4 ms·

wait until turbo tax comes in hot with their lobbying efforts - didn't they manage to prevent or diminish a free tax filing service already a few years ago?

lolinder 2y ago
As I understand it, this system exists largely because ProPublica shined a light on how corrupt the TurboTax deals were and the IRS couldn't pretend they thought everything was okay anymore. I'm hopeful that the IRS knows that we're on to it and doesn't get cozy with them again.
- dsr_ 2y ago
  The IRS is not 'cozy' with Intuit, HRB, etc. The IRS is underfunded by political design. All of this crap is the fault of corporate lobbyists and the politicians who take their money.
  - saulrh 2y ago
    For people who aren't aware of this, the IRS is so underfunded right now that funding IRS enforcement has an ROI of between five and nine, that is, for every dollar we put into funding the IRS it would be able to claw back up to ten dollars in unpaid taxes. That's the kind of number that you usually only see on "the next Google" type unicorn startups. It would take eighty billion dollars, invested over ten years, to fund the IRS to the point where diminishing returns bring the ROI back down to reasonable levels; those eighty billion dollars would return almost 200 billion dollars in newly collected taxes. Almost all of that would come from high-wealth taxpayers, large corporations, and partnerships, which are currently very under-audited due to lack of resources - the audit rate is currently lower for high-wealth entities than it is for random poor people simply because auditing people with a lot of money is complicated. The current audit rate is currently dramatically below where it was twenty years ago. Source: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444 https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444
- tootie 2y ago
  I think that was a bit oversimplified, the Free File program was problematic in a lot of ways, but it's not like the US government was just sitting on their own free file system that was locked behind a vault. They had to actually make the thing and it was never a given that they'd be able to do it. When the private companies said they'd offer their services for free to prevent the government from taking on the expense and hassle, it was sensible trade off. When the tax prep industry got greedy and overplayed their hand, they got bitten and are now in deep trouble.
jimbob45 2y ago
I like TurboTax. It just works, year after year. The fee is worth the peace of mind that I wouldn’t have by letting a government program lose my submission accidentally.
- loeg 2y ago
  I switched from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA this year and it was almost exactly the same (in some ways easier). The amount owed was identical. The IRS doesn't lose submissions and provides a very clear system for tracking the status of eFiled taxes.
  - ryandrake 2y ago
    I did the same thing, but from TaxAct instead of from TurboTax. The big tax prep software companies have squeezed their last dollar out of me. I'm done with them. For reference, here's what I paid for tax preparation over the years: 2010: $9.99 ... 2017: $48.00 2018: $66.95 2019: $97.90 2020: $67.91 2021: $93.67 2022: $124.90 2023: $133.95 (at this point I said "Fuck this") So from $48 to $134 (or +280%) over the course of 6 years and +1344%(!!!) over the course of 13 years. All to simply pre-fill some standard IRS forms and submit them for me. It doesn't make sense to pay for this.
  - delfinom 2y ago
    "That's the secret" Those tax prep companies like TurboTax spent a lot of marketing dollars on making it seem they are finding you secret deductions and other crap. There isn't. It's all pretty straight forward. Some of it comes from the pre-online era where tax accountants did and still do commit fraud by falsely claiming deductions for individuals. And you eventually hear of a hundred million dollar IRS fraud arrest.
- hiddencost 2y ago
  Gotta be honest, the "government is unreliable" crowd are not people I think of as honest. Government works fine, and for less money, if you actually try to make it work.

lolinder 2y ago

As I understand it, this system exists largely because ProPublica shined a light on how corrupt the TurboTax deals were and the IRS couldn't pretend they thought everything was okay anymore. I'm hopeful that the IRS knows that we're on to it and doesn't get cozy with them again.

dsr_ 2y ago
The IRS is not 'cozy' with Intuit, HRB, etc. The IRS is underfunded by political design. All of this crap is the fault of corporate lobbyists and the politicians who take their money.
- saulrh 2y ago
  For people who aren't aware of this, the IRS is so underfunded right now that funding IRS enforcement has an ROI of between five and nine, that is, for every dollar we put into funding the IRS it would be able to claw back up to ten dollars in unpaid taxes. That's the kind of number that you usually only see on "the next Google" type unicorn startups. It would take eighty billion dollars, invested over ten years, to fund the IRS to the point where diminishing returns bring the ROI back down to reasonable levels; those eighty billion dollars would return almost 200 billion dollars in newly collected taxes. Almost all of that would come from high-wealth taxpayers, large corporations, and partnerships, which are currently very under-audited due to lack of resources - the audit rate is currently lower for high-wealth entities than it is for random poor people simply because auditing people with a lot of money is complicated. The current audit rate is currently dramatically below where it was twenty years ago. Source: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444 https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444
tootie 2y ago
I think that was a bit oversimplified, the Free File program was problematic in a lot of ways, but it's not like the US government was just sitting on their own free file system that was locked behind a vault. They had to actually make the thing and it was never a given that they'd be able to do it. When the private companies said they'd offer their services for free to prevent the government from taking on the expense and hassle, it was sensible trade off. When the tax prep industry got greedy and overplayed their hand, they got bitten and are now in deep trouble.

jimbob45 2y ago

I like TurboTax. It just works, year after year. The fee is worth the peace of mind that I wouldn’t have by letting a government program lose my submission accidentally.

loeg 2y ago
I switched from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA this year and it was almost exactly the same (in some ways easier). The amount owed was identical. The IRS doesn't lose submissions and provides a very clear system for tracking the status of eFiled taxes.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  I did the same thing, but from TaxAct instead of from TurboTax. The big tax prep software companies have squeezed their last dollar out of me. I'm done with them. For reference, here's what I paid for tax preparation over the years: 2010: $9.99 ... 2017: $48.00 2018: $66.95 2019: $97.90 2020: $67.91 2021: $93.67 2022: $124.90 2023: $133.95 (at this point I said "Fuck this") So from $48 to $134 (or +280%) over the course of 6 years and +1344%(!!!) over the course of 13 years. All to simply pre-fill some standard IRS forms and submit them for me. It doesn't make sense to pay for this.
- delfinom 2y ago
  "That's the secret" Those tax prep companies like TurboTax spent a lot of marketing dollars on making it seem they are finding you secret deductions and other crap. There isn't. It's all pretty straight forward. Some of it comes from the pre-online era where tax accountants did and still do commit fraud by falsely claiming deductions for individuals. And you eventually hear of a hundred million dollar IRS fraud arrest.
hiddencost 2y ago
Gotta be honest, the "government is unreliable" crowd are not people I think of as honest. Government works fine, and for less money, if you actually try to make it work.