5 ms·

For reference, Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State and Wyoming are pa

For reference, Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State and Wyoming are participating.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
freedomben 3y ago
For those who don't know, of those 12 states, only 4 actually have income taxes. The other 8 do not. This whole system stinks. The overly complicated tax code, the sleazy corporations making tons of money on it, the entrenched politicians and bureacrats who make a living on it, etc.
- hackernewds 3y ago
  We can still appreciate progress. And this is progress. Although if the IRS is gonna audit when I under pay, they technically already know how much I owe. Why not just tell me? Reckon it's since people also over pay, and there's no refunds for doing that.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Not at all clear the IRS won’t refund overpayments. I’ve gotten a check in the distant past when I double-paid something.
  - wolfgang42 3y ago
    I have overpaid my taxes several times due to clerical errors, and each time the IRS sent me a letter explaining what happened and a check for the overpaid amount, plus interest. One time I forgot to deposit the check, and after waiting a year they automatically sent me a replacement along with a reminder of why it was they owed me money. My general impression is that they’re tedious and bureaucratic, but scrupulously inclined towards accuracy in both directions.
  - kelnos 3y ago
    > Reckon it's since people also over pay, and there's no refunds for doing that. Sure there are. I've gotten refunds from the IRS when I made a mistake on my tax return and overpaid.
  - IshKebab 3y ago
    Yeah I wonder the same question about UK taxes. If you self-assess they'll still say "actually we calculated your tax and got this number so you owe us £X". The vast majority of people don't need to file taxes but even then it somehow still comes out wrong and you occasionally get a refund.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    So…they know very little actually. We just got a nasty tax bill from the IRS because when my wife gets an RSU grant, her company sells some stock to pay income tax for that grant. Little did I know, that generates a 1040 for the stock sale (to pay ordinary income taxes) with a cost basis of zero! Instead, you have to adjust the cost basis to the entire sale (or even more!) via supplemental information. Annoying, so I had to learn a bunch of tax rules over one day on the weekend, and in the end the amended return said the IRS owed us money. It’s crazy stuff like this that means the IRS can’t really calculate your taxes for you.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      Cost basis stuff has improved over time and I haven’t had problems recently that I know of but I’m sure there are still issues.
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        I’m surprised they can’t just the cost basis directly.
        ghaff 3y ago
        In years/decades past figuring out cost basis through options and acquisitions could be a real nightmare. To be honest there have been times when I’ve thrown my hands up and just come up with a plausible average. But as I wrote, I think things are mostly pretty good these days. But who knows with things like RSUs you have limited visibility into.
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        We both work at big techs , so first world problem. But her company grants RSUs and sells stock to cover income tax, mine gives less stock and grants cash to cover taxes instead. Which is why I was surprised she was getting 1040s at all. But the stock is sold to cover tax, since a stock grant is taxed as ordinary income, that this generates a 1040 with a cost basis of zero is crazy.
  - snotrockets 3y ago
    Because some people believe that if filing taxes would be easy, people won't object to paying them. There's are multiple groups, all donate a lot to certain politicains, and all are hell bent on trying to eradicate taxation.
  - zamfi 3y ago
    An IRS audit isn’t because you underpaid the amount they think you owe — for that they usually send you a form saying, in their own special language, “hey I think you may not have included this XYZ income in your tax return, we think you owe an extra $ABC”. Instead, it’s because they want to make sure you were truthful in what you reported, and may have some reason to believe you were not. Often, they don’t know how much you owe in this case.
  - plasmatix 3y ago
    Funny enough, a few years ago I got a ~$20 check from the IRS after they made some adjustments to my tax filing. So not only can they do it for you, they can do it better!
- glasshug 3y ago
  The program is for federal tax filing, not state tax. I think you may be misreading this line: > Most of those states don’t tax income at the state level, but the four that do...will guide participants to a state-supported tool that they can use to submit their state returns. Which means it's _more_ incomplete in states with income tax (federal return through IRS pilot, state return through a state system) than in states without income tax (just federal IRS pilot return).
  - Izkata 3y ago
    Or put another way, it's the same as the current system. I already have to fill out federal and state in different places.

For reference, Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State and Wyoming are participating.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

freedomben 3y ago

For those who don't know, of those 12 states, only 4 actually have income taxes. The other 8 do not. This whole system stinks. The overly complicated tax code, the sleazy corporations making tons of money on it, the entrenched politicians and bureacrats who make a living on it, etc.

hackernewds 3y ago
We can still appreciate progress. And this is progress. Although if the IRS is gonna audit when I under pay, they technically already know how much I owe. Why not just tell me? Reckon it's since people also over pay, and there's no refunds for doing that.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Not at all clear the IRS won’t refund overpayments. I’ve gotten a check in the distant past when I double-paid something.
- wolfgang42 3y ago
  I have overpaid my taxes several times due to clerical errors, and each time the IRS sent me a letter explaining what happened and a check for the overpaid amount, plus interest. One time I forgot to deposit the check, and after waiting a year they automatically sent me a replacement along with a reminder of why it was they owed me money. My general impression is that they’re tedious and bureaucratic, but scrupulously inclined towards accuracy in both directions.
- kelnos 3y ago
  > Reckon it's since people also over pay, and there's no refunds for doing that. Sure there are. I've gotten refunds from the IRS when I made a mistake on my tax return and overpaid.
- IshKebab 3y ago
  Yeah I wonder the same question about UK taxes. If you self-assess they'll still say "actually we calculated your tax and got this number so you owe us £X". The vast majority of people don't need to file taxes but even then it somehow still comes out wrong and you occasionally get a refund.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  So…they know very little actually. We just got a nasty tax bill from the IRS because when my wife gets an RSU grant, her company sells some stock to pay income tax for that grant. Little did I know, that generates a 1040 for the stock sale (to pay ordinary income taxes) with a cost basis of zero! Instead, you have to adjust the cost basis to the entire sale (or even more!) via supplemental information. Annoying, so I had to learn a bunch of tax rules over one day on the weekend, and in the end the amended return said the IRS owed us money. It’s crazy stuff like this that means the IRS can’t really calculate your taxes for you.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Cost basis stuff has improved over time and I haven’t had problems recently that I know of but I’m sure there are still issues.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      I’m surprised they can’t just the cost basis directly.
      - ghaff 3y ago
        In years/decades past figuring out cost basis through options and acquisitions could be a real nightmare. To be honest there have been times when I’ve thrown my hands up and just come up with a plausible average. But as I wrote, I think things are mostly pretty good these days. But who knows with things like RSUs you have limited visibility into.
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        We both work at big techs , so first world problem. But her company grants RSUs and sells stock to cover income tax, mine gives less stock and grants cash to cover taxes instead. Which is why I was surprised she was getting 1040s at all. But the stock is sold to cover tax, since a stock grant is taxed as ordinary income, that this generates a 1040 with a cost basis of zero is crazy.
- snotrockets 3y ago
  Because some people believe that if filing taxes would be easy, people won't object to paying them. There's are multiple groups, all donate a lot to certain politicains, and all are hell bent on trying to eradicate taxation.
- zamfi 3y ago
  An IRS audit isn’t because you underpaid the amount they think you owe — for that they usually send you a form saying, in their own special language, “hey I think you may not have included this XYZ income in your tax return, we think you owe an extra $ABC”. Instead, it’s because they want to make sure you were truthful in what you reported, and may have some reason to believe you were not. Often, they don’t know how much you owe in this case.
- plasmatix 3y ago
  Funny enough, a few years ago I got a ~$20 check from the IRS after they made some adjustments to my tax filing. So not only can they do it for you, they can do it better!
glasshug 3y ago
The program is for federal tax filing, not state tax. I think you may be misreading this line: > Most of those states don’t tax income at the state level, but the four that do...will guide participants to a state-supported tool that they can use to submit their state returns. Which means it's _more_ incomplete in states with income tax (federal return through IRS pilot, state return through a state system) than in states without income tax (just federal IRS pilot return).
- Izkata 3y ago
  Or put another way, it's the same as the current system. I already have to fill out federal and state in different places.