Tax form printing: Can't you just use LaTeX..? [LWN.net]

Tax form printing: Can't you just use LaTeX..?

Posted Jan 25, 2009 20:15 UTC (Sun) by dkite (guest, #4577)
In reply to: Tax form printing: Can't you just use LaTeX..? by i3839
Parent article: The exceedingly grumpy editor's accounting system update

>Or am I totally wrong?

Heh. I'm not sure of LWN's legal status, but if you are incorporated,
limited, or whatever it's called in your jurisdiction, you probably have to
have an accountant to do your tax returns.

The reporting requirements on small businesses are immense. We, a three
person outfit have two levels of value added taxes, payroll taxes,
subcontractor reports along with all the usual income tax at the end of the
year. Perversely the availability of software to automate most of it
encourages agencies to complicate matters even more.

And if you get it wrong, late or flag worthy, you will rue the day.

And no one understands how it should be done, even the people who wrote the
legislation and the agencies who administer them. It is very useful
insurance to have a reputable accountant's stamp on documents that they
see.

Derek

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Tax form printing: Can't you just use LaTeX..?

Posted Jan 30, 2009 10:24 UTC (Fri) by i3839 (guest, #31386) [Link]

I've no experience with bussinesses, but as far as I know all tax stuff happens electronically here. There's a by the government supplied program which you can use to submit the data they need (and yes, there's a Linux version), but there might be a web application or website as well.