Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Tax Products?
sub7 asks: "That time of the year is upon as again: Tax Season. Those of us living in the U.S. are busy fumbling with various forms with awkward names and meaningless garble on them. Being a lazy BOFH, I went to H & R Block to see how much it would cost for them to prepare and file my taxes. They estimated -at least- $175, if not more! I knew it was cheaper to buy some software to handle my taxes. So I headed down to my local office supply conglomerate and picked up Turbo Tax 2004 Premier for $69.99. Being an OSS user for nearly 6 years I have never even considered an OSS tax solution product (probably because I ph34r t4x s34s0n!). So I turn to Slashdot to ask: Are there any projects equivalent to Turbo Tax or the other tax products out there for the OSS community?"
Open Tax Solver
Mexican border controls are almost certainly cheaper than $69.
sulli
RTFJ.
Anybody who invests five minutes in researching this will find that no, there aren't any OSS tax solutions.
Why?
They aren't needed.
If you go to irs.gov, they will link you to several services which will enable you to prepare and electronically file your taxes online, completely free of charge. Most won't file your state taxes for free, but then, many states allow you to file for free on their own website.
I didn't pay a dime this year, and I didn't have to print out any forms. And yes, I have a reasonably complicated tax return.
I doubt that anyone finds doing stuff like that fun. At least TurboTax has people who are paid to read tax law, it removes some of the pain from their jobs and there is the incentive to not mess up otherwise they loose it. [their jobs].
Even if there was an OSS product, I dot know if I would trust it, comercial software is still better in some cases, and this is one of them. If you get audited by the IRS/CCRA and it was because of the software, who are you going to sue? sourceforge? freshmeat? not likely.
Thats my 2c.
One of the things I like about TurboTax is the peace of mind. The company itself certifies that your results are correct, and will even litigate on your behalf if you run into trouble because you used their program.
... anyone?
Would an OSS tax software project have deep enough pockets to provide the same sort of guarantees? Because I think for many people to place their trust in an OSS tax preparation package, they would have to have some assurance that the results weren't going to either get them audited or thrown in prison.
Perhaps if there was a CPA out there who could also hammer out code
That is easily solved. Just have IRS develop this software. They have the accountants and they can guarantee that if software makes a mistake you are off the hook.
We are paying taxes precisely so that the government can do public service projects. This strikes me as a reasonable one.
I've got small business income, two mortgages, interest income from my bank account, a W-2 from my day job, a W-2 from my wife's old job, and the unreported student stipends my wife receives as a grad student. You figure out how to file long form with a dozen-odd extra schedules tagged on in under an hour, by hand, and you've got yourself the single most profitable invention/business plan known to mankind.
Kids: Remember, don't take tax advice from a guy who thinks it's OK to just not do your taxes if you're not a government employee. We have a name for people like this. They're called "future inmates".
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
They won't do this because the IRS has already agreed to not compete with private industry.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
Yields how I've been doing my taxes for the past three years:
http://hrblock.com/goto/free
If you don't mind filling out your state paperwork yourself, it doesn't cost you a dime.
mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
A collection of irrelevant and questionable software?
Let's see, there are 11 projects found. Let's go through them:
Open Tax Solver: "Tax preparation software for use in the US, Canada, and UK". Okay, this looks like it might be promsing. But the fact that they are trying to do more than one country in the same product makes me question it a bit at least. And I'm not sure if using beta tax software is the best idea.
Canadian Payroll: "Calculates Canadian payroll taxes". Completely useless for (most) individuals, unless Canada's payroll taxes work differently than the US and the employees have to calculate it.
Payroll Perl Modules: "A Perl API for calculating payroll taxes". See above; not what is needed.
gTaxEstimator: "Tax preparation software". Okay, holds some promise, but do you really want to use a program called gTaxEstimator for something you can be sent to prison for if you screw up too badly?
reTax: Not what is needed; it calculates sales tax.
PHP Mortgage Calculator: Not what is needed
See-Commerce: Not even close to what is needed
MX Cart: Even further away from what is needed
Vista Nova osCommerce: Not what is needed
UCan: "Performs conversions of interest to travelers between the US and Canada." Not even close to what is needed.
PTax98: Oh, good, a program that will help you with 1998 taxes.
Anyway, none of these programs at least advertise features that are even close to what a commercial tax program does. None even say that they can do electronic submission.
So I call that link a red herring.