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TurboTax provides an intuitive, convenient product at a low cost. No story here.
Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes 2014 and for free. You’d open up a pre-filled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone.
It’s already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain. The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate.
The idea, known as “return-free filing,” would be a voluntary alternative to hiring a tax preparer or using commercial tax software. The concept has been around for decades and has been endorsed by both President Ronald Reagan and a campaigning President Obama.
“This is not some pie-in-the-sky that’s never been done before,” said William Gale, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “It’s doable, feasible, implementable, and at a relatively low cost.”
So why hasn’t it become a reality?
Well, for one thing, it doesn’t help that it’s been opposed for years by the company behind the most popular consumer tax software 2014 Intuit, maker of TurboTax. Conservative tax activist Grover Norquist and an influential computer industry group also have fought return-free filing.
Intuit has spent about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five years 2014 more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of issues, Intuit’s disclosures pointedly note that the company “opposes IRS government tax preparation.”
The disclosures show that Intuit as recently as 2011 lobbied on two bills, both of which died, that would have allowed many taxpayers to file pre-filled returns for free. The company also lobbied on bills in 2007 and 2011 that would have barred the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, from initiating return-free filing.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/2...e+Raw+Story%29
TurboTax provides an intuitive, convenient product at a low cost. No story here.
The real suckers are the ones who pay 40 bucks for state. Its free for federal if.its.a.easy 1040. No story.here I.agree
My taxes are not exactly straight ahead. But I've yet to spend a dime doing them. I e-file free every year. This is another answer to a question nobody's asking.
Even less of a story since the IRS gives you a free alternative.
http://www.irs.gov/Filing
lol...and I have about zero interest in letting the IRS fill out my tax form for me.
Turbo tax didn't kill simple filing. Politicians did. Just look at any tax return prior to 1980.
My tax return is about 40 pages long. Paying my accountant $250 is cheap.
$200 here. Just had them done and I can forget about it.
I used turbo tax deluxe edition. It took me a few hours as I have itemized deductions and a home office. I'm don't see how the govt version would be able to account for all that, so I'm sure it would not apply to me anyway.
Then why is TurboTax spending millions to lobby against the "tax bill" to replace tax form filing?
TT starts people on the free version when their taxes are simple. Over time, most people's taxes become more complicated, but they're hooked as TT does a great job of maintaining historical info which makes subsequent filings simple so they are willing to pony up the $50/$79 bucks for the upgrade. Standard freemium business model.
you do know the fee you pay to lodge is tax deductible clowns...
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