Intuit Lobbying The Government To Make It More Difficult To File Your Tax Returns
from the isn't-that-special dept
A fascinating article points out that the government could make the process of filing your tax returns significantly easier by simply sending you pre-filled out forms of what they know (basically what's been sent in from your employer(s)) so that you could just take the pre-filled form, check it over, make any additions or changes as necessary and submit it. Apparently, many places that have done this have had great success with it. But it's not happening in the US in large part due to heavy lobbying from Intuit, who fears (perhaps correctly) that this would put a big dent into its tax preparation software business. Of course, that's not how Intuit puts it. The company first claims that this functionality is "already available" (it's not) and that it is a "conflict of interest for government to be both tax collector and tax preparer." However, that is also inaccurate. No one is asking the government to be the tax preparer, but just to share the information it already has so that individuals aren't forced to rebuild the info themselves. As one person quoted in the article notes, it's "as if Visa sent customers a blank piece of paper, requiring that they assemble their receipts, list their purchases -- and pay a fine if they forget one." So, everyone, thank Intuit for making tax season that much more frustrating.
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Filed Under: data, filing, government, lobbying, tax returns, taxpayers
Companies: intuit
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Having said that, As a competent human being capable of filling out my 1040EZ form, I'd love if I only had to error check it. I just don't know if its the best solution for everyone (especially the lazy).
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"conflict of interest for government to be both tax collector and tax preparer."
The tax system is part of the government machine. It would seem to me they have the right to do any part of it themselves if they wish.
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TurboTax
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No more Turbo Tax
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Re: No more Turbo Tax
Local office did 1st tax return. Fine
Local office did 2nd tax return, said I owed nearly $5K.
So I paid it.
Local office did 3rd tax return and said I owed $5K again. I decided to check it myself before posting it off. Spent many light nioghts acquainting myself with the tax code. Decided they were wrong.
Went to another HR Block office, who knew far more than the first. They agreed and recalculated my 3rd year. Nothing to pay.
They then helped me refile the 2nd year and eventually (nearly 5 years later) i got my $5k back.
The 2nd HR Block office were superb, in a nutshell.
The 1st HR block office were simply not qualified to do a resident alien's tax return.
Seems there is no reliable guaranteed quality with HR Block. You just have to hope it's a "good" HR Block.
The story in the headline is about Intuit but back in 2005 the same story surfaced as I recall about the HR Blocks of this world blocking the "preprinted forms" legislation.
In fact I recall that the suggestion was that millions of americans would have such simple tax returns they'd just need to sign and post it back...
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> > don't do through the penalty of tax.
> it's time to pass the joint of whatever you are
> smoking. Keep the tin foil hats though.
How is that a "tinfoil hat" issue? It's not paranoid. It's exactly what's happening and the politicians involved don't even try and hide it.
They raise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol to influence people to stop using them so much. That's their *stated goal* in their press releases. Now we're seeing much the same thing with sodas and junk food. Politicians everywhere are calling for taxes on those things to keep people from getting so obese.
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Actually, they raise cigarrette and alcohol taxes because they need more money to spend on out of control government programs. They tax cegarrette and alcohol disproportionately because they know relatively few American's will object.
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There are many examples of this in the tax code, no need for tinfoil hats.
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But it seems the sheeple don't realize they are being "controlled".
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And taoareyou - the government is forcing you to give up money unless you buy a house, don't smoke, etc. Unless at some point I missed a change to making taxes optional?
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Well, you always have some kind of choice, so there's no such thing as control at all, eh?
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Should taxpayers who don't smoke or drink be burdened with the enormous costs of medical care, criminal prosecutions, funerals, diminished productivity, and other directly associated expenses created by smokers and drinkers?
Instead of complaining about paying a disproportionate share, maybe they should be grateful that they don't have to foot the entire bill.
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*psst* Tell this dude to ditch his too:
"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial
element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since
the days of Andrew Jackson."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1882-1945), 32nd US President
November 21, 1933
Source: in a letter written to Colonel E. Mandell House
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Not at all. The government gives tax breaks for behaviors that it wants to encourage (hiring the mentally retarded, making charitable donations, buying a house, etc) and taxes behaviors that it wants to discourage (high fuel consumption, smoking, drinking, etc).
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My solution: Subtract savings at year end from annual income. The remainder is taxed.
If you want to appease the "what about low income group" people you could add a basic deduction or two and/or have three or four tax brackets.
Lets keep it simple.
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2. This would discourage saving. I don't know that the government needs to encourage saving, as people can decide to do it on their own, but penalizing people for saving money seems like a really bad idea.
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Just Wondering
Why exactly do they also need to take money from their citizens? They tolerate banks 'creating' money through lending money which they don't have... why don't they just 'create' the money they need for their budget and stop taking citizens money from them?
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Re: Just Wondering
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Re: Just Wondering
Here's a better idea - why don't we either eliminate the income tax(and payroll tax and capital gains tax and death tax etc.) and go to a pure consumption tax, or at least implement a flat tax, thereby trimming the IRS by about, oh, 99%? Easier and more efficient for everybody, which is awesome because I can't fathom how much value we waste with the ridiculous tax code we currently use.
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Re: Just Wondering
Because money literally isn't worth the paper that it's printed on. It's the fact that the US currency is backed by gold stores that makes them valuable (along with the trust that the world has in the stability of the dollar). But once you start printing more of it all willy-nilly, the value of the dollar becomes diluted. So instead of paying $1.29 for a loaf of bread you end up paying $129.00. That's one of the major causes of inflation.
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Woah, woah there. No - it's not backed by anything now. They dropped the 'gold standard' years ago.
The Federal Reserve *CORPORATION* just issues money as it pleases - more or less.
http://economics.about.com/cs/money/a/gold_standard.htm
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Not only do they send pre-filled forms, but the pre-filled form is also online.
I spend about 5mn on my government's dedicated website once a year and taxes are done.
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If applicable, the taxpayer might also be required to submit similar documents from the bank (for interest earned) and insurance companies (for the actual premiums paid on tax-deductible insurances).
The tax authorities then required the employers to submit a reconciled return of all employees and taxes deducted. Ditto the banks & insurance companies.
Now all one does is go on-line and enter the requested details, including amounts, etc i.e. the form - almost a single-pager - is not pre-loaded with data. This is then matched against the data supplied by the various parties.
My last tax submission was submitted one evening: by 8.30am the following day I had received my assessment, which showed a refund. The refund was transferred to my bank account during that same day, and appeared on my bank statement the next morning.
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E-File it is then
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But that would be easy. That would be fair. That would be the sane way. Why do that?
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another brick.....in your face
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conflict of interest?
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Prior to getting married, 90% of my tax returns were filed with just my W-2. 1040ez, no deductions, no bs. Fill out the wages, look up the standard tax from the table in the back. For people like that, why not let the gov send a suggested filing. If all you have to do is fill in that most minimal bit of info, why not? For the rest of us with mortgages, and earned interest, and kids and other complicated things, we'll probably still use tax prep software. I'll trust my gov to fill out paperwork to a degree. If they sent me a pre filled out 1040 now, I'd still redo the thing, but 10 years ago I'd have probably accepted the one they sent. Even checking it over would have only taken about 5 minutes.
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The other more complicated tax returns multiple jobs, marriage, children, etc would required some more expert care in preparation.
I would still like to see a major tax system change. A simple flat tax (say 20%) and short (restrictive) simple list of deductions (Government Registered Charities, Government Registered day cares, etc).
At least they are talking about change.
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have to side with Intuit on this one...
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Calling this a "conflict of interest" is ridiculous - you only have to fill out these overly complex tax forms because the IRS requires it in the first place! If that's a conflict of interest, then anytime the government chooses not to artificially make our lives more difficult could be construed as one as well.
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Too many corporations count on this - along with other things.
Cure for Cancer? I bet the various 'cancer societies' would lobby against it.
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Trust us
As others have commented, why not go to a simple a tax rate, the same for everyone. Say 25% across the board.
While on my rant I have another idea. Make it a requirement that all congressmen sit down on April 14 (1 day before the filling deadline) and do their own taxes, filling out all the forms by hand. No one leaves until they are finished. Maybe then tax simplification will have a chance.
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What about the same for those who exercise too much, drive too fast, eat too much sugar, drink too much coffee, eat too many chips, eat not enough food, work too much, stare at a monitor too long, stay up too late, watch too much TV..
When should this list stop?
Many, many, many things can be considered 'bad for your health'. Heck, just about anything at all can be - with the right 'spin' applied.
It never will - like an avalanche, once it gets going.
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You can't say a 'smoker' who smokes one cigarette a day is going to cost 'society' more than a guy who drives at 95 MPH five times a week or the guy who chugs 10 coffees before lunch everyday. Statistically you could find any numbers you were looking for with the right control group.
People's bodies are different as well - some can smoke a lot, and live to a ripe old age. Others will never smoke a day in their life and die to something else before 50 - was that because of a certain habit of theirs? Very possible - then again, maybe it wasn't.
So should their kids pay more in taxes because potentially their genetics will cost the healthcare system more?
You will - trust me.
www.waragainsttheweak.com
Heck, Basic Training in the Military could be considered 'higher risk for medical care' needed - or long term service once they are out and a Veteran. Same with Fire Personnel, Police..
Then we get into Sports: Football, Boxing - obviously a 'heightened' risk.
If you don't exercise right - it's well known it can cause more damage than good - so should we monitor people to see if they are exercising right - like in 1984?
Because by doing all this - that's what people are asking for.
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We need OpenSource Tax Software.
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Why not copy the UK
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Flat Tax
Second, the real solution; junk the whole tax code and implement a simple flat tax.
Unfortunately, there are probably so many entities, such as Intuit, who have a vested interest in the complexity of the existing tax code that they would never want to see a simple tax code.
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Does anyone remember their attempt to limit printing a return to a single copy? How about their attempt to limit the software to a single computer? How many people have tried to file with the "free" online version, only to find that a crucial form is only available for a fee? How many people are deceived into buying the "Premier" after being given the false impression that the "Deluxe" version won't support investment income?
I would never use their product, if software wasn't the only viable method for me to prepare my return.
Everyone should send the NYT article to their representatives and demand that the IRS provide the software and the pre-filled electronic forms. After all, the IRS and Congress created the monster.
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make the tax system voluntary
If everyone paid what they thought the 'government' services were worth, and there was a ban on government debt being greater than 20% of the tax take, then there would be an automatic brake on government overspending.
Think outside the box for simple solutions to apparently complex problems.
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Somewhere in the ideal world....
Good:
1) Takes all the complexity out of filing taxes. Just follow the flow: fill, click "next", etc etc
2) SPEED!
3) Makes any discrepancies and tax evasion impossible: the govt tax site *IS* THE LAW.
4) The need for govt to digitize your paper returns? Gone!
Bad:
Intuit is soooooo out of business...
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Tax season is frustrating for an entirely different reason
That is nonsense. Please just advocate simplification of the tax code(s).
So long as the rules are complicated, there will be no shortage of people trying to make a buck taking advantage of that.
Simple problem with receiving a pre-filled tax form: How do you fix an error? I bet it will be more difficult than fixing an erroneous or even disputed charge on a credit card.
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I had to read it twice to navigate the maze of spin but it seems they agree having the information available would greatly simplify filing taxes - but only by way of having the info available for downloading into tax-preparation software. Giving the info directly to the taxpayer is apparently still doubleplus ungood.
I sent this reply on Twitter:
Good luck convincing anyone that govt shouldn't give taxpayers their own information for easier filing but should give it to you
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Sales tax
CONSUMPTION tax....that is all there should be....period
Thanks for your time.
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Re: Sales tax
Lower income people necessarily spend more of their income on necessities (food, clothing, gas). So unless you tax luxury items at a substantially higher rate, you would actually be shifting the tax burden downward to the very people who need relief.
Flat rate income tax with no loopholes would be a more 'fair' way to change it.
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The gov't gets tax records from the employer, and checks it against your bank account.. if it matches.. that's it.. they determine if you get a refund or have to make a payment..
You can lodge deductions for various specific things, but then you need to manually enter a tax form (either on paper, or online)..
I really like this system, but Slovenia only has a population of 2 million or so.. so it's much easier for the gov't to do this..
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Mike can make sense.
I would go a step further in that I think the government should make this available electronically with friendly fill in the blank software and I am willing to bet that tax compliance would improve by leaps and bounds.
Also, many transnational companies are using underhanded tactics to avoid paying their taxes. Much of this is done through use of their subsidiaries outside the US. The IRS should be doing more to stop this.
Ronald J. Riley,
I am speaking only on my own behalf.
Affiliations:
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
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Isn't that ironic, don't you think?
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Tax payment application
cheap nfl jerseys
This article gives me more determined to purchase this product.
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Re: Tax payment application
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