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I always thought it was weird that something so complex, easy to mess up, and important to the government would require a third party external dependency. For a

I always thought it was weird that something so complex, easy to mess up, and important to the government would require a third party external dependency. For a while towards the end it really kinda became a shining example of late stage capitalism. You, for all intents and purposes, NEEDED to do business with one of these handful of entities or you are in violation of the law. If you can't afford that you'll have to do this literally impossible stack of paperwork instead.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago
The "stack of paperwork" is definitely far from impossible. You have form 1040, which gives you a run-down of every possible form you need to reference. You fill out the boxes with the info it wants, then you go down the list, filling in each number box that applies to you: Got W-2s? Probably, attach 'em and sum them up. See a phrase you don't recognize? Read the relevant instructions. Got interest? Time to fill out a Schedule B, which itself references some other forms, and attach some 1099s. Sell any investiments? Schedule D, which might have you fill out an 8949 (strictly speaking, you can skip this one if all your investments have declared basis on your 1099-Bs that you received from your brokerage). If you think you might have more deductions than the standard, there's Schedule A, but for most people you can safely skip that one and take the standard. Taxable income determined! Then the taxes section contains a bunch of forms that apply to you if you're in certain situations, maybe you have a kid (Schedule 8812), the instructions are very helpful in telling you what you need to care about here. The first box is important, it includes your income tax which the instructions will tell you how to calculate. Sum up your witholdings from the W-2s and 1099s to figure out how much you've already paid the government, then figure out if you owe the fed money or they owe you. Sign, stick in an envelope, and send. Whole process takes a couple hours the first time, when you need to learn what you actually need to fill out, and in future years less than 2 hours. If you can read at a 6th grade level and do basic addition and subtraction you can fill out your tax forms.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

The "stack of paperwork" is definitely far from impossible. You have form 1040, which gives you a run-down of every possible form you need to reference. You fill out the boxes with the info it wants, then you go down the list, filling in each number box that applies to you: Got W-2s? Probably, attach 'em and sum them up. See a phrase you don't recognize? Read the relevant instructions. Got interest? Time to fill out a Schedule B, which itself references some other forms, and attach some 1099s. Sell any investiments? Schedule D, which might have you fill out an 8949 (strictly speaking, you can skip this one if all your investments have declared basis on your 1099-Bs that you received from your brokerage). If you think you might have more deductions than the standard, there's Schedule A, but for most people you can safely skip that one and take the standard. Taxable income determined! Then the taxes section contains a bunch of forms that apply to you if you're in certain situations, maybe you have a kid (Schedule 8812), the instructions are very helpful in telling you what you need to care about here. The first box is important, it includes your income tax which the instructions will tell you how to calculate. Sum up your witholdings from the W-2s and 1099s to figure out how much you've already paid the government, then figure out if you owe the fed money or they owe you. Sign, stick in an envelope, and send. Whole process takes a couple hours the first time, when you need to learn what you actually need to fill out, and in future years less than 2 hours. If you can read at a 6th grade level and do basic addition and subtraction you can fill out your tax forms.