Good thing Intuit (TurboTax) is fighting so hard to keep the current format super slick and cheaper as a private service rather than a centralized government process. Right up there with disbanding garbage pickup in favor of individually contracted services because [checks notes] 7 overlapping truck routes will be cheaper than 1
While… I agree with you on companies like Intuit pulling this is bullshit, depending on the region you’re in the trash example used is… not great.
Speaking in the Kansas City region where City of Kansas City trash pickup is literally two bags allowed, no cans used, often late, the bags tear easily, and with this whole freeze thing they’re still behind two weeks out. I live outside in one of those 5 (I’m not kidding, one literally started up last year) overlapping truck routes and it is insanely better. That said, previous town I lived in the town did the trash pickup and they did a good job, got the cans that could be auto lifted and even regularly had large item pickup days for free so even better than where I’m at now.
Anecdotal evidence here, too. My experience is the opposite. Never had an issue with my city picking up the trash, putting the can back reasonably, and not randomly skipping my shit. Moved to a different NEIGHBORHOOD, one not directly serviced by the city, and half the time they don’t get it, and when they do the can ends up about 10 feet from where it should be, blocking my driveway.
To make matters worse, presumably my taxes paid for the previous pickup. Now they pay for the previous pickup, AND I have to pay for shit service!
This is great for citizens!
I’m not sure they get bragging rights about a smooth site launch for a tax preparation application when most people don’t even have their W2s yet…
We’ll see whether this is another healthcare.gov when people actually try to use it, but this is a huge win for people who qualify.
Today is the last day a company has to file and send w2’s so most folks should actually have them by now or very very soon.
I seem to recall an income cap so I might not be able to use it but my son will and that’s a good thing.
Can someone with more knowledge than me explain how this might differ from Canada’s system
It differs because more of it goes to the defense budget than any other country by a high order of magnitude.
Congrats, Americans! It’s a long time coming but still a huge deal and I’m happy for you all 😁
Sadly it doesn’t support reporting income from independent contracting (yet).
I experienced true happiness for a moment. Only one moment.
Why is it only available in such a limited number of states?
Likely because of state government and state income tax.
The IRS doesn’t have anything to do with state taxes though unless they’re also handling your state filing free for you?
These states are building online filing systems as well. I think that is why they are included.
This is the first launch of the program and they’re still in a pilot phase. It will presumably roll out to more states (maybe all?) Next year
Well I don’t reward laziness and this should have been running in the late 90s.
I guess I’ll just file my taxes when the lazy IRS gets off their asses.
The IRS could not legally do this before. They had tried and were sued.
According to their website it could roll out to more states as soon as mid March of this year.
Good stuff. Keep in mind that Intuit fought this for a very long time. But since they finally got stomped, the IRS can do it’s thing now.
If you aren’t able to use this new system, a good second option is freetaxusa.com. Free for most filings and dirt cheap for more complex stuff. Also, they are easier to use than TurboTax.
I used it, but then one year it was telling me I owed money. When I double checked on TurboTax, it was the opposite. I went with Turbo Tax. I’ve been wary of FreeTaxUSA since…
Be careful. If software miscalculates in your favor and the IRS figures it out, you’re gonna have a bad time.
Also, check with your state tax site, as sometimes they have free state filing options.
A better idea is to go to irs.gov and use their free file wizard to see which service is free for you. I used 1040.com this year. Last year I used freetaxusa.com, but this year that would not have been free for me due to my change in income. Which service is free depends on your state, income, and income complexity.
Check out Tax Hawk, it might be a good option for you this year
Nice, here’s that link.
My problem with IRS.gov is they have a history of sending traffic to sites owned by Intuit. These sites would claim to be free, but would then trick the user into a paid pathway and guide them to an expensive paid checkout. I haven’t been back to IRS.gov since experiencing that.
I learned later that Intuit (who owns Turbotax) had spent millions lobbying to get that to happen. Since the IRS can be lobbied by corporations to trick users like that, I just don’t trust IRS.gov to be honest.
TurboTax discontinued their participation in the IRS Free File program a few years back, IIRC. I don’t think they’ll be listed on the IRS’s Free File website.
Corporations are able to buy their way into an IRS endorsement. There is no reason to trust their links just because a singularly egregious deception has been removed from their site.
The IRS presented them to the public as a “free option” for years, knowing they were not free. The IRS lied for profit. I have no reason at all to ever trust their suggestions.
It would be unreasonable for me to return to the same entity that lied to me and ask for more advice.
The IRS presented them to the public as a “free option” for years, knowing they were not free.
The only time they’re not free is if you don’t meet the requirements for the Free File Program or you try to use one of TurboTax’s services that aren’t part of the Free File Program.
I actually used TurboTax for years before they left the Free File Program (supposedly because it was too restrictive in what they could charge for), and I never had to pay a cent. I’ve since moved on to other tax sites that are still part of the Free File Program, and I’ve still never had to pay anything.
Most prople who tried to use the program were deceived by Intuit. Intuit settled numerous lawsuits for their lies. Their expensive settlement is why Intuit left the program. Here’s a relevant exerpt from an Ars Technica article on the topic:
Meanwhile, the federal government and US states have taken action against Intuit for its allegedly deceptive promises of “free” tax filing to lower-income taxpayers. In a May 2022 settlement with all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, Intuit agreed to pay $141 million in restitution to millions of consumers.
Intuit also agreed in the settlement to stop its “free, free, free” ad campaign. The firm was accused of steering customers away from the IRS Free File program that is free to 70 percent of taxpayers while using misleading ads to promote a separate “freemium” TurboTax product that isn’t actually free for most people.
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission’s chief administrative law judge ruled last month that Intuit violated US law with deceptive advertising and should be forced to stop promoting TurboTax as “free” unless all conditions imposed on the free offer are immediately and conspicuously displayed to consumers.
I would argue that the IRS wasn’t at fault here, though. Like the article said, people were steered away from the Free File Program, so people having to pay wasn’t a fault of the Free File Program but rather a fault of Intuit’s deceptive practices of marketing their alternative freemium versions of their software.
Intuit recently got slapped by a different government agency. I doubt that they will get that privelage again for a while.
that’s who I use! $15 to file state, free federal; I mean that’s pretty close to ‘free’ compared to Turbo/Inuit pushing you close to $100 after all the BS. And freetaxusa keeps my info for subsequent years, etc.
that’s who I use! $15 to file state
I’d suggest using the IRS’s Free File Program wizard to find a tax program that’ll do your state taxes for free. You’d save a little money that way. Most tax programs will keep your info for multiple years after your first time using them, too.
thanks, but I make too much according to that, which is something else people seem to skip over whenever these “just do it for free!!!” posts come up. You have to make below $80k (AGI) even when married.
But, again, even if I didn’t, $15 seems pretty fair to me, to avoid having to hunt for the magical free method.
It would probably have better adoption if it didn’t have such a scammy-sounding name.
I’ve been using this for years and have been happy with the service. If I have to pay for something at least I’m not giving money to TurboTax.
For a couple of years CreditKarma was the best free solution. Then Intuit bought them.
Intuit divested the tax product in that sale, which was bought by Block (FKA Square) and is part of their Cash App brand. So it’s still around and still not Intuit.
Last I checked you couldn’t use the cash app version without downloading their app.
The login process for it is absolutely terrible and requires so much jumping back and forth between the dumb app and my computer, which is where I want to actually do my taxes.
Internal American news, not interesting for the average user.
Although is it really that hard in USA? In Norway it is mostly automatic. I barely have to put in any effort
Oh yeah. See we’ve intentionally made it hard for our government to do normal things because Freedomtm. If we want to create a new web app like this we have to go about the worst way possible. By using the lowest bidder who will then cheat in every way possible to keep more of the money as profit.
Most of the computer systems in use in the US government were developed in the 1980’s and 1990’s by in house software developers. Even a lot of the “new” systems are literally just GUI interfaces slapped on the old system. This is because one of the first things George Bush did was gut a lot of the government’s internal support structure and force the civil service to rely on contracting.
Then you have corporate lobbying, which is why filing taxes is so hard in the first place. They literally pay the politicians to create a business opportunity for them and misery for the everyone else. Combining the two and it’s not hard for the lobbyists to get something like this cancelled, underfunded, or poisoned in some way.
So yeah welcome to America the land of proud dysfunction.
Yes. It can be a huge pain. Especially when compared to how easy Skatteetaten makes it.
Thanks Brandon
Honestly I’ll hope reservations and congratulations till after we see how it goes, but the fact it’s a limited pilot makes me optimistic.
the fact it’s a limited pilot makes me optimistic
:-/
I’ve seen far too many good ideas go through a “limited pilot” program, outperform their intended targets, piss off someone in the DC corporate circuit, and get their budgets vaporized by the next Congress.
Somebody think of the poor corporations!
Damn only like 20 years behind the rest of the world.
I guess canada is 21 years behind now…
Couldn’t hear you over the sound of my freedom
…nevermind, that was somebody rolling coal
can’t use it if i got my health insurance through obamacare? -_- fucking bullshit
I can’t use it because I live in the wrong state. Truly some fucking bullshit.
To be specific, this is a pilot program, with the full launch coming later.
Ya last year 50 states worth of all insured and uninsured people dealt with evil tax prep companies :)
