6 ms·
Why is there an income limit? There would be plenty of simple returns from people with a high income with just a single w2 taking a standard deduction
by photonbucket 3y ago
Why is there an income limit? There would be plenty of simple returns from people with a high income with just a single w2 taking a standard deduction
- Alupis 3y agoAlso note, this is simply the Federal Tax Return. For no limit IRS Free File, just use FreeTaxUSA[1]. Not only will it be better quality than whatever the IRS/Gov has turned out, not only is it Free (as-in Beer for IRS Filing), but it also offers very cheap State Filing options ($15). Just use FreeTaxUSA... [1] https://www.freetaxusa.com/pricing https://www.freetaxusa.com/pricing
- whitepoplar 3y agoThe only thing keeping me from using FreeTaxUSA is its inability to import brokerage transactions/1099-Bs. As far as I'm aware, if you input 1099-B summaries (as opposed to individual transactions), you have to mail physical copies of all 1099s to the IRS.
- agrajag 3y agoYou can attach pdfs of brokerage transactions to your e-filed return (and FreeTaxUSA prompts you to do so in the filing section)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- SlavikCA 3y agoI just completed my filing with FreeTaxUSA yesterday. Which included 1099-B, because I got RSUs and sold them. I manually entered the info about stock sale. And the end, the webapp told me, that IRS requires the copy of 1099-B, so I need to upload it. I uploaded PDF, which I got from Fidelity. That's it.
- quickthrowman 3y agoIIRC, you can now attach electronic copies of your brokerage statements to your return instead of mailing it to the IRS. I believe it changed for the 2022 tax year, I did have to mail in my complete 1099-B with transaction history in 2021 and before.
- mminer237 3y agoYou essentially only have to mail physical copies of your transaction histories if you had wash sales. (I'm not your lawyer tho)
- emchammer 3y agoFor this sort of thing, I would rather use a .gov website than a .com.
- teeray 3y agoThere are many folks who reflexively append .com to everything. Even if it redirects to .gov someday, depriving fraudsters of the .com is absolutely worthwhile.
- FireBeyond 3y agoMy email address is firstname@lastname.me. The amount of times I've dealt with customer service... "We have your email address as firstname@lastname.me.com" or similar is notable.
- everforward 3y agoI have firstname@lastname.io (younger me got swept up when .io was a big thing). Customer service gets confused, but also occasionally websites will tell me it's not a valid domain and I have to fall back to Gmail.
- jaimehrubiks 3y agoCouldn't agree more. I used it last year and it was awesome (I didn't find any feature missing). In any case, it's one of the "IRS Free File participants" according to the OPs link.
- Alupis 3y ago> In any case, it's one of the "IRS Free File participants" according to the OPs link. Indeed, but without the $79,000 AGI maximum.
- cobrabyte 3y agoYeah, I've used this for the past couple of years and will do so again this year. It's solid.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoUsing the IRS' option (Direct File) [1] [2], if able, shows uptake, which will be used to gauge success and continued operation and improvement. If you can use it, you should. It is how for profit tax prep gets driven to the margins, and is eventually sunset (except for perhaps the most complex returns). > Just use FreeTaxUSA... That is how the status quo remains. Hasn't served us well to be honest. Of course, use FreeTaxUSA to avoid paid options if you don't fall into the IRS pilot criteria. But if you fall into the criteria, please consider participating. [1] https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/direct-file https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/direct-file [2] https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/a-closer-look-at-the-irs-direct-file-pilot https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/a-closer-look-at-the-irs-direc... (i want my tax filing provided by the IRS directly, and as frictionless as possible; ymmv)
- Alupis 3y ago> Using the IRS' option, if able, shows uptake, which will be used to gauge success and continued operation and improvement. If you can use it, you should. It is how for profit tax prep gets driven to the margins, and is eventually sunset (except for perhaps the most complex returns). FreeTaxUSA is part of the IRS' free filing program, except it exceeds the IRS standards by offering free Federal Filing for any AGI... no maximum. FreeTaxUSA is already marginalizing tax filing software. It cannot get cheaper than free. Additionally, they're the cheapest/easiest State Filing system I am aware of. > > Just use FreeTaxUSA... > That is how the status quo remains. Hasn't done very well for us tbh. This is exactly how the status quo is destroyed. FreeTaxUSA provides the same outcome as vastly more expensive software and/or tax preparation services, at no cost to you for Federal Returns.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoWe're simply at an impasse because you prefer the non government option, and I expect my government to provide it.
- Alupis 3y agoI don't believe you actually are aware of what you are talking about. There is no government option currently, except manually filling out forms. Furthermore, it is naïve to believe the government will provide better service and/or usability than a private organization who's entire existence and purpose is to make submitting tax returns easy.
- tomcar288 3y agoI've been using them for a couple of years for now and I think they're awesome!
- yieldcrv 3y ago> adjusted gross income (AGI) of $79,000 everything about the IRS is a hint saying learn how to read our regulations to take more deductions AGI is income after most deductions I’ve had 7 figures of revenue before and would still be able to use this during that year The President even sent me those one-off stimmies because my AGI was under the threshold get your agi lower
- criddell 3y agoWhat are some deductions that many of us would be missing? I fill out my taxes and I never have enough deductions to itemize.
- yieldcrv 3y agothere is very little that a W-2 employee can do if thats the only thing they do, aside from depreciating real estate and mortgage interest if your goal is to earn and park money in a bank account, the government is trying to tell you to do literally anything else by taxing that the heaviest. their aggregate goal is for velocity within the economy because that is more useful for the government than its tax revenue, and so that is rewarded. so its not really useful for me to write tax deductions that likely don't apply to you
- rurp 3y agoYour earlier post would have been more helpful if you'd specified that you're only talking about a tiny minority of the working population. "Lower your agi" sounds like you're making a general recommendation.
- yieldcrv 3y agoit is a general recommendation as the observation is that if more of the population educated themselves in this field and structured their life accordingly, more of the population could have the same flexibility in lowering their agi at their discretion right now, it is a tiny minority of the working population that does anything preemptively for tax purposes, it doesn't have to be that way.
- keltex 3y agoIf you just have W2 income, there's no reason you can't fill out the regular 1040 form yourself. Sure might take you an hour or so, but no software to purchase. Just costs a stamp to mail it in!
- tialaramex 3y agoThe online forms don't have an income limit, so you don't even need a stamp.
- madboston 3y agoThis is true. The thing that most people won't appreciate is that taxes that are not done online are processed at a very slow pace. Most people don't try to optimize their withholding in a way to get close to 0 tax returns and won't be willing to wait long times to get any kind of returns. We all are paying cost of capitalism.
- akerl_ 3y agoIt seems odd to be willing to give the government a loan over the course of the year, in the form of overwithholding, but then not be willing to wait a few more weeks to get the payout. If somebody is impatient to get their hands on that money, why not fix their W-4 so they get it with every paycheck? (Also, as noted in the parallel comment, the forms can be submitted online, separately from the Free File service)
- madboston 3y agoWell most people are just not literate when it comes to finances. They are not aware of what withholding means, how to calculate things. I'm sure it's not simple to do when you are working multiple jobs, or temp jobs in between (well these won't be those simple W 2 scenarios we are talking about). We are know that the tax codes are intentionally complicated and big firms don't want government to fix them. Rules being complected allows having loopholes for certain people.
- 3y ago
- shortrounddev2 3y agoBecause the tax preparation services lobbied the federal government to make it illegal for the US government to offer its own filing service. I like 1040now.net. The UI is atrocious but it basically just offers an HTML version of the actual IRS forms. If all you need is a 1040 and a W2, then you just fill those out and skip the rest of the forms. I've been using it for several years. It costs $20 to file your federal returns if you make more than a certain amount, and it also offers State tax filing as well
- geor9e 3y agoBecause Intuit Turbotax lobbyists take congressmembers out on their yachts, and our representatives aren't interested in saving the country's citizens money
- jrockway 3y agoI think it's more like that 50% of representatives think that taxes shouldn't exist, so by making taxes an annual pain point, they are increasing their own support. "If it wasn't for That Other Party we wouldn't have you paying $39 to Intuit every year, but that's all they do, subsidize Big Tech with your Personal Information."
- nielsbot 3y agoTurns out it's all of the above
- naniwaduni 3y agoIt's a coalition with more support than either of you think!
- paxys 3y agoBecause TurboTax and H&R Block need that corporate welfare check from the government in order to survive.
- FuriouslyAdrift 3y ago"Those with an AGI over the limit can still file their return for free using Free File Fillable Forms."
- wnevets 3y ago> There would be plenty of simple returns from people with a high income with just a single w2 taking a standard deduction Probably the same reason large companies don't launch new features to their entire userbase all at once.
- bnabholz 3y agoThis is free filing with "trusted partners," but the IRS also has their Free File Fillable Forms (not open yet) which have no income limit. The UI is a little rough, but matches the official IRS forms. I got mad enough paying H&R Block a couple years ago and decided to download the fillable PDFs and do it manually. It was a good learning experience. Since I'm filling out the PDF forms anyway I wish I could just upload those to FFFF, instead of having to re-enter everything manually. Still it's better than my state (Indiana) where I can't file online without a third party. It does bring me some satisfaction that I fill out the PDF forms, print them, mail them to the state, and someone gets to (probably) type it all back in to a computer. Efficient.
- beej71 3y agoI've been using free fillable forms for years. Luckily my state also uses them. One year they didn't and I filed paper (by filling out PDFs, as well), and wrote a letter to the department of revenue promising to file paper returns every year they didn't have a free efile option. And the next year they brought it back. Because of me, I'm sure. ;) But until the IRS has full service online, I'm not paying a third party out of principle. The only time I shell out is if it gets too complex, and then I pay an accountant.
- jcranmer 3y agoAIUI, this is the result as a compromise. Instead of the IRS creating its own free tax prep software, the existing tax prep industry had to make their offerings free for people under a certain income threshold. Of course, the tax prep industry engaged in all sorts of dark patterns to make actually obtaining the legally-required-to-be-free software for free as difficult as possible, so the IRS is now working on its own free tax prep software (which is the Direct File system, not the Free File system).
- pshiu 3y agoThe original intent of the program seems to be a quid pro quo, where the IRS promises a non-compete with the tax preparation industry [1] in exchange for free federal tax prep for 70% of U.S. taxpayers [2]. As of 2019-12-26, the IRS no longer promises the non-compete [3], perhaps so it could start the Direct File pilot [4]. --- [1]: From the summary of the proposed original agreement at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2002/08/08/02-19835/electronic-tax-preparation-and-filing-intent-to-enter-agreement-opportunity-for-comment-opportunity#h-11 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2002/08/08/02-1983...: > The Consortium will offer Free Services to taxpayers at no cost. [...] During the term of the Agreement, the IRS will not compete with the Consortium in providing free, online tax return preparation and filing services to taxpayers. [2]: "70%" source: see 4.1.3(i) of latest MOU: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-efile/ninth-memorandum-of-understanding-on-service-standards-and-disputes.pdf#page=6 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-efile/ninth-memorandum-of-unders... +info: https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/about-the-free-file-alliance https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/about-the-free-file-all... [3]: Point (ii) of https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/FFI%20Signed%20MOU%20Addendum%2012-26-19.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/FFI%20Signed%20MOU%20Addendu... [4]: https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/direct-file https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/direct-file see also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37920633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37920633
- glasshug 3y agoIs this meant to reply to a different comment?
- pshiu 3y agoSorry I was unclear. I was trying to speculate on the question, "Why is there an income limit?". Before digging into this, I thought the IRS set the income limit. (e.g. "We the IRS want all people earning less than $65k to have free tax prep.") It appears it was the other way around: the memos show the IRS sets the % of the population it wants to have free tax prep services (70%), and the FreeFile income limits are calculated so in theory only the highest (30%) of incomes must pay for tax prep. So I speculate that the answer to "Why is there an income limit?” may be "It was part of an attempt between the IRS and the private sector to have the richest 30% subsidize everyone else's tax prep."
- assassinator42 3y agoI've used Cash App Taxes (previously owned by Credit Karma) for several years. No income limit and free state taxes as well: https://cash.app/taxes https://cash.app/taxes
- dawnerd 3y agoI suspect it’s more to ease into letting people file for free by cutting out “higher risk” filers. The income cap pretty much guarantees everyone filing falls into a simple class that doesn’t need itemized returns.
- Ajay-p 3y agoTo pop up Intuit, makers of Turbo Tax. Lower income people are still more likely to go to a tax preparer service than to attempt to file their own. The idea of doing your own taxes is a middle class and up ideal, or those who are more likely to have the education and training to do their own taxes.