Dearest American friends,
I’m happy for you.
Our captured Gov’t: You go to prison…unless you’re very wealthy of course, this is America after all.
Then we’re happy to negotiate, settle, reduce, and otherwise facilitate your repayment in a way that’s convenient for you and your tax litigation team, sir!
Reminds me of my ex’s tantrums.
Old meme, but (1) you don’t go to prison for making a mistake on your taxes in America — you have to do a big fraud (2) no, the government doesn’t always know how much you owe, they only know stuff like domestic W2s and what banks file. There is a huge amount of ways to make income outside of that
I remember people saying that Lemmy was going to be better than Reddit, yet here we are, with idiotic memes sharing blatant falsehoods that pander to people who can’t be bothered to think critically or actually learn anything. Upvoted straight to the top, not least of because it’s an image.
I miss old Reddit when, if people were going to stay stupid shit, they actually had to take the time to type it.
Better vehicle, same people. 🤷🙂
What’s the blatant falsehood? You are required to calculate taxes that the government largely already knows the answer. If you calculate wrong, you get a letter from the Government telling you where you were wrong which proves they knew the correct answers all along. If you don’t pay that fine, the end result will be prison.
I don’t like you.
Reddit has been the same since day one. You’re just being dramatic. They had plenty of stupid and off the wall shit that went just as this has. You’re being ridiculous old timer.
I’m guessing 50% of individuals would be covered by just those 2 methods. Other methods would quickly follow once people realize how the rest of the world does not cater to crazy and the ones they can legally bribe (“lobby”).
It doesn’t matter if 50% of people would be covered by the information that is submitted to the IRS, the point is the IRS does not know that. when you do your taxes, you are telling them that there’s nothing else, but until you filed, they could not assume it.
And it isn’t just about the lobbying, it’s also just about conservatives in general. They do not want the government getting maximum tax income. They have crippled the IRS countless times over the last couple of decades, choking off their ability to ensure the government is getting the tax money it is owed. It doesn’t matter what new methods could be employed to ensure that nobody ever had to file their own tax returns, the point is the IRS is not funded and staffed enough to manage that.
The IRS doesn’t actually check most tax returns. They audit a certain number randomly every year, but they don’t check them all. They can’t with the resources they have available. They are taken on good faith for the majority of Americans every year because the IRS can’t check the sheer scale of them in a timely manner. If something looks really off, so much so that it triggers something in the system, they’ll take a look, but for the most part they’re trusting the fear of an audit to keep people honest.
Keep in mind that the majority of the countries that you’re referring to are dwarfed by the US. It is substantially more complicated and more expensive to manage federal income tax returns for all 50 states than it is for, say, Germany.
The IRS doesn’t actually check most tax returns
That isn’t true. They check all tax returns based on W2, 1099’s and other documents they receive from corporations that paid you money.
An audit is completely different from the automatic checks that make sure every bank record of interest and stock sale lines up with what you claimed on taxes.
If you miss any stock sale or any reported income, you will get a computer generated letter from the IRS for the amount you owe. If you pay too much by accident, you will also get a computer generated check back from the IRS.
I make a mistake every few years and get a bill with fine or a check from the IRS. I no longer stress about taxes because I know they will correct it for me in a few months anyway. The fine is small because I’ve luckily never made a big mistake. I’ve gotten back large checks on years I forgot I paid estimated taxes and overpaid my taxes.
I am aware of all of those points, the thing is people try to make excuses for why we can’t follow the rest of the world and expect some perfect solution day 1, which will just hold us back. Gotta start somewhere.
For the first point and point about audits, can still be handled as they are now, send people a w2 and bank reported prefilled form, ask them to add anything missing. Same as now, but less energy required to start or complete the task for most people. Kind of how most tax programs start your State income tax forms with the information entered in the federal one and what was declared the previous year which is already known and go from there.
I feel you’re kinda talking past ChapulinColorado’s comment. He’s indicating that for many people they would should have a simple tax filing process where they don’t receive money outside of what’s reported to the IRS already. Many workers only have a W2 and use the standard deduction. They shouldn’t have to pay a 3rd party to get their taxes done, and it shouldn’t take them almost any time to file a return.
yes you’re also right that people would still need to confirm what their income is (especially if its not reported to the IRS), but that doesn’t apply to a large section of the US Population.
Step in the right direction either way. Hopefully this means they’ll be capturing metrics on which parts of the process are the most complicated and improve those areas.
Fuck all corpo scum! Intuit, TurboTax and H&R Block can all fuck right off! Corporate lobbying motherfuckers can burn in hell.
I filed for free with H&R Block.
Now you can file for free without them
And your financial information need never leave the IRS and be put in the hands of a private company.
a private company would never sell this data
I had to mail in my state taxes for NY due to NYC regulations, which I didn’t know about since I’ve been using TurboTax for 7 years. I was only informed of this after I had filed my taxes federally using the IRS system. There is no way to just file your state taxes online, you have to do both and if you submit them a second time it just gets rejected.
It’s good that they’re doing this, but it caused a lot of headaches for me that I was unaware of.
No no, some of us enjoy struggling through page after page of attempts to push premium products and services, and never mind that these “free file” options generally don’t cover both state and federal. But hey, yay for H&R, they really need the business, right?
Yeah but now H&R has all your financial information. It’s “free” but that doesn’t mean there is no cost.
I filed free with TT. But, will definitely plan on using the IRS system.
after h&r block wrecked my taxes and cost me months of back and forth with the IRS, i take every possible opportunity to steer people away from them
i sat there and had to repeatedly correct the ancient walking corpse they hired part time to do tax filing as she kept entering wrong numbers on the computer. who knows wtf they did after i left
fuck h&r block. after that bullshit experience, i signed on with an actual business accountant and never had a single fuckup in 10+ years
ICYMI: FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”
According to Chappell’s 242-page ruling, “the evidence proves that Intuit engaged in deceptive advertising in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.” Intuit “advertised to consumers that they could file their taxes online for free using TurboTax, when in truth, for approximately two-thirds of taxpayers, the advertised claim was false,” he wrote.
US legislative: This is, now now now I say I say. This is un American gosh darn it!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022.
“The IRS has been underfunded for decades, so taxpayers haven’t gotten the support they deserve,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in a call Thursday.
Werfel said expanding the program will provide another filing option to taxpayers and “fits squarely into the IRS’ effort to make taxes as easy as possible for Americans, including saving time and money.”
The IRS has face intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress.
For the Direct File program to keep growing, it will need continued funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, which initially included $80 billion for the IRS.
House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress last summer.
The original article contains 486 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 64%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
It’s so weird to read a positive headline. :)
Right? Like what even is this feeling?
Thanks Biden!
Fuck you Intuit. Ha, what’re you going to do now? Sue the IRS?
Narrator: They will try.
Oh absolutely. In the next week or so I’m sure that’ll be a headline.
Using this ended being a massive pain in the ass. I could file the federal taxes online, but after I submitted it and attempted to file my state taxes online it said I couldn’t and I’d have to mail them in. It’s impossible to file only your state taxes online. I haven’t used my printer in years so it was a hassle just to print out 5 pages and mail them half way across the country.
Every library has tax forms for free if you’re mailing them in.
Growing pains. States that work with the IRS will be able to (relatively) easily setup a way to receive the information from the IRS in a way that makes the states job easier too. This is a win for everyone except the tax preparing industry.
The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.
If you lived in NYC and made than 75k/year you can’t file online using the state’s website, and both of those were true for me. I moved out of NYC last June, I live in Florida now. Also, why should I have to go see a tax agent? I should just be able to do it all online myself. I’ve been doing it for 7 years with TurboTax.
Sounds like a state problem. It works great in my state. It will get better in time.
A city problem to be more exact. Since I lived in NYC and made more than 75k in a year I couldn’t file online, using the site the IRS directed me to (I’ve been doing it myself with TurboTax for the past 7 years, and paying for it). Due to the IRS’ own rules, you can’t file just your state tax returns online, since they’re largely the same as the federal taxes. So both are actually at fault.
I live in Florida now so I don’t have to pay state taxes, so next year’s will be a breeze.
you can’t file just your state tax returns online
Then either I’m misunderstanding you, or I’m filing my taxes wrong lol
Carry on IRS, I would have zero issues using their tax return service. I’m certain the corporate tax return lobbyist are working overtime to prevent this.
Republicans will sue for them in a district they can judge shop
Imagine having a political party that deliberately tries to make everything worse for the people in broad daylight. And you can’t do shit about it, because you live in a two party system.
Yay. :)
Does this include state taxes?
The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.
I live in Massachusetts and I used the IRS free file service this year, for both state and federal taxes. It was a very painless process, and I had my federal refund in my bank account in less than ten days!! It really works.
WhAAAAATT! wow that is amazing great news. Holy shit!
now if they an extend support with the state government support so consumers can finally end this chapter
The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.
Woooooo!
This is HORRIBLE! I absolutely can NOT stand ANYTHING that makes Biden look good!
-Republicans who care about the Economy and the Country.
