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Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions?
vettemph writes "As a Linux user, I've used Intuit's Turbo Tax On The Web in the past, but I don't like paying someone $20 to $30 to submit my forms. For the last few years I've been filling out the forms by hand and mailing them for $0.37 instead. Call me cheap. The IRS has a target of 80% of all taxpayers using e-file in the near future. Does anyone know where the 'free and open' solution is? Do we need to petition the IRS? Currently the IRS seems to be protecting their 'approved e-file partners'' profit margins in the name of a security layer. (I call shenanigans!)" So how will you be doing this year's taxes? I'd settle for a good PDF editor to neatly complete the IRS's PDF forms.
I just use the fillable PDFs that are available on the web site.
The IRS has a Free File program that a number of companies provide assuming you don't have any "special cases", that is to say, can use the basic 1040 -- don't own a business, take standard deduction, etc. I've found (whodathunkit) H&R Block's Free File program to be quite good. I did my taxes in my lunchbreak and got my refund the next week.
I forgot where I read it, but on the 14th on the http://www.irs.gov/ they will post a full list of where you can file an electronic return for free.
Several companies have web-based tax software: there is no software to install, they have all the forms, you get a PDF, and they can also submit it for you. I used one of them last year with Linux and Firefox and it worked like a charm. The refunds arrived very quickly, too.
:-)
Installable tax software is so 20th century
I use TeleFile to do my taxes. I call a 1-800 number and it's free.
... I can say "yay, we've got something better!"
My little corner of Europe (Portugal) actually has a good e-tax delivery system: since last year, they have a Java application (which works beautifully in Linux, FreeBSD, and OSX) freely available for download on their site. It's as easy as:
1) Download and run the app
2) Fill the nice, easy-to-understand forms
3) Hit the "Check" button, and if all goes well, "Calculate", and "Save".
4) Get the resulting file, submit it through their website
5) Profit!
Zero cost, and very low margin for error. And the cherry on top is: e-submissions have a larger deadline than dead-tree submissions. After they validate everything on their end, you get an official-looking confirmation note in regular mail, and you're done.
H&R Block IRS Free File - Online Tax Programs - "FREE online federal tax prep and e-file for filers with AGI of $34,000 or less." They also have a few relatively inexpensive options if you don't quite qualify for that. I've used the free option for the past few years and it works great. (Even handles some of the non-standard stuff.)
If your taxes are more complex maybe TaxAct will fit the bill. I've used TaxAct a few times, and they were OK. You can do everything on the web and download a finished PDF of the forms. The downside is that it's slow to do it that way. You can also download some software from them to save your data locally, but it's windows only.
Only if you can wade through the tonne (US:ton) of exemptions under the Act and persuade the Information Commissioner that there's a case for releasing them.
Actually they're nothing to do with the 2005 FIA, neither the DPA 1998 as they affect a financial interest. Yep, if a company can claim to stake a financial interest in not releasing the informaiton it's exempt from the FIA and the DPA. Shocking isn't it?
"It's not your information. It's information about you" - John Ford, Vice President, Equifax
From IRS Forms
For example, the popular 1040 in PDF.
http://www.taxfreedom.com/
Select taxpayers under a certain income, or with a student or military status, can use the TurboTax Web edition for free, with a free e-file for their federal return and (if their state participates in the program) one free state tax return.
i use turbotax on crossover 4.1 with no problems. no need for windows
Don't forget that the cost of WinXP and Turbotax is it self tax deductable (tax preperation expenses).
****
"I'd never want to join a club that would have me as a member" - G. Marx
Therefore, I requested to Turbo Tax to remove my user account, which contains a big deal of personal and financial information about me. They simply refuse to do that, as they say they need to keep my information on file.
This is something I do not like, so I just thought I would warn potential Turbo Tax Web users about this privacy issue.
And if someone has any piece of advice on how to face these people so that they agree to remove my account, it will be very much welcome!
If you don't like it, get your Congressman or Senator to introduce a bill to repeal the 16th Amendment.
Keep in mind that although H&R Block may say they will accompany you to an audit, they are in no way responsible if they screw up. Tax law specifically states that liability for filing errors are the filer's responsibility unless the return is prepared by a Certified Pubilc Acct. You will notice that H&RB (and Hewitt, et al.) will call themselves "Certified Tax Preparers" or some such nonsense.
Bottom line is that if they screw up, it is YOUR ass, not theirs. If you use a CPA, then you still have to pay the tax on any mistakes, but penalties, criminal charges, etc. are on the CPA, not you.
Not saying that they don't provide a valuable service, but make sure the person you are dealing with is knowledgeable and understands how much risk you are willing to take.
You'd give all your vital tax, income, and personal information to some company offering to file it for "free"?
It's not "for free", it costs money. And, yes, I trust hrblock.com (after checking the certificate) as much as I trust any tax preparation software. In fact, I trust using a web-based tax system from a Linux machine more than I trust an application-based tax system from a Windows machine (where spyware is rampant).
Besides, you're a fool if you assume that "the bad guys" can't get your tax, income, and personal information by lots of other means. You need to protect your assets so that they are safe even if people get that kind of information about you.
Not I. This is one case where I don't mind taking 30 minutes to fill out a form and physically snail mail it (certified, of course).
Consider yourself lucky if your taxes are simple enough that you can fill out a paper form in 30 minutes and do it correctly. I haven't been able to do that in years.
Turbo Tax For the Web.
http://www.turbotax.com/
Why are people talking about buying and *installing* software? Just use the freakin web version.
I've filed electronically using TTFTW for the past couple of years (both state and fed). Return goes directly into my checking account via EFT.
Cost is under $50 to file both fed and state. Can't beat it with a stick.
-Scott
The IRS.gov site mentions sytem upgrades being completed by the 18th, that will allow for the e-filing of your 2004 taxes. As per the free, H&R Block and a number of other companies will allow you to e-file for free if you make under a certain amount of money, et al. I'm not sure about state taxes as FL has no state income tax.
There are some places, mostly fast or quick service food, that include taxes in the price. Businesses won't go for it because then the product looks more expensive. Deception in numbers.
Taxes are automatically taken out of the paychecks of all but self employed people in the US. The problem is that an employer can't take out the exact amount from your paycheck because we don't have flat tax brackets, and have tax deductions. A part time job in addition to your main one may bump you up to a higher tax bracket. Your employer won't know how many dollars you deducted in mortgage interest, student loan interest, medical expenses and so forth. Most middle class and poor people either get a refund or end up paying a small amount at tax time.
If we had a flat tax or got rid of deductions, then the need to file would be almost nonexistent.
People that work for a company usually have their taxes withheld from their paycheck too. However, not everyone is paid that way, may have their own business, a part time job, working spouse, etc. All of those can throw off what taxes you have to pay. Also, the Feds and the individual states do have their own specific tax forms. They've existed for decades. What the original poster is complaining about it is for electronic filing. In that case the IRS has not come up with their own Java or cross platform app to do any of this. Instead, it lets software companies come up with their own tax software that I assume has to follow some guidelines the IRS has set.
Now concerning sales taxes, there is a good reason to not include the tax in the price: not everyone pays it. There are some oarganizations/people that have a tax exempt status, so their purchases are not taxable. Also, the amount of tax may be different depending on the product (ie food may be taxed at different rates in different localities than other goods, alcohol at a higher rate, etc). It's also a good in-your-face reminder of how much govt is taking from you. If it's included in the price, the amount of tax is hidden. Fuel is taxed like that and I would guess that the average Joe on the street doesn't have any idea how much he is paying in taxes everytime he fills up his car, but he probably has an idea of what the tax rate is when he goes to the store. Including the tax in the price is a nice way to keep hiking up taxes and mask them as normal price increases.
I've been to Ireland and didn't really find it's way of handling taxes any easier or 'consumer friendly' than what I've experienced in the states. I was pleased at the VAT refund station at the airport, though. Nice little bonus, but you guys are getting raped.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
Some googling found me a program called Open Tax Solver. I haven't yet tried it, so I can't really say how good it is.
A version for this years US Form 1040 has apparently just been uploaded.
Good Grief crossover by codeweavers, www.codeweavers.com runs turbotax flawlessly. There is no need to boot into windows for taxes or your checkbook (quicken runs very well too). Just some food for thought.
Four years ago I bought a Jackson Hewitt tax franchise as a hedge against the day when I'm too old to program. I'm 52, work full time as a C++ programmer, and haven't been laid off yet!
I'm not sure about H&R, but as part of our basic price we promise to pay any interest and penalities that occur if we make a mistake. In addition, for a small charge the client can extend that coverage to include up to $5000 in additional taxes that might be levied.
Tax filings are the taxpayers responsiblity even if God himself prepared the return. I'm sure a CPA prepared Al Capone's return, but Big Al is the one who went to jail.
You will notice that H&RB (and Hewitt, et al.) will call themselves "Certified Tax Preparers" or some such nonsense.
I pass a difficult exam (based on the tax portion of the CPA exam)in order to qualify as an Enrolled Agent which gives me the right to represent clients in audits and in tax court on identical basis as attorneys and CPAs. Of course EA have identical responsibilities with our attorney and CPA friends. See IRS circular 230.
Most Jackson Hewitts have an EA or CPA available to represent client in audits.
All you folks doing the free returns, when you get the letter from the IRS this summer let me help you get amend your return to get you out of trouble.
I happen to work for a company that makes tax software. It's a ton of work. A tax analyst (typically a CPA) and programmer team will typically have between 2 and 4 states, plus there is a team of a dozen or so that spend full time all getting approved forms (the forms must be very, very precise since they are usually optically scanned). There is a team of a dozen or so doing underlying programming for the system in general. The federal system has a half dozen people dealing with it specifically. All these people are doing this full time.
This is not even mentioning the fact that we have a lot of integrated accounting systems that interface with it, because those don't interest you.
If you're implying that some community should do this, I just don't see how it can happen. The knowledge is quite specialized and a ton of work is needed on a recurring basis. A LOT of testing must be done. People probably will not be willing to use a system unless there's some liability on the part of the authors.
If you're saying that the government should provide the software, good luck. The states are all WOEFULLY understaffed; with the budget cuts in the last few years, many states have had their taxing agencies practically decimated. Most lost a lot of staff, some lost most of theirs. The remaining staff is hideously overworked, and there's practically zero programmer time available.
What's the incentive for the government to push for something like this? There are already good products on the market, and they don't have to lift a finger to do it. If they did go thorough all that work, they'd be taking business away from companies, and they'd be taking on liability themselves for incorrect programming.
Check out TaxACT. The basic "fill in the forms" version is free -- you print the resulting forms and mail them in, and it doesn't cost you anything. You can e-file for $7.95. No, it's not free, but come on -- under $8? You can barely see a movie for that these days.
The deluxe edition is only $9.95, and it is more thorough if you have things that can give you tax breaks. I'm doing the deluxe version this year, but did the standard one last year -- I started out thinking I'd print and just do it for free, but then realized that the convenience of e-file for $8 really can't be beat...
Since it's web-based, it works fine from Linux. One problem I had (and I've had with another web site as well): for some bizarre reason, the first screen, with the user agreement, looked entirely blank -- it was really just white text rendered on a white background. Strange. It came up fine in konqueror and firefox though, and once you get past that first screen everything seems to work fine in Mozilla (it did force me to install Firefox though, which is actually a good thing).
Anyway, sorry to sound like an ad, but I like it, and I like that I can use it under Linux. It gives my sense of privacy a bit of the willies, but I think you're pretty well protected by law as far as that goes...
Scribus is a robust open source desktop publishing app. Editing pdfs is one of its most killer tools.
Just some clarification - from a CPA with a masters degree in taxation - the tax return is ALWAYS the responsibility of the taxpayer regardless of who prepares it. However there are cases (not too uncommon) where a taxpayer is relieved of criminal wrong-doing by relying of "compentent" professional advice. But if you lie to your tax preparer you pay the tax and go to jail if the lie is big enough. But on the more practical side most undivorced reasonably compensated taxpayers have only 4 deductions left as a practical matter - mortgage interest, state and local income OR sales taxes (sales tax new this year (kinda)), property taxes and charitable deductions. You may qualify for medical deductions but not unless you feel like you're going broke paying them. If you're destitute and have kids you may qualify for the earened income credit and alimony is deductible if you're paying it. Otherwise if you are an outside salesman (person) or drive alot for your employer without being paid mileage you may have some other deductions available. Is this quick description all encompassing - not by any means. But most folks can do their own taxes if they just would.
Last year, the on-line TaxACT was one of the few IRS Free filing options that my family qualified for. I did federal there for free (including the filing) and paid some very small fee ~$10? for the state version and filing (with all the info automatically transfered from the federal form). I plan to try it again this year and hope they still have my info on file making it even easier.
Hire a CPA. Seriously . They're going to find a LOT more than a little "questionairre" is going to find by asking you questions.
A highly-skilled CPA (i.e. one who works with technology people) will be able to find places where you can deduct expenditures that your own Intuit and other software can't possibly take into account.
Use your DSL line for sending business emails? That's deductable as a business expense. Power to keep the cable modem and WAP running? Also deductable.
Accept PayPal payments for your Free Software work? That's not income, its a Gift, and deductable. There's a lot more where these come from. Most of them aren't going to be asked on any sort of tax software.
We just finished a website for a local CPA here in Norwich, CT. and he's really skilled in these and other areas.
Definately check out your local CPA, before you head into H&R Block or online for some question-and-answer forms and software.
It'll pay for itself in the first year's return. TRUST ME.
You're right; such a policy wouldn't make any sense, which is probably the reason it is not the policy proposed by the FairTax. Rather, it proposes a rebate to all households equal to the amount of tax on spending up to the poverty line for said households' given situations (i.e. marital status, number of children, geographical location). This rebate could, in one implementation, take place easily via the employer, much like current payroll taxes only in reverse. So, when you get your paycheck, not only is it actually for the full amount of your wages (at least sans state income tax), it includes extra money for you to pay the taxes on your groceries and rent.
This provision of the FairTax is indeed what makes it "fair," but it's also its most complicated aspect, ensuring that the FairTax will probably never come to bear.
You don't need a PDF editor to fill in the forms electronically. Adobe's reader (I've only tried the Windows version; not sure about the Linux version) will let you type in the fields and save and print the results.
. html.
You can get the forms at http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97817,00
Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions. It's the only way to mak
What if there's a bug?
Then you have the source, and can fix it. You think there aren't bugs in professional tax preparation software? As a tax preparer, I can tell you with certainty there are. In fact, what originally sent me to creating this software was the fact that there were so many bugs in the original e-file software my father and I used that he went back to filing the stuff by hand for his clients (pencil, paper, and calculator).
The initial target market would have to be the tax professional, anyway.
If even a minor fraction of your end users are, because of a mistake you made, systematically undercalculating their tax the IRS is likely to be upset at the potential loss of revenue and/or the extra work required to find and correct these returns.
Systematic errors will easily be caught. In fact, the IRS makes you run a bunch of test cases before they'll even let you submit, and surely the most common errors would show up then. Furthermore, all the calculations are checked by the computer after you submit, and you find out within 3 days if your return was accepted or reject. Yes, it's going to piss the hell out of your customers when your submission fails and their refund gets delayed, especially since those filing electronically are those who care most about getting a fast refund, but this is exactly what happened the first time around with a high priced e-filing software that we bought. A rather large number of customers were permanently lost as a result before my dad went back to pencil and paper and I resorted to printing out the returns that year. We got a refund for the software, but most of those customers involved never came back.
I wouldn't want to be in that position.
Well, then don't be an ERO, software developer, or transmitter. These people make money because they're willing to do this. It should be noted that the transmission is completely separate from the creation of the electronic return. At first it would be smartest to only focus on the creation of the electronic return, and then submit it to a transmitter who would check the data and resubmit.
It's unlikely e-filing will ever be completely free of cost because of this. You can't transmit directly to the IRS. You send the return to a licensed transmitter who then transmits to the IRS in a batch job. You're going to probably have to pay at least a dollar or two to the transmitter.
"I got a small raise once and it was just enough to kick me into a higher tax bracket. I made *less* money the next year because of that raise."
BS. You only pay a higher % on the new money above the threshold, not on everything. Say the new bracket kicks in at $25,001, where it switches between 15% and 20%. If one year you make $25,000, you pay $3750 (net income = $21,250). If you then make $27,000 the next year, you pay ($25,000)*0.15 + ($2,000)*0.20 = $4,150 (net income = $22,850). Your net income still went up by $1,600 when you increased your gross by $2,000.
If you're going to lie, lie convincingly. Or get a decent tax accountant, whichever your case may be.