What exactly does everyone have against Turbotax? I use it every year and I love it. Sure I could save a hundred bucks and spend hours filling out IRS worksheets, but I don't want to. They have excellent UX, and serve as a reliable secure cloud repository for all of my financial information. What's the big deal?
For one, I don't blame a company for lobbying for their interests. Lobbying is protected by the first amendment. Congress has sole authority to author and vote on legislation at the pleasure of the electorate. The fact that TT (and H&R Block) have impressed upon reps that they will participate in Free File, it mitigates their need to make a government-sponsored program. Which isn't just barricaded by simply force of will, but rather that the IRS would actually have to do it which means likely means a giant appropriation of funds and the risk of them screwing it up.
The issue isn't the lobbying per se, but rather that it's not hard to look at the situation and conclude that Congress is favoring the interests of TurboTax over the interests of their constituents.
It's difficult for me to believe that my representatives actually believe it's in my best interest to pay TurboTax $100 every year, compared to having the IRS automatically file my taxes.
On the other hard, it's easy to believe that my representatives have been cheaply bought with political donations.
Maybe I'm being too generous but the electorate has all the power over elected officials. If a candidate makes a big deal over free file and voters don't care, then the lobbyists are effectively absolved. You'd have to show me that Congress actually had this on their agenda and removed it at the behest of lobbyists to say it's really corruption.
Unless they're actively spreading disinformation or corrupting the vote.
I do blame companies (and people who work at those companies) for spending their time trying to figure out how to waste as much of their fellow countryman's time and money as possible every year. Just like I would blame people for trying to get away with legally polluting waterways or any other public resource.
>The fact that TT (and H&R Block) have impressed upon reps that they will participate in Free File, it mitigates their need to make a government-sponsored program.
It's a half assed solution so they can say they did something and give them political cover.
I'll actually give a response that is not Turbotax specific.
The forms I get every year from the ~10 banks I have accounts with and the ~2 companies I earned a salary from are essentially just copies of forms that they also had to send to the IRS. So in principle the IRS already has the same information I do when it comes to how much tax I paid and on what income.
It is not clear to me why I have to share:
- My name
- My address
- My _social security number_
- My spouse's name
- The names of my children
- All their social security numbers, too
- How much money I made
with a for-profit company. This is information that the IRS already has. To me, this is totally unnecessary. I would much rather the government increase the IRS's budget so that they can implement services that provide any help I might need directly, rather than through a totally unrelated corporation. The IRS's job is to make sure you paid the tax you owed. They don't dictate how much tax you pay. I truly believe that with the right financial resources they can make it easier to make that payment (and correctly) for: 1) us; and 2) them.
For folks with very simple tax situations, this seems like a no-brainer. For folks with complicated situations, you are still more than welcome to talk to a tax professional for advice. But a company _doing your taxes_ for you seems unnecessary.
Wouldn't it be lovely if instead I went to www.irs.gov to file my taxes, and I was presented with a very similar interface to what for-profit companies are providing, but with the information already filled out because they already have it? Essentially, all I'd be doing is sanity-checking the inputs.
You're paying for a service that should be provided for free by the IRS, as happens in many other developed countries. It's unnecessary financial drag on the economy.
>You're paying for a service that should be provided for free by the IRS, as happens in many other developed countries.
But Turbotax is free for 1040EZ filers. It's only in an instance where you would otherwise just hire a tax accountant that they charge you. In terms of SAAS pricing, it comes out to like $15/month annualized. It's a bargain IMO.
It's unacceptable to argue that it should be free for some, but not for everyone. It's not a bargain, it's unnecessary regulatory capture, for what my government should be providing at no cost to all citizens who are required to file returns.
Private electronic tax filing systems (and the fees they charge) should not exist.
> It's only in an instance where you would otherwise just hire a tax accountant that they charge you.
This is false. It's plenty possible to be in neither scenario, and every year millions of Americans are.
Further, the 1040EZ system no longer exists. Tax filers often charge for "tax accountant" services like having a moderate income or filing state taxes.
Not true. If you have any capital markets gains, you have to pay TurboTax. I don't need a tax accountant to report simple capital gains. If you have side hustle income, you have to pay TurboTax. Basically, if you're reporting any income other than your standard day job, you have to pay. And TurboTax has done things like advertising free filing but only offering free federal filing and finding out you have to pay for state filing only after you've filled out your federal forms. It's just a scammy business that relies on lobbying and governmental pressure to stay afloat.
> But Turbotax is free for 1040EZ filers. It's only in an instance where you would otherwise just hire a tax accountant that they charge you.
This is incorrect in practice. Through dark patterns and otherwise, an extremely small minority filing without paying even if they should be “eligible” (which is itself an absurd position).
Because the IRS should do it for you, for free, but doesn't because TurboTax uses the money you pay them to sponsor legislation to prevent the IRS from doing that:
In some countries the government calculates the (simple compared to US) taxes and all you do is approve it. That would be possible here too for most people, but neither politicians (of various stripes) or Intuit wants anything to change. Only the US turns paying taxes into the equivalent of Quantum Mechanics.
Last year turbo tax said I could file for free. Every so often it asked if I wanted to upgrade to a deluxe version for $70. I said no. After a couple hours of filling everything out, it told me that my income, from one of the first steps, was too high so I would need to pay $70. Deeply unethical to tell me that at the end when they had the information necessary to do so at the beginning.
Also, fuck them for charging $70 while lobbying for taxes to remain difficult to file.
That Americans self sabotage (and ignore obvious counter examples) doesn’t change the fact that filing taxes can and should be simplified and made less costly to the average citizen.
Further: I rely on “government services” every day that are essential and delivered reliably. Even on the tech front - my municipal parking app is fast, free, and pretty much flawless.
Who even said it would be software. In Germany I have the option of letting the government do my taxes for me. At the end of the year I can choose to dispute the charges.
