This Is How We Finally Kill Turbotax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvEEJdHffaQ&ab_channel=MorePerfectUnion

Filing your taxes could be free starting this year. The IRS is running a direct-file pilot program. The goal is to make companies like TurboTax obsolete through a system where your taxes are filled out for you. But tax prep companies are spending millions to block them.

#fraud #targetingvulnerable #handsinyourpockets #freeforall #intuit #hrblock #bribery #corruption #backroomdeals

Finally started on 2022 taxes today -- got my financial records in order, installed #HRBlock desktop software, imported last year's file, got all my forms in order, now ready to start entering data ...

Is it me or is it absolutely INSANE that a person has to spend nearly $300 to file taxes electronically in the USA? Where I was born, the government actually provided a fairly simple piece of software to file electronically. I don't mind paying taxes, but if it is mandatory, the method should be free of charge. And paper filing is not an option in 2023. #turbotax #hrblock #taxes

Got tax software for this year. Sticking with #HRBlock desktop version. I like having it all on my local workstation without needing always-on internet. (I understand that people in other parts of the world don't go through this trouble at all.)

Wwildly profitable corporate giants like #HRBlock and #Intuit, the parent company of #Turbotax, who spent 20 years lobbying congress, spending millions to ensure that Americans would have to pay the #TurbotaxTax in order to pay their income tax.

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free

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Does anyone have any recommendations for a US Federal and/or State Income Tax preparation/filing software?

Requirements are:
- #FOSS / #FLOSS / #OpenSource
- either #SelfHosted / #SelfHosting or just a local application
- #privacy focused (no or minimal integrations with other tax prep/filing providers, no trackers, etc.)
- fully compliant with current IRS and any other applicable tax laws/regulations/forms
- NOT #TurboTax / #HRBlock / etc.

#Tax #IncomeTax #TaxFilings #TaxFiling #TaxPreparers

Major tax-filing websites secretly share income data with #Meta
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/major-tax-filing-websites-secretly-share-income-data-with-meta/
#Taxes #IRS #HRBlock #TaxAct #TaxSlayer #privacy #MetaPixel

Major #TaxFiling websites secretly share #income data with Meta

> #TheMarkup published the data sent to Meta by these companies, which it confirmed was sometimes generated and shared “regardless of whether the person using the tax filing service has an account on #Facebook ” or other #Meta service.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/major-tax-filing-websites-secretly-share-income-data-with-meta/

#HRBlock #TaxAct #TaxSlayer

> #TheMarkup published the data sent to Meta by these companies, which it confirmed was sometimes generated and shared “regardless of whether the person using the tax filing service has an account on #Facebook ” or other #Meta service.

Major #TaxFiling
websites secretly share #income data with Meta

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/major-tax-filing-websites-secretly-share-income-data-with-meta/

#HRBlock #TaxAct #TaxSlayer

Tax prep services send sensitive financial info to Facebook - Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic)
https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/22/free-file-now/#still-the-product
#privacy #piracy #Facebook #HRBlock #Tax #TaxPreparers #IncomeTax

From Cory D on bird app:
More reasons not to trust #Facebook w/ your data. These #Tax Prep cos need to be held accountable… or just don’t use them.

Certain tax #software apps are giving your data over to FB and tracking you.
https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1595100712706445313?s=46&t=Nqz7THAfr2Qvpi4rENbODg

#privacy #data #HRBlock #TaxAct #TaxSlayer #PrivacyBreach #DeleteFacebook

@pluralistic
Is it too much to expect an answer to a serious question? I thought this place was for real discussions. I'm here for one. How do we work around this problem?
#taxes #HRBlock #ripoff

@alexandra Filing Taxes Could Be Free and Simple. But H&R Block and Intuit Are Still Lobbying Against It.

Intuit spent more than $2 million lobbying last year, much of it spent on legislation that would permanently bar the government from offering taxpayers prefilled returns. H&R Block spent $3 million, also directing some of their efforts towards the bill. Among the 60 co-sponsors of the bipartisan bill: then congressman and now Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

The bill, called the Free File Act of 2016, looks on the surface to be consumer-friendly. It makes permanent a public-private partnership in which 13 private tax preparation companies — called the “Free File Alliance” — have offered free online tax filings to lower- and middle-income families. The Free File Alliance include both Intuit and H&R Block. ...

https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-block-intuit-lobbying-against-it

#Quicken #Intuit #HRBlock #Lobbying #Lobbyists #Taxes #IRS #Form1040 #Corruption #ProPublica