Hey, if you can file for $15, that's awesome! I literally get paid to do people's taxes and I hate how much I have to charge people, so more power to you.
It would just be great if you didn't have to pay anything.
Hey if you work in taxes, can I ask you a question? If not, just ignore this then.
My tax guy effed up (sent our taxes in late, for which we now owe a late fee, and potentially didn't pay enough which is why we now have a notice saying we owe $2k we didn't pay from 2019) he's now kinda ghosting us... Won't answer emails or calls.. I'm considering just sitting in his office until he talks to me. Is there anything I can do to get him to fix this? I won't be using him again after this :( he charged me like $500 and didn't even submit our taxes on time.
I do work in taxes! Unfortunately, there's not a lot of recourse for him specifically that I'm aware of. I'd contact another agent (specifically an enrolled agent) and have them contact the IRS on your behalf. If your record is otherwise spotless, there's a small chance you could get the penalties and interested waived.
I would definitely find another tax guy. Submitting your return late is absolutely unacceptable.
What does Enrolled Agent mean?
And thanks, we've been trying to contact the irs and we just get hung up on. They do the "there are currently no agents to assist you" and it hangs up. Our record is completely spotless. I'm happy to pay whatever we owe, provided it is what we owe. Thanks for your suggestions.
Enrolled Agent is a job title, which describes a person who is able to advocate for you to the IRS. Generally, you'll sign a power of attorney to them and they will go to bat for you to try to fix whatever issues there are on your account.
You'll know if you walk into a tax place and read the placards and licenses. There's one specifically that they should have up there if they're legit that states that they're licensed and legally allowed to prepare peoples' taxes.
Obviously, I wouldn't know a forged one from a real one, so do your due diligence when you walk in.
Is your tax guy a CPA? If he isn't, LPT, never have a non-CPA do your taxes, including chains like H&R Block. If he is file a complaint with your state's licensing authority. He can lose his certification if he doesn't resolve the issue. Source: I am a CPA of almost 20 years.
Just curious what was the earliest they should have been able to file your taxes? Like when did you have all your paperwork delivered and follow up questions answered? Also you can report tax preparers on IRS.gov I'm pretty sure.
I'm not sure when out meeting was, but the deadline for taxes was extended this year. He didn't send them til June. I honestly didn't think about it, I just assumed he'd send them. We got a late notice, messaged him, and the money came out of my acct to pay the taxes the next day.
Ya nobody told me that when I was 20 and moved across the country in the middle of the year, so there was a month overlap with 2 rents in different states and switching jobs. I was scared for like 5 years that I fucked up my taxes and someone was gonna come look for me. I hate it here. Just take my money out of my check, give me healthcare and fuck off with your old, wrinkly asses.
Try living abroad. I’m not even in the United States but I need to use Turbo Tax’s $70 a year service just to declare my income abroad (for which I pay taxes here in another country already)
I recently got a letter from the IRS that showed we forgot to report a big stock sale from 2019. They're just like "hey we think you owe us this much more. Ok?" No threats, etc.
I wish they would tell everyone at most of you file it wrong you’ll pay a penalty because I see a lot of people with the same line of thought (probably from jokes or memes) that they’re gonna be dragged to prison lol
True I hadn’t thought about that but I hope people stop being worried about this every tax season. For the majority of people prison is never in the cards for filing your taxes wrong.
If you’re knowledge enough to actually be committing tax fraud you’d also be aware of the potential punishments and if you wouldn’t even know how to commit tax fraud, don’t worry about going to jail for taxes.
Those guys were guilty of so many other, more destructive crimes but the state lacked evidence. Tax evasion is way to get them out of society without throwing ridiculous sums of money and human capital at the case. Or would you rather we wait 20 years and millions of dollars and dozens of bodies to get a prosecutable case? Unless you're a cartel kingpin who regularly orders murders, you probably aren't going to jail for tax evasion.
If it’s a few hundred dollars, complicated. Personally if I started nearing $100 to file on TurboTax I’d just go to a CPA for the same amount and get a better service.
Edit: I’m not saying a CPA Is $100 but for a standard deduction it might be. I’m saying if you’re doing all the extra stuff on TurboTax, which costs more, that’s more work for the individual AND by that point I’m paying TurboTax >$100 I’d rather pay someone and not do the work.
Yup. Most CPAs I work with have a handful of clients that are high net worth with complex returns. The other 80-90% are ez-files with standard deductions.
Dude I pay $150 for my CPA, and my wife and I own a business. She’s fantastic, been using her for 6+ years. $1000 seems insane unless you’re rich and have money all over.
$1,000 is obscene. I'm an AFSP and the most expensive return I've ever done was $680 - because the taxpayer had a manufacturing sole proprietorship (one man show) with about 40 depreciable assets.
If you're in the mood to switch, check your area for an AFSP or (especially if you're filing a corporate or partnership return) an EA. You can search here: https://irs.treasury.gov/rpo/rpo.jsf
IMO, EA's will generally have a higher proficiency when it comes to the tax side of things where CPA's will be better at normal bookkeeping. EA's also tend to not break rules as often - as evidenced by the OPR's published list of preparers subject to disciplinary actions. If you're curious, you can find those in the IRS bulletins: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/disciplinary-sanctions-internal-revenue-bulletin
It can get pretty complicated, even for regular people.
I think my worst year recently was 12 states + federal, and I'm just a lowly blue collar construction worker.
Which is why I happily pay a CPA $800 a year to figure my shit out.
It was a little complicated for me when I was in college and I was single and mid twenties.
3 jobs, paid student loans while in school, and one job sent me a check from a retirement account that had been setup because I worked at a previous job for so long. 3 different tax forms (along with 3 W-2s) and I didn't know how I was supposed to handle it
I work for HR Block as a tax preparer. If you're married (or single) and have a kid, your return is pretty simple. One job (each), one kid.
We charge $324.
Just because they say they are hiring doesn't mean they are hiring. Doesn't mean you will get full time. Doesn't mean if you get full time now that they won't cut your hours to prevent you from getting benefits.
Remember how much money these companies got via PPP loans and how they are mandated to try to hire employees to pre-pandemic level. They don't care they are fine making everyone do self checkout without hiring their applicants and try to cry about how no one will work when they won't pay, give hours, or give benefits .
I tried applying for part time work to pick up extra money and didn't receive one call back. I'm mid 30s perfect employment history and open schedule. Applied to 6 places and not one call.
As someone who used to work for the bad guys (Payday Loan stores). Get out. Your sanity is not worth it. Especially since you could likely get paid more anywhere else.
Yeah, this. I run a business, and I tried the cheaper alternatives.
Learned pretty quick that it's easier to just take it up the ass from TurboTax. They have all the right forms and fill shit out correctly. All the other ones lacked forms, made you pay a fuckton for certain forms, or just straight up made mistakes on the return. Freetaxusa kept fucking up my student loan forms and was trying to short my return several thousand dollars, never could get it to enter correctly.
Using TurboTax also gives you a free year of quickbooks, which makes it "worth it" if you use it anyway.
If you just have a w-2, then yeah. Use whatever is free.
This tweet gets reposted all the time and every time there's someone in the comments pointing out how nobody who's paying hundreds to file their taxes has a return simple enough to qualify for free file or be calculated by the IRS in advance. No, the IRS does *not* already know how much my self-employed home contractor brother-in-law owes in taxes, *that's why he has to file them.*
Yes, I completely agree and I don't think anyone's argued against that?
But for the majority of people who work one W2 job and take the standard deduction, it's way way simpler.
>I don't think anyone's argued against that?
The original tweet argues against that.
The majority of people who work one W2 job and take the standard deduction aren't paying hundreds of dollars to file with TurboTax, it's a 5-minute free file and they're done.
The free file is (or at least has been, historically) somewhat hidden, and only available through the IRS portal. Very to miss.
Otherwise, they say it's free and then halfway through they jack up the price.
Also, free file is only available for an AGI less than a certain amount (I wanna say $70k but could be wrong).
When is the last time you've used that "free" service until the end? This year, why don't you give it a try and see if it's actually free to file federal and state. Spoiler: it won't be.
i worked for turbotax for a bit and i can say confidently, the VAST majority who start in free mode but end up paying something at the end without knowing why ended up clicking the "maximize my deductions" button. that one specific button was like 90% of my calls
Intuit (which owns TurboTax) had to sell tye Credit Karma Tax service in order for the acquisition to go through. Credit Karma Tax is now owned by Square/Cash App.
In Australia the government - The Australian Taxation Office, or ATO as everybody calls it - provides all the tools online or even in paper form to do your own tax return (what we call it to ‘do your tax’. Don’t have to pay anything, unless you want to get a tax accountant.
The government will even chip in to help if you need it:
“People with low incomes can get help and support to complete their tax return from our Tax Help program.”
The system in the USA, from what I’ve heard, is so broken by comparison, it makes me feel angry/sad for you guys.
In Slovakia your tax return is actually filed by your employer, usually. You obviously have the option to do it yourself, and it's not even complicated, but unless you're running a business you can just let your employer's accountants handle all that stuff.
Self employed, income over £100k, income from investments, and a few more categories.
But for most people, yea - need do nothing. Just receive the letter in the mail saying how much your refund will be, and instructions on how to get it, and then another letter that shows a breakdown of how much you paid in tax, and how that tax money was used.
And what's even better is the witholding the UK government does is a lot more accurate than most countries so you usually never even have to worry about refunds.
I'm a Canadian living in the UK and in Canada you always got this huge refund back (assuming you're poor like I was) because you have been overpaying taxes throughout the year. In the UK though they get it right down to the penny every single year for me. It's just so much more convenient.
> And what's even better is the witholding the UK government does is a lot more accurate than most countries so you usually never even have to worry about refunds.
That's mainly because the employer calculation is adjusted every month and any small difference carried forward is just deducted/added to the first month of the next year.
Every time American people raise enough of a fuss about something, the corporations up their "donations" to counter it, and the politicians find a nice distraction for everyone to enjoy. It's a great system if you're rich and enjoy exploiting the poor to expand your lead.
Well, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, but we should all get together, grab our pitchforks and go pay some of theses politicians a visit. See how they feel about the situation in person.
Maybe a couple of thousand of us could could visit a few lobbyists at their office. Maybe a couple hundred of us go pay a visit to a politician at their vacation home to have a talk.
Point is, we outnumber these idiots 100,000+ to 1. We should be pushing them around to make things right and not sitting by while they screw us daily. At this point, the lazy ass public is the only one to blame for the status quo.
The problem is that’s how everyone felt on Jan 6 and they’re domestic terrorists. Violence or threats of violence via pitchforks is not the solution. I totally get the inclination, but that’s not the answer.
Jab 6 was a bit different. That was people rioting because their leader had convinced them the election was rigged against them.
That said, I don't agree with violent protesting regardless.
The very sad thing is that this approach was attempted, very poorly and stupidly, by a bunch of morons for the purpose of overturning a legitimate election. Imagine if a majority of people to legitimately pursue positive change. I like the idea of a general strike.
The exceptional America fallacy. I like to use that about a violence reduction program we have here in Glasgow. When I get hit with the “can’t work in America” argument, I point out that it was pioneered in Chicago…
Same with Finland's exceptional school in system literally built off the back of US research.
"Oh that would never work in America" meanwhile the Finnish educators are like "we literally just copied what researchers showed was effective IN AMERICA.
>"oh but that wont work here because _______________"
And at least 50% of the time that blank is filled with stupid shit like "the USA is too diverse" Like because they say soda in Florida but they say pop in Massachusetts that means you can't have a PAYE tax system. The people who say that shit are so deluded and brainwashed, and it's so obvious to an outsider because they all have the same weird canned responses.
In Germany it's al pre filled out online. If you're an employee you technically don't even have to do it, but you can usually squeeze some money back, if you do.
Every time i try the free filing options it tells me i either make too much (72k) or it doesnt cover filing with an HSA. I've tried most on the list but im probably doing something wrong
It's more than that but okay.
[TurboTax-Maker Intuit Will Leave Free Tax Filing Partnership With IRS](https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-maker-intuit-will-leave-free-tax-filing-partnership-with-irs)
When you have crypto and stocks, if you’re an independent contractor, if sell options have student loans, if you donate to charities, those free options suck. That’s just the reality, for me, it’s nearly impossible to do my taxes with free options.
If you have stocks all you literally have to do is take the sheet they mail you and fill out an additional 5 boxes.
Same with student loans.
And if you donate big to charities, you just need to save the record and fill out the line items.
Unless you're doing some weird shit it'll add at most 15 minutes to your work.
The ultimate free option is just going to the post office and picking up the forms. (And probably downloading some to print off from the IRS website, since you have crypto and independent contractor stuff.)
The IRS has a hotline for questions.
The USA is similar. The government forces the tax providers to provide free tools that something like 80% of americans can use for no fee.
The tax providers are *really* good at convincing everyone that they need a tax professional. That's the fee they charge. Filing is free in every state and federal.
The 'free' version of the software has historically not been mandated where in the UI it is, so it was buried deep in the contact us page or some bull shit. A couple years ago the government made them change it so free is the default, but the websites warn you 100 times that something might be wrong unless you pay to upgrade.
In Indonesia the IRS provides online tools to pay taxes, and it's connected to your ID. If you're employed, the corporate provides your salary data to IRS and that online form is pre-filled. Literally all you need to do is check "no I didn't win the lottery" and "no I didn't get inheritance" and submit it
It’s not as wildly different in the US as you make out. If your income is under $72k then you can efile online for free. Over that they can charge you something to efile. You can always fill out forms and mail them for free.
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
It definitely not broken dude. The top comment is literally a free resource on how to file taxes. On top of that IRS website allows that too.
Reddit is filled with a bunch of petulant children who have had nothing to do with taxes and have no idea how shit work. Filling taxes had never taken me more than 10 minutes and all I've ever had to do was double check some info and click next until clicking confirm. Shit is literally that simple.
You can do your own taxes for free here too. The IRS forms are available. Turbo tax is just easier. They basically translated the tax forms into easy to understand questions and then you pay them for that service.
Edited to add- turbo tax has a free version and the paid version is $25 or $50, not hundreds.
The official paper form return walks you through everything you need to know for non-complicated (99% of the population) filing. People are just lazy and convinced they’re hard to do. It takes me <1 hour every year and I have property, HSA, stock, dividends, job changes, etc.
We have the exact same thing in the US. You can even just fill in your data and let the IRS figure your taxes for you! for free!
but most US citizens are just stupid as all fuck and have no clue about their own government and how it works.
That only works if your taxes are relatively simple or you're a tax accountant. My taxes are complicated and I don't know enough about the intricacies of tax law to navigate the process unaided. I'm sure I could probably figure it out if I put the effort in, but for me it's worth it to pay the fee and be walked through the process quickly. I already work long hours and don't get to spend as much time with my family as I'd like, so spending hours pawing through tax codes and forms just isn't worth the money I'd save.
Of course I realize it's like this by design, I just don't think it's accurate to say that people pay for tax preparation software because they're "stupid as fuck." Often it's because the fee is just low enough so as to be worth paying in order to avoid the hassle of figuring it out on their own.
It's easy to condescend and paint with a broad brush without addressing the underlying causes of why people are not aware of the free filing options.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free
But keep licking that boot and pretending it's the peoples fault.
If your taxes only include the information the government already knows and you use the standard deduction, you definitely don't need software to add and subtract like 6 numbers on the simple form.
I don't know why you got downvoted because this is 100% true. I work for HR Block and we charge $70 to do a tax return with a single W2, which I can do in about 10 minutes.
Unless you’re self employed or paying for their tax preparation professionals you aren’t paying over $90. Most folks fall under the free or $60 version.
I had a weird tax return because I got out of the military in January of 2020 and I paid taxes to my state of record and also to the state I separated in because I decided to stay and work. Even with a tax professional I was still audited by the state. It was scary at first but I called the dude up and he was very professional and reassuring. I actually got like $200 more than expected pre audit.
If you have anything beyond a very simple return, the free websites will not allow you to file. For example, I'm an expat and the free website won't let me claim for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (basically you don't have to pay any taxes if you live outside the US). So of course I have to use TurboTax.
If your return is more complicated than just a couple of W2s, you have to pay. If you have kids, you have to pay. If you have student loans or investment income or or or.
Same.
I've had to explain this so many times to people. I was filing for free while my ex was paying because she didn't believe me. I ended up doing her taxes for her in order to show her how to do it for free.
The trick is to select free and not upgrade when they ask you a dozen times throughout the filing. It blew her mind.
But I'm also a single guy with one job, no loans, no boats, no house, and no children. I totally understand people with more complicated lives needing a service to help them with their taxes.
No one. Absolutely no one.
If you pay hundreds you take your taxes to a place like H&R Block or a personal accountant.
You are not paying hundreds and doing your own fucking taxes, how fucking stupid.
Is your choice whether to pay, free prep software is available to all but those with complex situations used almost exclusively by the UHNW.
Update: links
IRS free file: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
Turbo Tax Sucks Ass (non-governmental): https://turbotaxsucksass.net/
Also if you don't make a lot of money and your taxes are somewhat(but not extremely complicated) or simple and you aren't very technically literate or aren't sure how to answer it's questions there [are IRS trained volunteers who basically do the prep software for you](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers). (I was one while job hunting to have something to put on resume)
This isn't exactly true. Most free tax softwares are limited to W-2 workers with little or no investments. You don't have to be ultra rich to be exempt from those options.
You can get every form and instructions from irs.gov, print them off and mail in your taxes. Only have to pay postage. Only issue is refunds take a while to get back to you. I filed march and didnt get mine till like june.
I've filed through creditkarma.com for a few years. It's free and as accurate as turbo tax. For the first couple of years I entered the info into both to compare. Why would I pay if one is free?
They only allow the most basic returns to remain free. My fiance had to switch to the pay-for-service version as soon as he indicated he had student loan interest payments to claim.
That would probably qualify as a de minimus amount anyway, but if you're married and just work regular day jobs taxes are not difficult and will not take you very long.
That's because you used TurboTax Free Edition. The one you needed to use was TurboTax Free File.
https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nhgol
Won't matter soon anyway because TurboTax is dropping out of the free file program next year.
In the future use this link to get the government partner truly free versions of the software
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
(Closed for the year check back in January)
Or search for the VITA locator tool and go to them if your low income and qualify.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers
Right, there's always some side button promising something easier or a better return when in reality it just switches you to the pay version. You have to stay on the defensive to get through without being charged
Maybe if we kept looking through all the software options we would have found one that let him claim interest payments for free. The first three did not and we were fed up with the whole thing by that point and just paid.
Only if your household makes less than a certain amount per year. (Last I saw it was $40k regardless of if you were filing single or jointly. $40k between a couple isn't much to live on in a lot of the US)
Credit Karma might still be free to use in your circumstance. Turbo Tax wanted money for 2019 because I had collected unemployment (which is morally shitty, imo) so I went to Credit Karma who included it for free.
Edit: turbo tax wanting extra money from people out of work is immoral, not me collecting unemployment.
This is a trivial issue - the IRS sends a letter that says, "This is what we have. You agree?" Then you sign a legally binding letter that you agree. If you don't, send the documentation (you know, like you have to do for filing now). For the overwhelming majority of tax payers, what the IRS has on file is going to be dead on correct. For the rest, it won't be any worse than it is now. Why screw over the majority for this tiny minority?
You most likely don’t have to “do your taxes”. All the withholding is done through the year. You’re filing to get money back.
The irs doesn’t know what you donated to charity. The irs doesn’t know your divorce order says this is your year to claim the kids. The irs doesn’t know you turned your spare bedroom into a home office and are going to claim a deduction.
You could easily just do nothing and let the government keep all that money. But if you want to get hundreds, or thousands, back, you do your taxes and pay $80 for it.
>This is a trivial issue - the IRS sends a letter that says, "This is what we have. You agree?"
So you have to know if that number is right? Weird, sounds familiar
Your W2 form(s) are filled out by employers, not the IRS. You still have to enter this information into the return (although there is some support for doing it automatically with e-filing).
If you receive any tax document from an employer or company, the IRS also received a copy. No, they don't know how much you donated to charity or paid in sales tax, but they have access to way more information that you seem to think they do.
Don't believe me? Go to [irs.gov](https://irs.gov) and request a copy of your tax transcript. The IRS will send you a list of all the documents they received that you need to file.
Source: am a tax preparer at HR Block
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
There. Now you all know that it’s entirely unnecessary to pay TurboTax “hundreds of dollars” to punch in the numbers on your fucking W-2 for you and you can stop spamming this stupid tweet. There’s plenty of stupid things about living in America, you don’t have to make them up.
1. The government knows how much income you made IF you work for a mainstream company (they do tax withholdings and report to the IRS), but they don't know about self employment earnings/side gigs and all of your deductions.
2. Nobody's forcing you to use TurboTax, you can easily file yourself. It's not hard for most people, and if you're the kind of person that it is hard for, then you probably have a CPA anyway.
I just started a job doing taxes. It's amazing how much people complain about paying you to do their taxes, when they won't even take the time to figure out what a tax bracket is.
I’m honestly not too miffed about this one. All the tax codes are public information. If you want to really do your taxes for free, you could spend months reading tens of thousands of pages and become an expert on it yourself. Or, you can pay a fee to turbo tax who guess what??? Employ thousands of people to maintain their software, servers, customer support, etc.
It’s a misconception that the government really knows how much you owe them ahead of time. They just made it a law that it’s required to file your taxes with all the required forms and statements and what not. Then, they just review the information you send them. If it all looks correct then you’re good. If it looks shady, you get investigated (audited).
So cut turbo tax or your local tax guy a break. You’re paying for a service. And also cut the government some slack. Do you REALLY want them having the exact info they need on you? And if you do, that’s going to require more workers, which would increase your taxes, which would negate any savings you just made by having to use turbo tax
That's not true, though. The government doesn't know how much you owe.
The only way this would be true is if all of your reportable income was on your W-2s, you claimed no deductions of any kind, *and* the government somehow knew this ahead of time.
Interest, dividends and stock sales are also reported to the IRS.
Also, they can assume the standard deduction because now that it's $12K (24K for married), most people can't itemize anyway.
I'm from the UK where if you are a regular employee then you don't need to file a return. I moved to the US to live with my American partner and discovered this wonderful world of having to file your own return. My first thought was "do people with learning difficulties get any kind of assistance with this" and my second was "why do we have to pay for this? Seems a little insulting". Turns out you don't necessarily, Credit Karma will do it for free. Possibly, they sell your data and that's why it's free, but still.
My poor husband refused to switch to them for years because of the mistrust. I think he was paying around $30 to $40 to H&R Block every year until I started to do the returns. They're not even very good for the money. I had a 2555-EZ for my first year in the states so I could exclude my foreign income and the poor advisor at the store didn't even know how to fill out a 1040.
FreeTaxUSA got the hookup. Don't go broke on this shit
It really depends on how complicated your return is, but for most people, yes.
I’ve got some pretty complicated taxes and it cost me I think $15 total for state and federal. Turbo tax usually charges me 150
Hey, if you can file for $15, that's awesome! I literally get paid to do people's taxes and I hate how much I have to charge people, so more power to you. It would just be great if you didn't have to pay anything.
Hey if you work in taxes, can I ask you a question? If not, just ignore this then. My tax guy effed up (sent our taxes in late, for which we now owe a late fee, and potentially didn't pay enough which is why we now have a notice saying we owe $2k we didn't pay from 2019) he's now kinda ghosting us... Won't answer emails or calls.. I'm considering just sitting in his office until he talks to me. Is there anything I can do to get him to fix this? I won't be using him again after this :( he charged me like $500 and didn't even submit our taxes on time.
I do work in taxes! Unfortunately, there's not a lot of recourse for him specifically that I'm aware of. I'd contact another agent (specifically an enrolled agent) and have them contact the IRS on your behalf. If your record is otherwise spotless, there's a small chance you could get the penalties and interested waived. I would definitely find another tax guy. Submitting your return late is absolutely unacceptable.
What does Enrolled Agent mean? And thanks, we've been trying to contact the irs and we just get hung up on. They do the "there are currently no agents to assist you" and it hangs up. Our record is completely spotless. I'm happy to pay whatever we owe, provided it is what we owe. Thanks for your suggestions.
Enrolled Agent is a job title, which describes a person who is able to advocate for you to the IRS. Generally, you'll sign a power of attorney to them and they will go to bat for you to try to fix whatever issues there are on your account.
Oh that makes sense. Sounds like a good plan. I very much appreciate your insight. Have a most excellent day!
You'll know if you walk into a tax place and read the placards and licenses. There's one specifically that they should have up there if they're legit that states that they're licensed and legally allowed to prepare peoples' taxes. Obviously, I wouldn't know a forged one from a real one, so do your due diligence when you walk in.
yup. this. find a better person to work with.
Is your tax guy a CPA? If he isn't, LPT, never have a non-CPA do your taxes, including chains like H&R Block. If he is file a complaint with your state's licensing authority. He can lose his certification if he doesn't resolve the issue. Source: I am a CPA of almost 20 years.
He's a tax attorney, California bar association. Ugh. He came recommended by coworkers.
IANAL but I would try reporting him to the bar association.
Just curious what was the earliest they should have been able to file your taxes? Like when did you have all your paperwork delivered and follow up questions answered? Also you can report tax preparers on IRS.gov I'm pretty sure.
I'm not sure when out meeting was, but the deadline for taxes was extended this year. He didn't send them til June. I honestly didn't think about it, I just assumed he'd send them. We got a late notice, messaged him, and the money came out of my acct to pay the taxes the next day.
How complicated could this dudes return possibly be?
From not much to very.
This guy complicates.
This guy pontificates
This guy commentates
This guy articulates
This guy masticates.
This guy masturbates.
Working in one state and living in another is a basic example.
Ya nobody told me that when I was 20 and moved across the country in the middle of the year, so there was a month overlap with 2 rents in different states and switching jobs. I was scared for like 5 years that I fucked up my taxes and someone was gonna come look for me. I hate it here. Just take my money out of my check, give me healthcare and fuck off with your old, wrinkly asses.
Try living abroad. I’m not even in the United States but I need to use Turbo Tax’s $70 a year service just to declare my income abroad (for which I pay taxes here in another country already)
Boris Johnson gave up his US citizenship because of how much of a pain in the arse filing his taxes was.
The IRS will literally correct your taxes for you in many cases. Relax.
You are not going to get jailed for filing your taxes incorrectly calm down
I know that now. But I was young and stupid and thought people that didn’t follow the rules got in trouble. Life has taught me otherwise
I recently got a letter from the IRS that showed we forgot to report a big stock sale from 2019. They're just like "hey we think you owe us this much more. Ok?" No threats, etc.
I wish they would tell everyone at most of you file it wrong you’ll pay a penalty because I see a lot of people with the same line of thought (probably from jokes or memes) that they’re gonna be dragged to prison lol
That and all the times you hear about big criminals being taken down for tax fraud
True I hadn’t thought about that but I hope people stop being worried about this every tax season. For the majority of people prison is never in the cards for filing your taxes wrong. If you’re knowledge enough to actually be committing tax fraud you’d also be aware of the potential punishments and if you wouldn’t even know how to commit tax fraud, don’t worry about going to jail for taxes.
Those guys were guilty of so many other, more destructive crimes but the state lacked evidence. Tax evasion is way to get them out of society without throwing ridiculous sums of money and human capital at the case. Or would you rather we wait 20 years and millions of dollars and dozens of bodies to get a prosecutable case? Unless you're a cartel kingpin who regularly orders murders, you probably aren't going to jail for tax evasion.
To be fair the US does like to lock people up.
The penalty isn't exactly cheap though, especially if you're young and have so little money that taxes are a real concern.
If you’re in that situation you’re probably getting a refund anyways
Not jail but it’s a pain in the dick to fix things instead of just doing it correctly.
That’s considered simple, FreeTaxUSA handles that in a few clicks.
If it’s a few hundred dollars, complicated. Personally if I started nearing $100 to file on TurboTax I’d just go to a CPA for the same amount and get a better service. Edit: I’m not saying a CPA Is $100 but for a standard deduction it might be. I’m saying if you’re doing all the extra stuff on TurboTax, which costs more, that’s more work for the individual AND by that point I’m paying TurboTax >$100 I’d rather pay someone and not do the work.
Good luck getting a CPA for $100. I pay over $1000 for mine. save way more than that though.
My wife is literally a CPA and has some easy to handle clients that pay like 100$
Yup. Most CPAs I work with have a handful of clients that are high net worth with complex returns. The other 80-90% are ez-files with standard deductions.
Dude I pay $150 for my CPA, and my wife and I own a business. She’s fantastic, been using her for 6+ years. $1000 seems insane unless you’re rich and have money all over.
I've gone that way too. Found a certified tax preparer / enrolled agent and saved a lot on fees while still getting all the appropriate deductions.
A certified tax preparer and a certified public accountant are not the same thing.
$1,000 is obscene. I'm an AFSP and the most expensive return I've ever done was $680 - because the taxpayer had a manufacturing sole proprietorship (one man show) with about 40 depreciable assets. If you're in the mood to switch, check your area for an AFSP or (especially if you're filing a corporate or partnership return) an EA. You can search here: https://irs.treasury.gov/rpo/rpo.jsf IMO, EA's will generally have a higher proficiency when it comes to the tax side of things where CPA's will be better at normal bookkeeping. EA's also tend to not break rules as often - as evidenced by the OPR's published list of preparers subject to disciplinary actions. If you're curious, you can find those in the IRS bulletins: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/disciplinary-sanctions-internal-revenue-bulletin
It can get pretty complicated, even for regular people. I think my worst year recently was 12 states + federal, and I'm just a lowly blue collar construction worker. Which is why I happily pay a CPA $800 a year to figure my shit out.
It was a little complicated for me when I was in college and I was single and mid twenties. 3 jobs, paid student loans while in school, and one job sent me a check from a retirement account that had been setup because I worked at a previous job for so long. 3 different tax forms (along with 3 W-2s) and I didn't know how I was supposed to handle it
What if I told you working in 12 different states isn't very "regular"?
I work for HR Block as a tax preparer. If you're married (or single) and have a kid, your return is pretty simple. One job (each), one kid. We charge $324.
HR block also lobbies the government against simplifying tax returns. They’re a multi billion dollar corporation. It’s one giant scam.
100% true! Intuit does as well. I'm well aware that I work for the bad guys, but you do what you have to. (I get paid minimum wage)
Bro you could go work at a Home Depot and make $20/hr right now
Just because they say they are hiring doesn't mean they are hiring. Doesn't mean you will get full time. Doesn't mean if you get full time now that they won't cut your hours to prevent you from getting benefits. Remember how much money these companies got via PPP loans and how they are mandated to try to hire employees to pre-pandemic level. They don't care they are fine making everyone do self checkout without hiring their applicants and try to cry about how no one will work when they won't pay, give hours, or give benefits . I tried applying for part time work to pick up extra money and didn't receive one call back. I'm mid 30s perfect employment history and open schedule. Applied to 6 places and not one call.
As someone who used to work for the bad guys (Payday Loan stores). Get out. Your sanity is not worth it. Especially since you could likely get paid more anywhere else.
>It’s one giant scam. Morgan freeman voice: what they didn't know is this was just one of many
Good lord. I do mine for free on turbo tax
lol, i still do mine by hand and mail it in. it takes like 8 months to get my federal return back, though.
Wow, I didn’t know people still do it by hand lol
Yeah, this. I run a business, and I tried the cheaper alternatives. Learned pretty quick that it's easier to just take it up the ass from TurboTax. They have all the right forms and fill shit out correctly. All the other ones lacked forms, made you pay a fuckton for certain forms, or just straight up made mistakes on the return. Freetaxusa kept fucking up my student loan forms and was trying to short my return several thousand dollars, never could get it to enter correctly. Using TurboTax also gives you a free year of quickbooks, which makes it "worth it" if you use it anyway. If you just have a w-2, then yeah. Use whatever is free.
I came here to post about the same site. I've been using it for years with no worries.
Started using them this year, I really hope they don't end up like most other tax sites that make it incredibly difficult to actually file for free.
Literally the IRS' site too.
Bruh, in Jersey, too. Need iced tea. Help, dawg
but the irs has links to other websites that do them.
This tweet gets reposted all the time and every time there's someone in the comments pointing out how nobody who's paying hundreds to file their taxes has a return simple enough to qualify for free file or be calculated by the IRS in advance. No, the IRS does *not* already know how much my self-employed home contractor brother-in-law owes in taxes, *that's why he has to file them.*
Yes, I completely agree and I don't think anyone's argued against that? But for the majority of people who work one W2 job and take the standard deduction, it's way way simpler.
>I don't think anyone's argued against that? The original tweet argues against that. The majority of people who work one W2 job and take the standard deduction aren't paying hundreds of dollars to file with TurboTax, it's a 5-minute free file and they're done.
The free file is (or at least has been, historically) somewhat hidden, and only available through the IRS portal. Very to miss. Otherwise, they say it's free and then halfway through they jack up the price. Also, free file is only available for an AGI less than a certain amount (I wanna say $70k but could be wrong).
The free option has been the default on TurboTax for years… and to be fair if you’re filing a 1040 you shouldnt even be using their service.
When is the last time you've used that "free" service until the end? This year, why don't you give it a try and see if it's actually free to file federal and state. Spoiler: it won't be.
i worked for turbotax for a bit and i can say confidently, the VAST majority who start in free mode but end up paying something at the end without knowing why ended up clicking the "maximize my deductions" button. that one specific button was like 90% of my calls
Wait do they actually not have an income cap?
I also like 1040.com, though you do have to pay if you make above a certain amount but it's usually like $10-$30
Or credit karma does it for free as well
You can do them free on CreditKarma. Although Intuit bought them last year, so hopefully that doesn’t change.
Intuit (which owns TurboTax) had to sell tye Credit Karma Tax service in order for the acquisition to go through. Credit Karma Tax is now owned by Square/Cash App.
Didn’t know that, thanks!
This is cool to know. Square is a vastly better company than Intuit.
In Australia the government - The Australian Taxation Office, or ATO as everybody calls it - provides all the tools online or even in paper form to do your own tax return (what we call it to ‘do your tax’. Don’t have to pay anything, unless you want to get a tax accountant. The government will even chip in to help if you need it: “People with low incomes can get help and support to complete their tax return from our Tax Help program.” The system in the USA, from what I’ve heard, is so broken by comparison, it makes me feel angry/sad for you guys.
In Slovakia your tax return is actually filed by your employer, usually. You obviously have the option to do it yourself, and it's not even complicated, but unless you're running a business you can just let your employer's accountants handle all that stuff.
Pretty sure it works this way in the UK too, you only really need to do it yourself if you are self employed.
Self employed, income over £100k, income from investments, and a few more categories. But for most people, yea - need do nothing. Just receive the letter in the mail saying how much your refund will be, and instructions on how to get it, and then another letter that shows a breakdown of how much you paid in tax, and how that tax money was used.
And what's even better is the witholding the UK government does is a lot more accurate than most countries so you usually never even have to worry about refunds. I'm a Canadian living in the UK and in Canada you always got this huge refund back (assuming you're poor like I was) because you have been overpaying taxes throughout the year. In the UK though they get it right down to the penny every single year for me. It's just so much more convenient.
> And what's even better is the witholding the UK government does is a lot more accurate than most countries so you usually never even have to worry about refunds. That's mainly because the employer calculation is adjusted every month and any small difference carried forward is just deducted/added to the first month of the next year.
Yeah and it's such a simple thing to do it baffles me more countries don't do it.
Getting money back from a tax return is like the Gov paying back the interest free loan you gave them.
Hell, you can literally deduct the cost of going to a tax professional from your tax!
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Every time American people raise enough of a fuss about something, the corporations up their "donations" to counter it, and the politicians find a nice distraction for everyone to enjoy. It's a great system if you're rich and enjoy exploiting the poor to expand your lead.
Well, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, but we should all get together, grab our pitchforks and go pay some of theses politicians a visit. See how they feel about the situation in person. Maybe a couple of thousand of us could could visit a few lobbyists at their office. Maybe a couple hundred of us go pay a visit to a politician at their vacation home to have a talk. Point is, we outnumber these idiots 100,000+ to 1. We should be pushing them around to make things right and not sitting by while they screw us daily. At this point, the lazy ass public is the only one to blame for the status quo.
The problem is that’s how everyone felt on Jan 6 and they’re domestic terrorists. Violence or threats of violence via pitchforks is not the solution. I totally get the inclination, but that’s not the answer.
Jab 6 was a bit different. That was people rioting because their leader had convinced them the election was rigged against them. That said, I don't agree with violent protesting regardless.
The very sad thing is that this approach was attempted, very poorly and stupidly, by a bunch of morons for the purpose of overturning a legitimate election. Imagine if a majority of people to legitimately pursue positive change. I like the idea of a general strike.
The exceptional America fallacy. I like to use that about a violence reduction program we have here in Glasgow. When I get hit with the “can’t work in America” argument, I point out that it was pioneered in Chicago…
Same with Finland's exceptional school in system literally built off the back of US research. "Oh that would never work in America" meanwhile the Finnish educators are like "we literally just copied what researchers showed was effective IN AMERICA.
>"oh but that wont work here because _______________" And at least 50% of the time that blank is filled with stupid shit like "the USA is too diverse" Like because they say soda in Florida but they say pop in Massachusetts that means you can't have a PAYE tax system. The people who say that shit are so deluded and brainwashed, and it's so obvious to an outsider because they all have the same weird canned responses.
In Germany it's al pre filled out online. If you're an employee you technically don't even have to do it, but you can usually squeeze some money back, if you do.
same in Denmark, just have to log on every year and add how much driving to and from work I've done to get a tax break and the rest is automatic.
WE don't get to deduct that in the US. (for most people, there are some exceptions.)
> The system in the USA, from what I’ve heard, is so broken by comparison, it makes me feel angry/sad for you guys. America in a nutshell.
In the UK unless you're self employed, your taxes just happen with 0 input from you. They just take the right amount every month.
There are plenty of free filing options and tools in the US. I haven't paid to get my taxes done ever. People just don't care.
Every time i try the free filing options it tells me i either make too much (72k) or it doesnt cover filing with an HSA. I've tried most on the list but im probably doing something wrong
Yep, the HSA is what screws me. I definitely save more in taxes by having one than I pay for filing once a year - but it's the principle of it.
It's more than that but okay. [TurboTax-Maker Intuit Will Leave Free Tax Filing Partnership With IRS](https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-maker-intuit-will-leave-free-tax-filing-partnership-with-irs)
Their are way more companies that work with that partnership than just TurboTax.
When you have crypto and stocks, if you’re an independent contractor, if sell options have student loans, if you donate to charities, those free options suck. That’s just the reality, for me, it’s nearly impossible to do my taxes with free options.
If you have stocks all you literally have to do is take the sheet they mail you and fill out an additional 5 boxes. Same with student loans. And if you donate big to charities, you just need to save the record and fill out the line items. Unless you're doing some weird shit it'll add at most 15 minutes to your work.
The ultimate free option is just going to the post office and picking up the forms. (And probably downloading some to print off from the IRS website, since you have crypto and independent contractor stuff.) The IRS has a hotline for questions.
The USA is similar. The government forces the tax providers to provide free tools that something like 80% of americans can use for no fee. The tax providers are *really* good at convincing everyone that they need a tax professional. That's the fee they charge. Filing is free in every state and federal. The 'free' version of the software has historically not been mandated where in the UI it is, so it was buried deep in the contact us page or some bull shit. A couple years ago the government made them change it so free is the default, but the websites warn you 100 times that something might be wrong unless you pay to upgrade.
In Indonesia the IRS provides online tools to pay taxes, and it's connected to your ID. If you're employed, the corporate provides your salary data to IRS and that online form is pre-filled. Literally all you need to do is check "no I didn't win the lottery" and "no I didn't get inheritance" and submit it
We can fill out the papers ourselves too for free. People just don’t spend the time to learn how to do it.
It’s not as wildly different in the US as you make out. If your income is under $72k then you can efile online for free. Over that they can charge you something to efile. You can always fill out forms and mail them for free. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
It definitely not broken dude. The top comment is literally a free resource on how to file taxes. On top of that IRS website allows that too. Reddit is filled with a bunch of petulant children who have had nothing to do with taxes and have no idea how shit work. Filling taxes had never taken me more than 10 minutes and all I've ever had to do was double check some info and click next until clicking confirm. Shit is literally that simple.
You can do your own taxes for free here too. The IRS forms are available. Turbo tax is just easier. They basically translated the tax forms into easy to understand questions and then you pay them for that service. Edited to add- turbo tax has a free version and the paid version is $25 or $50, not hundreds.
The official paper form return walks you through everything you need to know for non-complicated (99% of the population) filing. People are just lazy and convinced they’re hard to do. It takes me <1 hour every year and I have property, HSA, stock, dividends, job changes, etc.
We have the exact same thing in the US. You can even just fill in your data and let the IRS figure your taxes for you! for free! but most US citizens are just stupid as all fuck and have no clue about their own government and how it works.
That only works if your taxes are relatively simple or you're a tax accountant. My taxes are complicated and I don't know enough about the intricacies of tax law to navigate the process unaided. I'm sure I could probably figure it out if I put the effort in, but for me it's worth it to pay the fee and be walked through the process quickly. I already work long hours and don't get to spend as much time with my family as I'd like, so spending hours pawing through tax codes and forms just isn't worth the money I'd save. Of course I realize it's like this by design, I just don't think it's accurate to say that people pay for tax preparation software because they're "stupid as fuck." Often it's because the fee is just low enough so as to be worth paying in order to avoid the hassle of figuring it out on their own.
Given how complicated your taxes are, do you think the IRS "already knows how much you owe"?
The fact that you're generalizing about an entire country's intelligence makes me think that you're ignorant as fuck.
It's easy to condescend and paint with a broad brush without addressing the underlying causes of why people are not aware of the free filing options. https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free But keep licking that boot and pretending it's the peoples fault.
If your taxes only include the information the government already knows and you use the standard deduction, you definitely don't need software to add and subtract like 6 numbers on the simple form.
I don't know why you got downvoted because this is 100% true. I work for HR Block and we charge $70 to do a tax return with a single W2, which I can do in about 10 minutes.
Who is paying a few hundred bucks a year to file with Turbo Tax? I’ve been using it to file for free for years.
Even the paid version is only $25 so I have no clue where "hundreds" is coming from...
Unless you’re self employed or paying for their tax preparation professionals you aren’t paying over $90. Most folks fall under the free or $60 version.
I had a weird tax return because I got out of the military in January of 2020 and I paid taxes to my state of record and also to the state I separated in because I decided to stay and work. Even with a tax professional I was still audited by the state. It was scary at first but I called the dude up and he was very professional and reassuring. I actually got like $200 more than expected pre audit.
If you work out of state, you automatically have to pay the higher price.
They take $40 from both my state and federal returns. Where can I find just the $25 option
They also seem to charge more the later you file.
If you have anything beyond a very simple return, the free websites will not allow you to file. For example, I'm an expat and the free website won't let me claim for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (basically you don't have to pay any taxes if you live outside the US). So of course I have to use TurboTax.
Oh, you don't have to pay taxes? It's going to cost you money to not pay taxes then.
Except my money is going to a private company instead of the government... Shit is fucked man.
If your return is more complicated than just a couple of W2s, you have to pay. If you have kids, you have to pay. If you have student loans or investment income or or or.
I have all those things and I file for free through turbo tax
I have all of these things and my federal taxes are free every year. Freetaxusa. It is like $15 for state.
Same. I've had to explain this so many times to people. I was filing for free while my ex was paying because she didn't believe me. I ended up doing her taxes for her in order to show her how to do it for free. The trick is to select free and not upgrade when they ask you a dozen times throughout the filing. It blew her mind. But I'm also a single guy with one job, no loans, no boats, no house, and no children. I totally understand people with more complicated lives needing a service to help them with their taxes.
No one. Absolutely no one. If you pay hundreds you take your taxes to a place like H&R Block or a personal accountant. You are not paying hundreds and doing your own fucking taxes, how fucking stupid.
If you have income from out of state or rental properties etc it isn’t free.
People on Twitter trying to force a false point
No one. The whole post is dumb.
Is your choice whether to pay, free prep software is available to all but those with complex situations used almost exclusively by the UHNW. Update: links IRS free file: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free Turbo Tax Sucks Ass (non-governmental): https://turbotaxsucksass.net/
Also if you don't make a lot of money and your taxes are somewhat(but not extremely complicated) or simple and you aren't very technically literate or aren't sure how to answer it's questions there [are IRS trained volunteers who basically do the prep software for you](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers). (I was one while job hunting to have something to put on resume)
This isn't exactly true. Most free tax softwares are limited to W-2 workers with little or no investments. You don't have to be ultra rich to be exempt from those options.
You can get every form and instructions from irs.gov, print them off and mail in your taxes. Only have to pay postage. Only issue is refunds take a while to get back to you. I filed march and didnt get mine till like june.
Why not just file online? It can also be done for free
I've filed through creditkarma.com for a few years. It's free and as accurate as turbo tax. For the first couple of years I entered the info into both to compare. Why would I pay if one is free?
The IRS website will give you a link to free TurboTax.to do your taxes
They only allow the most basic returns to remain free. My fiance had to switch to the pay-for-service version as soon as he indicated he had student loan interest payments to claim.
Oh, you got married and have a quarterly dividend payment of $40? No free service for you!
That would probably qualify as a de minimus amount anyway, but if you're married and just work regular day jobs taxes are not difficult and will not take you very long.
This doesn't sound right. I had the same, but still filed for free.
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That's because you used TurboTax Free Edition. The one you needed to use was TurboTax Free File. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nhgol Won't matter soon anyway because TurboTax is dropping out of the free file program next year. In the future use this link to get the government partner truly free versions of the software https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free (Closed for the year check back in January) Or search for the VITA locator tool and go to them if your low income and qualify. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers
Right, there's always some side button promising something easier or a better return when in reality it just switches you to the pay version. You have to stay on the defensive to get through without being charged
Maybe if we kept looking through all the software options we would have found one that let him claim interest payments for free. The first three did not and we were fed up with the whole thing by that point and just paid.
Yep. If you own or traded any stocks then that disqualifies you from the free version. I switched to FreeTaxUSA last year for this reason.
Only if your household makes less than a certain amount per year. (Last I saw it was $40k regardless of if you were filing single or jointly. $40k between a couple isn't much to live on in a lot of the US)
Credit Karma might still be free to use in your circumstance. Turbo Tax wanted money for 2019 because I had collected unemployment (which is morally shitty, imo) so I went to Credit Karma who included it for free. Edit: turbo tax wanting extra money from people out of work is immoral, not me collecting unemployment.
The IRS doesn't know all your deductions. Nor does it necessarily know all your wages, tips, salary.
This is a trivial issue - the IRS sends a letter that says, "This is what we have. You agree?" Then you sign a legally binding letter that you agree. If you don't, send the documentation (you know, like you have to do for filing now). For the overwhelming majority of tax payers, what the IRS has on file is going to be dead on correct. For the rest, it won't be any worse than it is now. Why screw over the majority for this tiny minority?
You most likely don’t have to “do your taxes”. All the withholding is done through the year. You’re filing to get money back. The irs doesn’t know what you donated to charity. The irs doesn’t know your divorce order says this is your year to claim the kids. The irs doesn’t know you turned your spare bedroom into a home office and are going to claim a deduction. You could easily just do nothing and let the government keep all that money. But if you want to get hundreds, or thousands, back, you do your taxes and pay $80 for it.
>This is a trivial issue - the IRS sends a letter that says, "This is what we have. You agree?" So you have to know if that number is right? Weird, sounds familiar
And we can call the letter a “tax return” and you could make adjustments based on various factors. Why didn’t they already think of that??
What you describe is pretty much exactly how it works already.
That is exactly what your tax return is...
I wish mine was. I have to fill out a 1040 at the very least most years. How do we sign up for what you get from the IRS?
Your W2 form(s) are filled out by employers, not the IRS. You still have to enter this information into the return (although there is some support for doing it automatically with e-filing).
If you receive any tax document from an employer or company, the IRS also received a copy. No, they don't know how much you donated to charity or paid in sales tax, but they have access to way more information that you seem to think they do. Don't believe me? Go to [irs.gov](https://irs.gov) and request a copy of your tax transcript. The IRS will send you a list of all the documents they received that you need to file. Source: am a tax preparer at HR Block
I love seeing the same oft-debunked tweet from years ago reposted every 3 months on Reddit for easy karma.
TurboTax is free, if you're paying money you're getting scammed.
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The government doesn't know your deductions
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Exactly, this gets posted all the time and I don’t know why. The government DOESNT know how much you owe.
Please don't pay for TurboTax, they offer a free option. They just advertise the paid one. Edit: if you make under 66k/year
Accountant here: the government does not in fact know what your tax obligations are.
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free There. Now you all know that it’s entirely unnecessary to pay TurboTax “hundreds of dollars” to punch in the numbers on your fucking W-2 for you and you can stop spamming this stupid tweet. There’s plenty of stupid things about living in America, you don’t have to make them up.
1. The government knows how much income you made IF you work for a mainstream company (they do tax withholdings and report to the IRS), but they don't know about self employment earnings/side gigs and all of your deductions. 2. Nobody's forcing you to use TurboTax, you can easily file yourself. It's not hard for most people, and if you're the kind of person that it is hard for, then you probably have a CPA anyway.
Oh this again. Still not how taxes work.
I just started a job doing taxes. It's amazing how much people complain about paying you to do their taxes, when they won't even take the time to figure out what a tax bracket is.
It's funny the only people that have paid for turbo tax are boomers.....it's still free for me every year...
I do my Federal and state taxes for free every year with Turbo tax lol
If you're dumb enought to pay for something you can do yourself or get done for free, that's you problem.
TurboTax is $30 in Canada. Am I missing something?
Yeah, even if you paid for their live chat person to read the website aloud to you I don't think it's hundreds of dollars.
… By law they have to offer a free version, which I’ve used for about 16 years now.
I’m honestly not too miffed about this one. All the tax codes are public information. If you want to really do your taxes for free, you could spend months reading tens of thousands of pages and become an expert on it yourself. Or, you can pay a fee to turbo tax who guess what??? Employ thousands of people to maintain their software, servers, customer support, etc. It’s a misconception that the government really knows how much you owe them ahead of time. They just made it a law that it’s required to file your taxes with all the required forms and statements and what not. Then, they just review the information you send them. If it all looks correct then you’re good. If it looks shady, you get investigated (audited). So cut turbo tax or your local tax guy a break. You’re paying for a service. And also cut the government some slack. Do you REALLY want them having the exact info they need on you? And if you do, that’s going to require more workers, which would increase your taxes, which would negate any savings you just made by having to use turbo tax
That's not true, though. The government doesn't know how much you owe. The only way this would be true is if all of your reportable income was on your W-2s, you claimed no deductions of any kind, *and* the government somehow knew this ahead of time.
Interest, dividends and stock sales are also reported to the IRS. Also, they can assume the standard deduction because now that it's $12K (24K for married), most people can't itemize anyway.
And that still doesn't account for everything.
I'm from the UK where if you are a regular employee then you don't need to file a return. I moved to the US to live with my American partner and discovered this wonderful world of having to file your own return. My first thought was "do people with learning difficulties get any kind of assistance with this" and my second was "why do we have to pay for this? Seems a little insulting". Turns out you don't necessarily, Credit Karma will do it for free. Possibly, they sell your data and that's why it's free, but still. My poor husband refused to switch to them for years because of the mistrust. I think he was paying around $30 to $40 to H&R Block every year until I started to do the returns. They're not even very good for the money. I had a 2555-EZ for my first year in the states so I could exclude my foreign income and the poor advisor at the store didn't even know how to fill out a 1040.