Comment on Tax time

EatYouWell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Also, the IRS only escalates straight to jail if it’s incredibly obvious you’re intentionally committing tax fraud. If your forms are wrong they just send you a letter to fix it.

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  • Aviandelight@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I wish more people were aware of this. One year I made a rather significant number entry error and should have owed a couple thousand more than I paid. I got a fairly routine letter later in the year asking me to correct the error. I had a little mental panic, reran the numbers, and filed an amended return. There was no pressure, you always have payment options, and they send you back another letter confirming the acceptance of the amended file. I understand that many people would have significant problems paying extra unexpectedly but unless you are actively committing fraud you are not an immediate priority for the IRS.

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    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      And if you can’t afford to pay it all in one go, they will work with you to set up a payment plan. If you can pay it off in 6 months it’s basically a non-issue.

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      • Lionel@endlesstalk.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        They sound so nice compared to how evil the ads make them

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      • citrusface@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Or you can ignore it all together and let your refund the next year handle it 🙃

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    • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Make sure you save all those letters, lest you resolve the error and get a letter several years later saying you owe $x + interest due to an error that you’ve already resolved. Because they don’t have those records digitally, apparently, and if you don’t have paper copies of every document involved you might just get to pay that penalty whether it was ever due in the first place, or even if you’ve already paid the penalty. Or get a lawyer.

      Which is what happened to me the year before last.

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      • EatYouWell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Yeah, those letters should follow the 3-2-1 backup rule. 3 copies in 2 different mediums with 1 stored off-site.

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• Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Link? I will instantly use it. Mostly to stick it to Intuit.

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  • dantheclamman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Turbotax has entered the chat. Turbotax has DMed your senator a couple hundred thousand to make sure you will never be able to use this

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    • Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’m not going to lie; there is a threshold where just being a complete tribal savage is easier than dealing with the beauracacy. If it becomes too time consuming, expensive, and stressful to do taxes, I will squat in the soon-to-be ruins of business real estate and hunt the local pigeon and duck populations to survive.

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  • CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They decide who is in the pilot at this point, not us.

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    • Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      That hurts, hope it comes to the public.

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      • SquishMallow@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        It will. Takes time to test and roll things out

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      • HubertManne@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        its only some states in the pilot and not mine :(

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  • LordOfTheChia@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    irs.gov/…/irs-direct-file-update-free-secure-irs-…

    If you don’t qualify for the pilot, you can also find out what other tax filing companies do not lobby to keep taxes hard to figure out and file.

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    • LordOfTheChia@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      So you mainly want to avoid Intuit owned companies and H&R Block. They alone spent millions per year to lobby against easy and free filing for taxpayers.

      Then there’s the ACTR (American Coalition Of Taxpayer Rights) who spend $100s of thousands a year lobbying for the same (and are made up by 14 members:

      americancoalitionfortaxpayerrights.org/about/

      Intuit

      H&R Block

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  • wildcardology@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Things you need to know first

    youtu.be/gT5_8nGWL0w?si=_Wc7SNtZXjvGOb8Y

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• Xanthrax@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It’s already like this with free tax returns. It just sucks you have to go through Intuit, because of their lobbying. They’re also counting on you not properly doing your taxes in the OPPOSITE way. They want you to be lazy and pay more in taxes, for the convenience.

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  • EatYouWell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    You apparently misunderstood what I was saying. The IRS is testing a program where they tell you how much you get/owe, and that’s it unless you need to make changes like adding deductions or reporting unreported income.

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    • Xanthrax@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      That’s the free program they’re offering already, it’s through Intuit, though.

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      • mosiacmango@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        No, it’s not the legacy “free file” program, which Intuit had opted out of. It’s a new pilot program.

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      • dokapuff@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Unless you have more itemized deductions than the standardized deduction would save you, there’s not a point in reporting your deductions.

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      • EatYouWell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        No it’s not. They’re testing out direct filing in 13 states this year, cutting companies like Intuit out of the equation for a giant chunk of the population.

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• LameName3000@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  That sounds like how it works in my country. Every year is just log in, take a quick look at the numbers, sign and send it away. Takes a minute or two and it just works.

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• wildcardology@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Testing for 13 states for now.

  youtu.be/gT5_8nGWL0w?si=_Wc7SNtZXjvGOb8Y

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