IRS makes free tax return program permanent and is asking all states to join in 2025. This could deal a massive blow to private tax filing services such as TurboTax

Fuck all corpo scum! Intuit, TurboTax and H&R Block can all fuck right off! Corporate lobbying motherfuckers can burn in hell.

I filed for free with H&R Block.
- Yeah but now H&R has all your financial information. It's "free" but that doesn't mean there is no cost.
- after h&r block wrecked my taxes and cost me months of back and forth with the IRS, i take every possible opportunity to steer people away from them
  
  i sat there and had to repeatedly correct the ancient walking corpse they hired part time to do tax filing as she kept entering wrong numbers on the computer. who knows wtf they did after i left
  
  fuck h&r block. after that bullshit experience, i signed on with an actual business accountant and never had a single fuckup in 10+ years
- I filed free with TT. But, will definitely plan on using the IRS system.

Old meme, but (1) you don't go to prison for making a mistake on your taxes in America — you have to do a big fraud (2) no, the government doesn't always know how much you owe, they only know stuff like domestic W2s and what banks file. There is a huge amount of ways to make income outside of that
- I’m guessing 50% of individuals would be covered by just those 2 methods. Other methods would quickly follow once people realize how the rest of the world does not cater to crazy and the ones they can legally bribe (“lobby”).
- I remember people saying that Lemmy was going to be better than Reddit, yet here we are, with idiotic memes sharing blatant falsehoods that pander to people who can't be bothered to think critically or actually learn anything. Upvoted straight to the top, not least of which because it's an image.
  
  I miss old Reddit when, if people were going to say stupid shit, they actually had to take the time to type it.
Our captured Gov't: You go to prison...unless you're very wealthy of course, this is America after all.

Then we're happy to negotiate, settle, reduce, and otherwise facilitate your repayment in a way that's convenient for you and your tax litigation team, sir!
Reminds me of my ex's tantrums.
Step in the right direction either way. Hopefully this means they'll be capturing metrics on which parts of the process are the most complicated and improve those areas.
*US Gov't

It's so weird to read a positive headline. :)

Right? Like what even is this feeling?
- Thanks Biden!

TurboTax for bankruptcy, LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!

Wait asking the states to allow this? Great means all the red states like the one I am stuck in will opt out fucking us over.
- Usually they ask politely at first then 'ask' by threatening to pull interstate funding. (MADD or Common Core, for example)
- Don't fool yourself, there's a lot of Democrats in the pocket of the tax prep lobby.
- The states probably need to opt in for state income tax filing or data. Red states typically don't have income taxes and wouldn't need this to begin with.
Dark Brandon's war with TurboTax has only just begun...

It's kinda wild to see things moving in the right direction for once...

It's almost like, I don't know, Biden is helping. But both sides bad, amirite?
- I would say helping perpetrate a genocide slightly outweighs making filing taxes a little easier. It's a very, "He makes the trains run on time" sentiment.
  
  Although I do like it. We've been due this for a long time. I wonder if Turbo Tax is freaking out.
- Yes, both sides bad, but Biden less bad. Making government easy to work with should be the bare minimum. We don't have to throw them a parade every time they do something sane, they work for us.
Right? I almost can't totally believe it, I'm not sure if I should

Cool. Now do Health Care!

Vote more Democrats into Congress
- If a bullet proof dem super majority state like California wont do it, they sure as fuck wont do it on a national level

Any takers on what party of small government will try to dismantle this?

You want a Biden TAX PANEL to decide if your grandmother has to pay or not? We will defend your right to choose the tax prep service of your choice!
- "Tax preparer vouchers!" GOP, soon

Carry on IRS, I would have zero issues using their tax return service. I'm certain the corporate tax return lobbyist are working overtime to prevent this.

Republicans will sue for them in a district they can judge shop
- Imagine having a political party that deliberately tries to make everything worse for the people in broad daylight. And you can't do shit about it, because you live in a two party system.
  
  Yay. :)

Dearest American friends,

I'm happy for you. Given your tax system this seems like a really positive step forward.

I hope it makes your lives better.

Wild to read how the US tax system works when you're used to the EU.

Maybe one day you'll also get automatic tax filling without lifting a finger.

Then how would you arbitrarily fine your citizens?
- Calling taxes a fine is about the most american thing ever...

Does this include state taxes?

The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.
- I live in Massachusetts and I used the IRS free file service this year, for both state and federal taxes. It was a very painless process, and I had my federal refund in my bank account in less than ten days!! It really works.

I signed up to do the free IRS filing but got rejected unfortunately because I had entered into a domestic partnership which made me ineligible. Not really sure why since I was filing single anyway but oh well, this is good news and I can't wait to try it next year.

The test was limited to make sure the core fundamentals worked. Your situation is an "edge case," i.e an unlikely situation that makes things much harder to code.

It sounds like they cut you out to make sure the product worked, and will now be on working "edge cases," by far the hardest part of any computer engineering.

This is HORRIBLE! I absolutely can NOT stand ANYTHING that makes Biden look good!

-Republicans who care about the Economy and the Country.

I’ll be the contrarian - this could be good for Intuit.

They were already forced to support free filing for simple returns. This IRS Direct File has similar eligibility, so Intuit already wasn’t making money off them, but now Intuit also doesn’t need the cost of scaling up for them

Intuit gets to take a bunch of freeloaders off their support costs, and can focus where their real profits are: people with more complex returns or higher income, that also don’t need an accountant

Intuit also gets to act less scammy. The only way they were making anything off those freeloaders was selling them things they don’t need

They made money off upselling people who thought it would be free. Or another way was to wait to tell them about the charges until you've spent a couple hours on the application. ...or the way they would sell you last years tax information back to you to save you a few hours filling out forms.

United states of monetization.
- Well you can also do what I do which is select the most expensive options. Figure out everything then copy the details onto a free file option and never pay them.

How about return free filling.. Why the hell do we have to do anything at all?

WhAAAAATT! wow that is amazing great news. Holy shit!

I know how Intuit will respond: By lobbying to kill this.

I'm truly amazed that this was ever a thing. The US is a case study of destroying value while raising GDP.

Except they'll make you sign up for id.me, biometrics and all.

Is that correct? Id.me can suck it... Forcing us to use a 3rd party with all private info and multiple pictures of your face for racial shit..... terrible
- https://directfile.irs.gov/idme
  
  Edit: haha, I feel wierd putting this link to the irs here.

"TurboTax must die"

That would be the perfect title of a multi billion dollar franchise about rebels from the IRS tryijg to thwart known scammers from Intuit.

US legislative: This is, now now now I say I say. This is un American gosh darn it!

Wonder how it'll compare to FreeTaxUSA? I've had very good luck with that the last few years.

Ideally it will advance to emulate whats common in the EU : the tax service sends you a "we think you owe this. If correct, please confirm amd youre done. If not, please amend and then youre done."

This isn't that proactive yet, but all the bones are there.
- I’m r, you could just phrase it as a starting point. We have thos much done for you: fill out anything else
  
  It would even let IRS set data driven priorities on what to add. This is the thing most people changed, so let’s work on that for next year

do these communism really expect the federal government to allow people to file taxes without a money changer middling man the filing?

NOT IN MY AMERICA!

Poe's law strikes again, you forgot this: /s
- since i had to look it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
  
  /s ruins half the fun tho!!!

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022.

“The IRS has been underfunded for decades, so taxpayers haven’t gotten the support they deserve,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in a call Thursday.

Werfel said expanding the program will provide another filing option to taxpayers and “fits squarely into the IRS’ effort to make taxes as easy as possible for Americans, including saving time and money.”

The IRS has face intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress.

For the Direct File program to keep growing, it will need continued funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, which initially included $80 billion for the IRS.

House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress last summer.

The original article contains 486 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Woooooo!

now if they an extend support with the state government support so consumers can finally end this chapter

The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.

Using this ended being a massive pain in the ass for me. I could file the federal taxes online, but after I submitted it and attempted to file my state taxes online it said I couldn't since I lived in NYC and made more than 75k/yr and I'd have to mail them in since it's impossible to file only your state taxes online due to the IRS' requirements.

I haven't used my printer in years so it was a hassle just to print out 5 pages and mail them half way across the country. It also delayed getting my refund by about a month.

Growing pains. States that work with the IRS will be able to (relatively) easily setup a way to receive the information from the IRS in a way that makes the states job easier too. This is a win for everyone except the tax preparing industry.
- Yeah, I just assumed it would work smoothly by now. I've been using TurboTax for the past 7 years and have had no issues, I attempted to save money by doing it this way, but it caused way more headaches for me.
The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.
- If you lived in NYC and made than 75k/year you can't file online using the state's website, and both of those were true for me. I moved out of NYC last June, I live in Florida now. Also, why should I have to go see a tax agent? I should just be able to do it all online myself. I've been doing it for 7 years with TurboTax.
Every library has tax forms for free if you're mailing them in.
- I had them already prepared (I attempted to do it via H&R block as well but it was rejected since I had already submitted my federal forms), I just couldn't submit them. Also I moved 1300 miles away in the past year, so I couldn't really do that anyway haha
Sounds like a state problem. It works great in my state. It will get better in time.
- A city problem to be more exact. Since I lived in NYC and made more than 75k in a year I couldn't file online, using the site the IRS directed me to (I've been doing it myself with TurboTax for the past 7 years, and paying for it). Due to the IRS' own rules, you can't file just your state tax returns online, since they're largely the same as the federal taxes. So both are actually at fault.
  
  I live in Florida now so I don't have to pay state taxes, so next year's will be a breeze.

As a person who not live in US, I wonder why people need private tax filing like TurboTax ? As where I live, my employer (the company I work for) do tax filing for me. I just need to sign, agree that they will do my tax filling.

Funny thing is, in a way our employers already do our taxes, they send everything to the IRS. We just have to manually input the same data into forms to send to the IRS. If you get it wrong they'll know and can fine you. That being said, individuals filing their own taxes does have its place, people have multiple jobs, children, houses, debt, bank intrest earned etc. An employeer should't have to keep track of all that. The individual should just be able to collect all the approiate forms and send them in, not have to transfer info from form w4 to form 1090.

Private tax filing companies like Turbo Tax have heavily lobbied with ~~campaign contributions~~ bribes.

Any attempt to fix the system was blocked. The silver linning (if you can call it that) was they had to make a free version availbe to low income individuals.

However that "free" version is completely burried and not advertised anywhere. They'd rather you use the free version of TurboTax which only free for the basic person with a job, house and maybe a kid. Anything more will cost (my info is a bit outdated and skewed, I'm not really looking at the exact service).

Then it's filled the dark patterns and scare tatics to get you to pay up every step of the way.

Welcome to land of freedom and the illusion of taxation with representation.