4 ms·

The difference is that if the IRS provided the only filing solution AND adjudicated taxes, there'd be no adversarial tension. Right now, the IRS is forced to e

by ethbr0 3y ago

The difference is that if the IRS provided the only filing solution AND adjudicated taxes, there'd be no adversarial tension. Right now, the IRS is forced to establish some sort of data interchange format and adjudicate incoming tax filings equally, because they're required to work with TurboTax et al. (even if only required from a practical standpoint). If they also provided the only filing solution, that pressure would be gone. IMHO, the best possible outcome is definitely IRS-supplied free file + private options, if users would like. Keeps everyone honest and on their toes.

lazide 3y ago
Huh? What adversarial tension is needed for filing? It’s literally data entry. Tax prep/accounting (what to put where for cases where there is ambiguity) can always be different. That doesn’t apply to W2 earners though (in 99% of cases)
- ethbr0 3y ago
  Free filing would by definition be both, as people using it would be unlikely to have separate tax prep services. Ergo, imagine there's a checkbox option that would apply to 25% of free filers to save them money. How would the IRS free file handle that from a UX perspective? What are their incentives? Alternatively, suppose a feature used by 10% of filers is broken for the current tax year. How long does it take to get fixed? Current private solutions are incentivized to optimize those ("We save you the most money!") and fix them ("Our software isn't broken"). And because only the data transfers over to the IRS, all the prep optimization can be done independent of the IRS. Some of the incentive concerns would be alleviated by (as this did) building this from a different branch of government (e.g. US-DS). But at the end of the day, it's still the government telling you how much to pay the government. Or as the joke went about the 1040-EZ: "How much money did you make? Good. Give it to us."
  - lazide 3y ago
    You are correct, and I hate it ! Hahaha, sigh.

by ethbr0 3y ago

lazide 3y ago

Huh? What adversarial tension is needed for filing? It’s literally data entry. Tax prep/accounting (what to put where for cases where there is ambiguity) can always be different. That doesn’t apply to W2 earners though (in 99% of cases)

ethbr0 3y ago
Free filing would by definition be both, as people using it would be unlikely to have separate tax prep services. Ergo, imagine there's a checkbox option that would apply to 25% of free filers to save them money. How would the IRS free file handle that from a UX perspective? What are their incentives? Alternatively, suppose a feature used by 10% of filers is broken for the current tax year. How long does it take to get fixed? Current private solutions are incentivized to optimize those ("We save you the most money!") and fix them ("Our software isn't broken"). And because only the data transfers over to the IRS, all the prep optimization can be done independent of the IRS. Some of the incentive concerns would be alleviated by (as this did) building this from a different branch of government (e.g. US-DS). But at the end of the day, it's still the government telling you how much to pay the government. Or as the joke went about the 1040-EZ: "How much money did you make? Good. Give it to us."
- lazide 3y ago
  You are correct, and I hate it ! Hahaha, sigh.