make it easy to get away with failing to report income that isn't 1099/W2. This would likely result in arguments over how to solve that problem ... this is the data collection issue I'm referring to.

sokoloff 4y ago

See https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript to get the IRS to show you what they have on your account. We do this every year to double check that we haven’t missed anything. It’s usually incomplete on April 15, but tends to be pretty complete by mid-summer (and 4868 gives you an automatic extension of time to file [but not to pay]) There’s no secrecy need at play here.