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Is there any documentation on how an average person living in the US files their taxes ? Are you forced to use third party services ? How exactly is it hard t

Is there any documentation on how an average person living in the US files their taxes ? Are you forced to use third party services ? How exactly is it hard to do your taxes on your own ?

alanbernstein 3y ago
Have you ever done US federal taxes? I did my own as long as I could, but as your tax situation gets more complicated, your taxes get more time consuming. No, nobody is "forced" to spend $60 to save hours of their free time researching tax code. If the tax system were simpler, doing it yourself would be more appealing.
- LelouBil 3y ago
  No I live in France, but I always see talks online about how people in the US pay for software to do their taxes and didn't really understand the scope of it.
mminer237 3y ago
There are PDFs you can fill out yourself and either paper or e-file, but very, very do it. It's not really hard for most people. Probably 40% of people can put their wages in box 1 and be done. But most people's eyes would glaze over at seeing a 1040. Every February everybody who paid you or got paid tax-deductibly mails you a form with the finals amounts for last year. On the back are instructions for where it goes on the forms. The basics are simple, but few people really understand taxes at all let alone care to look at the forms. Instead probably 70% of people go to an accountant and give them the forms to punch into a program which generates the IRS forms and e-files them. Cheap places are maybe $100, but complicated returns at good accountants run like $500. The other option most people who "do their own taxes" do is to purchase a yearly license to software which you can punch the numbers into yourself and it'll generate and e-file a return for you. It's like $50–$70 normally but some are free. Most complications arise either from: * You run your own business and have to do two returns basically without getting nice filled forms for all the numbers. * Congress constantly wants to incentivize behaviors and give people breaks on their taxes so there are a lot of little things you can get credits for like having kids and buying electric vehicles. It's really easy to miss deductions you're entitled to. * States have their own separate taxes, so you have to do everything twice and lots of programs have less support and make you pay extra too.
- Anon4Now 3y ago
  > Most complications arise either from: > You run your own business ... Adding to this, even if you have a small side hustle with low overhead (no employees, few expenses, etc.), the labyrinthine process of filling out all the additional forms is just plain ridiculous.

Is there any documentation on how an average person living in the US files their taxes ? Are you forced to use third party services ? How exactly is it hard to do your taxes on your own ?

alanbernstein 3y ago

Have you ever done US federal taxes? I did my own as long as I could, but as your tax situation gets more complicated, your taxes get more time consuming. No, nobody is "forced" to spend $60 to save hours of their free time researching tax code. If the tax system were simpler, doing it yourself would be more appealing.

LelouBil 3y ago
No I live in France, but I always see talks online about how people in the US pay for software to do their taxes and didn't really understand the scope of it.

mminer237 3y ago

There are PDFs you can fill out yourself and either paper or e-file, but very, very do it. It's not really hard for most people. Probably 40% of people can put their wages in box 1 and be done. But most people's eyes would glaze over at seeing a 1040. Every February everybody who paid you or got paid tax-deductibly mails you a form with the finals amounts for last year. On the back are instructions for where it goes on the forms. The basics are simple, but few people really understand taxes at all let alone care to look at the forms. Instead probably 70% of people go to an accountant and give them the forms to punch into a program which generates the IRS forms and e-files them. Cheap places are maybe $100, but complicated returns at good accountants run like $500. The other option most people who "do their own taxes" do is to purchase a yearly license to software which you can punch the numbers into yourself and it'll generate and e-file a return for you. It's like $50–$70 normally but some are free. Most complications arise either from: * You run your own business and have to do two returns basically without getting nice filled forms for all the numbers. * Congress constantly wants to incentivize behaviors and give people breaks on their taxes so there are a lot of little things you can get credits for like having kids and buying electric vehicles. It's really easy to miss deductions you're entitled to. * States have their own separate taxes, so you have to do everything twice and lots of programs have less support and make you pay extra too.

Anon4Now 3y ago
> Most complications arise either from: > You run your own business ... Adding to this, even if you have a small side hustle with low overhead (no employees, few expenses, etc.), the labyrinthine process of filling out all the additional forms is just plain ridiculous.