- Some taxpayers will soon qualify for Direct File, a free tax-filing option from the IRS.
- The pilot will begin as an invitation-only service before rolling out to certain taxpayers in 12 states by mid-March.
- In 2023, individual U.S. taxpayers spent an average of $150 to prepare and file returns, according to the IRS.
Eligible states will include Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
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Who qualifies for IRS Direct File
Residents of eligible states with a simple, straightforward return can qualify. The pilot will start with limited types of income, credits and deductions, IRS officials said.
While only certain taxpayers can use Direct File, the bilingual software includes built-in live chat support with IRS assistors.
The pilot will only accept Form W-2 wages, Social Security retirement income, unemployment earnings and interest of $1,500 or less. This means the pilot won’t include anyone with gig economy work or business income.
You must claim the standard deduction to use the Direct File pilot and the system only accepts a few credits — the earned income tax credit, child tax credit and credit for other dependents. The software also accepts tax breaks for student loan interest and educator expenses.
This is how taxation should work in the U.S. if we were sane:
The end.
The IRS should be calculating what we owe. We shouldn’t be doing that ourselves or hiring people to do it for us. Maybe we could finally get the wealthy to pay their fair share.
They do. That’s why you occasionally get bills saying “hey you miscalculated by 70 bucks.” They already do the work, they just still make us do it too for… Reasons.
AKA Intuit lobbyists
Once for a whole year I would get a letter saying “You underpaid by $30, plz pay.” So I would pay. Then I would get a letter saying “You overpaid by $30, here is check.” So I would cash it. Then I would get a letter saying “You underpaid by $30, plz pay…” There were six or seven of those exchanges. I didn’t cash the last check and the letters stopped coming. 🤷♂️
Or dispute it . This is how it’s done almost everywhere else but the tax lobby have a best interest in this not working this way.
Or…you know bring back home ec classes that teach kids how to survive in the world instead of assuming parents will be able to do it
Sure, bring back home ec classes like that regardless, but that should also have no bearing on a saner taxation system. The one we have is ludicrous.
As an example of how this could work based on how it does where I live;
No muss, no fuss. If you’ve got an interest in a trust or own a company then it gets a bit more complicated and you might need an accountant to file for you, but for 95% of people it’s free, happens automatically, and they aren’t stuck with a big bill at the end of the year
yup. we should all be recieving a 2040x with the left hand side filled out already and we can optionally make the changes in the right hand side if we think its wrong.
Agree. Then TurboTax and other tax preparers wouldn’t be able to rip us off to the tune of billions of $ too.
A bill for what? How do they know what to bill you for if you don’t tell them where and how you made and spent your money?
All info on the tax forms you use for your taxes could just be sent to the government instead, and they can calculate your taxes. That is how it works in most other countries.
Are you saying your taxes aren’t taken out of your paychecks? Because they’ve always been taken out of mine. Seems like it’s pretty easy for them to bill you based on that. And they can send the bill to whatever address is on your W-2.
I mean I’m not a W2 employee so no.
But when I was, this process typically only took about 15 minutes where you import the info from your tax form you’re provided by your employer and they ask additional questions that they don’t have answers to like what kind of healthcare you received or if you gained any children/dependents.
Even if it only took you 15 minutes, and it sure takes a lot of people who get W-2s a lot more than 15 minutes… that’s 15 minutes too long. Why should you have to do the government’s job for it?
To do what, exactly?
I don’t know how else you expect them to get the relevant information.
The government should already have a record of how much you’ve been paid every year. Why do they not have that record in your case? Do you not declare your income in whatever job you have?
And where would they get that information?
I already told you I don’t have a job. I’m self-employed.
Oh well. Guess you don’t get to benefit from something everyone who isn’t self-employed should benefit from.
Nah, let’s leave the tax code impossibly complicated and easy for rich people to game on behalf of the handful of self-employed people in this country.
Tell you what, you keep doing your 15-minute taxes and the rest of us won’t have to waste those 15 minutes. How’s that?