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Why the IRS Should Automatically Fill In Returns With What It Knows

Posted by Soulskill on from the because-addition-is-mentally-taxing dept.

theodp writes "An article in the NY Times begins, 'In the digital age, filing income tax returns should be a snap. Important data from employers and financial institutions has already been sent to government computers. Yet taxpayers are still required to perform the chore of preparing a return from scratch, in many cases paying a software company for the privilege.' Why, if your needs are simple, can't you just download forms pre-filled with whatever data the IRS has received about you, make any necessary adjustments, and automatically get the IRS calculation of your taxes? Sounds reasonable, but the IRS rejected the President's proposal to give taxpayers the option to do so as 'not feasible at this time' due to delays in the receipt of W-2 and 1099 data. However, California managed to offer a pre-filled state tax return, which cost only 34 cents to process compared to $2.59 to process a traditional paper return. Despite the success of the pilot, meager funds have been allotted for the program due to the strength of its political opponents — 'principally, Intuit' — according to the state controller. Intuit argues it would be a 'conflict of interest for government to be both tax collector and tax preparer.'"

7 of 613 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why they shouldn't.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Mrs David Rosboro

    Our records show that none of your 27 children are currently in school. We can only assume that you are violating child employment laws or have
    eaten them. We will be performing an inspection on the 29th Jan to verify the health and status of your children.

  2. Re:works fine in Sweden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know, when I was reading your post, I thought Sweden, eh? Wavy line... wavy lines...

    Knocking at the door. Swedish male citizen goes and answers it.

    Beautiful blond is at the door. (Translated to American)"Hi, I'm with the Revenue Service and I have your tax form. Do you want to have sex before or after reviewing your tax form?"

    Swedish make citizen: "Um. Let me ask my wife. Honey, should I have sex with the tax collector before or after reviewing the form?"

    Beautiful blond Swedish wife walks in: "Listen YOU! We filed jointly so it HAS to be a threesome before AND after reviewing the form!"

    Tax collector: "That's IS the law! File jointly and it's a threesome! I'm terribly sorry!"

    So this is the way it happens over there, right? Really?!?

  3. Re:Why they shouldn't.. by mysidia · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's the point at which you go to the pet store and pick up 27 kittens.

    When the agents come to inspect the well-being of your children, you show them your "babies".

  4. Re:Why they shouldn't.. by spongman · · Score: 3, Funny

    those digits that start with 9

    what, like '9' ?

  5. Re:works fine in Sweden by nanoakron · · Score: 3, Funny

    My apologies, I now recognise that your country is actually a shithole, and I will never make claims about it being a nice, clean, efficient, liveable place again.

    Although, I do apologise for the speeding ticket thing - it's actually Switzerland that bases fines on income.

    -Nano.

  6. Re:Intuit Isn't the Only Problem by Eil · · Score: 2, Funny

    The tax filing and preparation industry, of which Intuit is a part, has long been an obstacle to any change in the tax code that would serve to simplify and reduce the need for their services. However, they are far from the only special interest group with an incentive to keep the US Tax code as complex, opaque, and unintuitive as possible.

    I see what you did there.

  7. Re:Why they shouldn't.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Call any vegetable; Call it by name, and the vegetable will respond...