5 ms·

It would be really great to fix the IRS's digital presence. Make TurboTax obsolete. I hate TurboTax.

sliverstorm 12y ago
Same goes for the DMV, as well as countless other citizen-facing government orgs. Math & administration is really the roots of computing. Edit: I'm rather unclear what is objectionable here.
- tdaltonc 12y ago
  Yes! There are so many DMV things I'd like to do online.
- mattlutze 12y ago
  Virginia's DMV offers a ton of its services online. It can take a bit to get around their site, but it is overall a much more friendly experience than needing to go into a brick-and-mortar for plate renewals and the sort.
- driverdan 12y ago
  DMV is a state agency though so it's a lot more complex than national agencies.
vxNsr 12y ago
Yeah, maybe find a way to make sure that pesky, embarrassing emails don't suddenly get deleted/disappear.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Those emails were recovered (http://www.wsj.com/articles/lost-irs-emails-found-1417122396 http://www.wsj.com/articles/lost-irs-emails-found-1417122396). Make of that what you will.
bluthru 12y ago
You'll hate them even more: They're one reason why taxes are more complicated than they should/could be. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/04/automatic_tax_filing_readyreturn_systems_work_fine_but_intuit_and_grover.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/04/auto...
- beerbajay 12y ago
  Here in Sweden you receive a fully-filled-in tax declaration from the Tax Office. For 99% of people with normal jobs, all you have to do is confirm the declaration on their website OR by sending an SMS OR by calling a telephone number OR by using their app.
  - nitrogen 12y ago
    I'm guessing the US IRS wants to avoid giving tax frauds an implied list of everything they don't know. They may be worried that anybody with income not listed on their pre-filled declaration will not report it.
    - spinchange 12y ago
      Tax frauds already know 'cash' income (sans withholrding) is often not reported so they're already an honor system anyway (Everyone is really -- even 'cash' is often reported on the 1099 too). People using tax avoidance schemes through itemization or 'loopholes' wouldn't simply use a standard pre-filled form 1040 either, or rather, they wouldn't stop at that. Same goes for corp returns, dividend and interest income, etc. With U.S. employers already transmitting wage and withholding data to the federal government, there's simply no good excuse not to 'autofill' it and/or just make the reconciliation & acknowledgement of those values easier other than an entire industry is vested in it being a complicated process most people would rather pay them (or use their products and services) to take care of.
  - fuzzix 12y ago
    Ireland has a Pay As You Earn system which is usually administered by your employer. Mostly, you do nothing and the money is paid. Every 5 years, file a P21 to check you're not due any refunds. If you're self-employed, it's a bloody nightmare.
chrdlu 12y ago
From my understanding, one of the reasons the IRS is so behind is because the initial code base was written in Assembly. Only a handful of people understand how it works...and they're all getting old (they have also been motivated not to help because the knowledge gave them leverage and job security). These days, a friend's father is helping them out going line by line and translating the Assembly into Java. From what I hear, there were some bugs/loopholes built into the original system. For the new Java translation, the effects of the bugs have to be programmed in because of legislation and regulation rules. In other words, the new Java code needs to behave exactly the same as the original Assembly code. Not the easiest task...

Same goes for the DMV, as well as countless other citizen-facing government orgs. Math & administration is really the roots of computing. Edit: I'm rather unclear what is objectionable here.

tdaltonc 12y ago
Yes! There are so many DMV things I'd like to do online.
mattlutze 12y ago
Virginia's DMV offers a ton of its services online. It can take a bit to get around their site, but it is overall a much more friendly experience than needing to go into a brick-and-mortar for plate renewals and the sort.
driverdan 12y ago
DMV is a state agency though so it's a lot more complex than national agencies.

vxNsr 12y ago

Yeah, maybe find a way to make sure that pesky, embarrassing emails don't suddenly get deleted/disappear.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
Those emails were recovered (http://www.wsj.com/articles/lost-irs-emails-found-1417122396 http://www.wsj.com/articles/lost-irs-emails-found-1417122396). Make of that what you will.

bluthru 12y ago

You'll hate them even more: They're one reason why taxes are more complicated than they should/could be. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/04/automatic_tax_filing_readyreturn_systems_work_fine_but_intuit_and_grover.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/04/auto...

beerbajay 12y ago
Here in Sweden you receive a fully-filled-in tax declaration from the Tax Office. For 99% of people with normal jobs, all you have to do is confirm the declaration on their website OR by sending an SMS OR by calling a telephone number OR by using their app.
- nitrogen 12y ago
  I'm guessing the US IRS wants to avoid giving tax frauds an implied list of everything they don't know. They may be worried that anybody with income not listed on their pre-filled declaration will not report it.
  - spinchange 12y ago
    Tax frauds already know 'cash' income (sans withholrding) is often not reported so they're already an honor system anyway (Everyone is really -- even 'cash' is often reported on the 1099 too). People using tax avoidance schemes through itemization or 'loopholes' wouldn't simply use a standard pre-filled form 1040 either, or rather, they wouldn't stop at that. Same goes for corp returns, dividend and interest income, etc. With U.S. employers already transmitting wage and withholding data to the federal government, there's simply no good excuse not to 'autofill' it and/or just make the reconciliation & acknowledgement of those values easier other than an entire industry is vested in it being a complicated process most people would rather pay them (or use their products and services) to take care of.
- fuzzix 12y ago
  Ireland has a Pay As You Earn system which is usually administered by your employer. Mostly, you do nothing and the money is paid. Every 5 years, file a P21 to check you're not due any refunds. If you're self-employed, it's a bloody nightmare.

chrdlu 12y ago

From my understanding, one of the reasons the IRS is so behind is because the initial code base was written in Assembly. Only a handful of people understand how it works...and they're all getting old (they have also been motivated not to help because the knowledge gave them leverage and job security). These days, a friend's father is helping them out going line by line and translating the Assembly into Java. From what I hear, there were some bugs/loopholes built into the original system. For the new Java translation, the effects of the bugs have to be programmed in because of legislation and regulation rules. In other words, the new Java code needs to behave exactly the same as the original Assembly code. Not the easiest task...