So my daughter had to do her taxes over the weekend. She worked part-time over last summer so no biggie. My wife and I have a person do ours so haven't been involved for over two decades. But my daughter never did it so here was my chance to "dad".
We print off the short form and start. How tough can it be? I get the 1040 and immediately run into "add lines 10, 11, 12 a/b/e/r, and subtract from line 23 c. If less than zero proceed to line 24. If not, proceed to line 34 z but do not forget to consider lines 17, 18 and 19 t/r/q if you are a contract professional receiving tips, wagers or have a 401 k or Roth IRA.....". No problem, just download the form 1040 instructions! Oops, it is 113 pages long !!!
After trying to mansplain it to her for an hour, I bring up Turbo Tax free. "put in line 1 from your W-2. Put in line 2 from your W-2. Put in line 3 from your W-2...". Did you move? Did you have any other jobs or have more than one W-2? Did you change your marital status? About 30 yes/no questions. Done.
A pure example of govt bureaucracy versus free markets. I was done in 18 minutes (including state and RITA). I was informed they were accepted within an hour of submission. She gets a full refund from all three govt taxers: fed, state, RITA.
I simply have no idea how people can do their taxes with the govt forms and no third-party help.
We print off the short form and start. How tough can it be? I get the 1040 and immediately run into "add lines 10, 11, 12 a/b/e/r, and subtract from line 23 c. If less than zero proceed to line 24. If not, proceed to line 34 z but do not forget to consider lines 17, 18 and 19 t/r/q if you are a contract professional receiving tips, wagers or have a 401 k or Roth IRA.....". No problem, just download the form 1040 instructions! Oops, it is 113 pages long !!!
After trying to mansplain it to her for an hour, I bring up Turbo Tax free. "put in line 1 from your W-2. Put in line 2 from your W-2. Put in line 3 from your W-2...". Did you move? Did you have any other jobs or have more than one W-2? Did you change your marital status? About 30 yes/no questions. Done.
A pure example of govt bureaucracy versus free markets. I was done in 18 minutes (including state and RITA). I was informed they were accepted within an hour of submission. She gets a full refund from all three govt taxers: fed, state, RITA.
I simply have no idea how people can do their taxes with the govt forms and no third-party help.
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