OK, I just caved to the IRS gods

[Spiff]

I am... over-extended

Yes, my accountant filed for an extension. The bean counter doing my K1 for my now defunct company has not yet gotten it done.

[sekker]

raz wrote:
I deal with it all in February - as soon as the forms come in. It's an hour or two to sort the various paperwork that's accumulated over the course of the year and enter it into TurboTax.

What's the big deal?

I spent over 2 hours alone 'correcting' what in the end were programming errors in Turbotax for filing my personal return. Was frustrating to say the least.

This is not just the mess that is the US tax code. This is just Turbotax not transferring data from one field properly (that they required me to input) to the right place on an IRS form. Would have been far easier for me to just directly correct the resulting IRS form, but TurboTax Deluxe on the Mac did not let me do that.

[davester]

raz wrote:
I deal with it all in February - as soon as the forms come in. It's an hour or two to sort the various paperwork that's accumulated over the course of the year and enter it into TurboTax.

What's the big deal?

Well, some of us itemize, and are self-employed, and have rental property, and have depreciable assets, etc. It's not just a case of "waiting until the forms come in".

[DavidS]

Last year was the first time I had to file an extension. I thought I had made errors but it turns out the "tax cuts" just cut me badly.

For this year, I've been putting it off and putting it off, mainly because I know I'm going to owe $$$. I guess I'll get it all done this afternoon or file an extension.

[Rick-o]

I damn near filed for an extension yesterday, but I then knuckled down and spent 2 hours getting the tax forms filled out and e-filed.

There's got to be a better way than what we have to deal with now. :RollingEyesSmiley5:

[Speedy]

Rick-o wrote:
I damn near filed for an extension yesterday, but I then knuckled down and spent 2 hours getting the tax forms filled out and e-filed.

There's got to be a better way than what we have to deal with now. :RollingEyesSmiley5:

Agreed, that’s two hours of your life you’ll never get back in order to file your annual income tax obligation return.

[freeradical]

Most people shouldn't even have to spend any time filling out tax paperwork of any kind, including online.

The IRS and the states should simply send taxpayers a link they can go to and review all their tax data, and click "accept" if all is cool.

If they disagree, then the taxpayer can fill out tax paperwork.

For most people who work for someone else, this is how it should be. The government already has all of my data before I file. Why should this work have to be duplicated?

[davester]

freeradical wrote:
Most people shouldn't even have to spend any time filling out tax paperwork of any kind, including online.

The IRS and the states should simply send taxpayers a link they can go to and review all their tax data, and click "accept" if all is cool.

If they disagree, then the taxpayer can fill out tax paperwork.

For most people who work for someone else, this is how it should be. The government already has all of my data before I file. Why should this work have to be duplicated?

For most other western countries this is how it works. You don't need to file a tax return. But guess what...financial services industries (i.e. tax accountants, tax software companies and the like) have fought hard against attempts by the IRS to put an end to our archaic system by lobbying (i.e. legalized bribery) congress. What a corrupt mess.

[sekker]

davester wrote:
[quote=freeradical]
Most people shouldn't even have to spend any time filling out tax paperwork of any kind, including online.

The IRS and the states should simply send taxpayers a link they can go to and review all their tax data, and click "accept" if all is cool.

If they disagree, then the taxpayer can fill out tax paperwork.

For most people who work for someone else, this is how it should be. The government already has all of my data before I file. Why should this work have to be duplicated?

For most other western countries this is how it works. You don't need to file a tax return. But guess what...financial services industries (i.e. tax accountants, tax software companies and the like) have fought hard against attempts by the IRS to put an end to our archaic system by lobbying (i.e. legalized bribery) congress. What a corrupt mess.
Vox has been following this for years. https://www.vox.com/2019/4/9/18301943/la...k-turbotax

[Mike Sellers]

Been filing extensions every year since I incorporated in 2005. This is the first year I actually got my personal taxes done on time since then.

I used a CPA the first year I created my S Corp and reversed engineered what he's done ever since. I'm sure I've left some money on the table here and there but a CPA would have to find several thousand in extra expenses each year to justify their fees, and that's not going to happen unless they flat out lie.

Admittedly, my corp taxes aren't that complicated since I'm the only employee and I freelance so there's no inventory.