Posted on 01/21/2019 12:26:22 AM PST by vannrox
First, most people can walk into any HRB/Jackson Hewitt/Liberty Tax/etc. location and file their taxes for free, by a paid preparer. It costs nothing but if you can get extra $$ back by filing a few more forms then they charge. IF you want the extra refund. Personally, they clog our offices and make me work overtime, so make it very easy for them to file.
The IRS gets their info from employers. Ever had an employer issues a defective W2? It happens.
But would you really trust the IRS to properly calculate your Child Tax Credits or EIC? Leads to lots of arguments already, and it seems pretty clear cut to me.
And good luck if you get a 1099-MISC. Or a partnership form. Or a form from your broker.
Or one of a dozen forms that the IRS will not even issue a Final copy until March or April ... or even May.
Have a farm? Fishing or rental income? A trucker?
A better question is why we let accountants and lawyers write our tax and legal code to ensure that they have problems to solve - for a fee.
This offering of a pre-filled tax form from the IRS would work well for we who end up using the standard deduction and have all our income from W2s, interest payments and stock sales, etc. Those items already are electronically sent to the government by the payor so us filling in the blank on an empty form is redundant. Of course, me being careful, I’d check all the items before signing the pre-filled form.
The tax code contains exactly what Congress wants it to contain, it has nothing to do with what you want.
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