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Need for computers to file income taxesNeed for computers to file income taxesPosted Mar 20, 2010 23:10 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954)In reply to: OpenTaxSolver solves taxes, openly by nye Parent article: OpenTaxSolver solves taxes, openly
In the US, only a few individuals have to file anything so complex that a computer would help. Most individuals have income only from wages and simple investments and any adjustments to that income that they may be entitled to fall below a threshold. Such a person could fill out the one-page form quicker than he could make the computer print it. He doesn't even have to do any arithmetic. It's still embarassing for the country, though, because for such a person, the government already has all the information on the form and already has all the money, so really the government should send the form to the taxpayer instead of the other way around. I think about 10% of the population has finances complex enough to require more sophisticated filing, and for them, computer assistance is extremely helpful. For example, someone who sells something for more than he paid for it (income tax is due on the profit) or runs a business or has high medical expenses (income tax is not due on income used for that).
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Need for computers to file income taxes Posted Mar 21, 2010 0:03 UTC (Sun) by jake (editor, #205) [Link]
> I think about 10% of the population has finances complex enough to
> require more sophisticated filing
Hmm, anyone that owns a house pretty much can't (or shouldn't) file the short form. That covers a *lot* people ...
jake
Need for computers to file income taxes Posted Mar 21, 2010 1:47 UTC (Sun) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link] Hmm, anyone that owns a house pretty much can't (or shouldn't) file the short form. That covers a *lot* people ... Yes, I was wrong. I found references that say only 60-70% of US taxpayers use the one page (1040EZ) and two page (1040A) short forms. I don't know if the 1040A is complicated enough for anyone to use a computer to generate it, but maybe. I also looked up the house ownership impact. For those not familiar with the relevance of owning a house to income tax, it's actually about whether you borrowed money to buy your home. Income you spend on interest on such a loan is not taxable (and not for any sensible reason -- it's historical). I found out 70% of US homes are occupied by an owner and 60% of those homes are collateral on a loan, so that pretty much accounts for all the people who file the long form.
Need for computers to file income taxes Posted Mar 23, 2010 7:09 UTC (Tue) by njs (guest, #40338) [Link]
> It's still embarassing for the country, though, because for such a person, the government already has all the information on the form and already has all the money, so really the government should send the form to the taxpayer instead of the other way around.
I'm pretty sure that they do do those computations, and if they don't match the ones on the form that the taxpayer sent in, they send a letter saying "you did it wrong, here's the correct answer, we'll just use that unless you argue".
In fact, a few years ago my filing got lost in the mail or something, and in the process of re-submitting I discovered I didn't have back-up copies of some of the documents like W-2's that *must* be included in the filing. It turns out that the solution to this problem is, you call up the IRS and they print out a copy, mail it to you, and then you mail it back.
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