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Free e-filing for 2001 Taxes?
chipperdog asks: "I know this gets asked every year about this time, but
are there any free alternatives for e-filing tax returns? In previous years,
HD Vest offered free filing, but has
discontinued it this year. I can't justify spending more than $10 for filing a
return that I can send through the post office and IRS data entry people for
approx $0.50-0.75. It would be nice if the IRS would just publish a standard
submission format, so open source developers can work with it.."
The current efiling system where you have to pay someone $50 to do basically the same thing you could do on the web yourself sounds like a scam and a political payoff to the tax accountants.
Or just do it yourself for free using a pen and the form they mail you, less the cost of a stamp. If you can fill out an online form without needing an accountant, why can't you fill out the same form offline without an accountant? Calculators will do wonders for checking your arithmetic, too. If you have some other need for an accountant, the web form won't help you anyway.
On the first of those pages, I found a link to their progress report on e-filing. Their stated intermediate goal by next year is for 100% of returns prepared electronically to be submitted electronically; overriding goal is that by 2007 80% of all returns (taken as 80% each of individual, commercial, and informational returns) to be filed electronically. Personally, I don't see how they can get to the 80% for individual returns without getting to "If you didn't pay to prepare the return, you don't need to pay to E-file."
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
Does anyone know how many EZ forms are used? That's about the only thing that could be done via the web... You're supposed to send copies of all your deductions along with the form. In my case have a mortgage, property taxes, consolidation loan (Never do one of those), 3 kids (ok, can't send them, though sometimes I'd like to), and 401k crap that needs to be sent... If you WANT to be audited, then I suggest taking a lot of deductions, and not sending any proof..
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Real easy. Allow things like the AMT to filter down into the middle class tax brackets, add more goofy deductions and credits, further complicate the "long-term/short-term" capital gains situation by adding an "ultra-long-term" capital gains rate, just keep patching on layer after layer of complexity to the code.
The goal is that by 2007, nobody will be capable of filing their return without the assistance of a tax preparer.
You have to adhere to all of the state (and municipal) standards for e-filing. And each one is different. Pathetically, wretchedly different. Some require piggy-backing of the state return to the federal return, some require fed ack before allowing state filing. Some even require ritual sacrifice (maryland).
I work at Intuit, in the back-end e-filing group, not in the consumer division (TurboTax) but for one of the CPA-grade tax products we produce (Lacerte). The stacks of IRS and state reg manuals we implement each year is enough to make you want to...
...charge people for letting them use the system you implemented.
I do believe that there's a web version of TurboTax that lets you skip the software purchase (but still requires the e-file fee). Or you can buy the software (windoze) and get a voucher for a free e-filing). Or you could STEAL the software and use the voucher!