1d ago

Bring out the trumpets and pour out the beer

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Fellow non-USians: no they don't have to pay their government for the privilege of being allowed to file their taxes. "For free" here means "without the help of a tax accountant (and online)". I was SO SO SO confused.
Edit: tax adviser? tax agent? some person who knows taxes.
- It's also not as easy as it is in other countries. It seems like most countries the government knows what you owe and you just verify it. In America the government says "we know already, but you have to tell me what you owe. If you're wrong we're coming after you." So it is a bit more complicated for us and since it's more complicated we use tax prep software or hire tax agents. Some services offer(d) free federal filing and you'd just pay $10-15 for state tax. Now I imagine there's going to be a feeding frenzy for the online services as their prices are going to increase...
  Trump will do anything and everything to make sure we have to pay some rich fuck...
  
  Oh I wasn't dismissing this as a non-issue or anything, it's clearly bullshit and yet another reason for you to burn cars and billionaires. But I remember when I first heard about this, specifically the "(file) for free" was INCREDIBLY confusing because as ridiculous many, many things the US does may seem to me, (what I understood as) the notion of paying your government a fee to process your taxes was juuust a bit too far out.
  You CAN still do it on your own though, just not online, yeah?
  
  Yeah you can definitely still do it on your own it's just very complicated for anyone who has more than just a job and no investment, property, etc. like a dude with one job who rents an apartment and has nothing else would more than likely have an easy time doing it, the hardest part for them would probably be the mail since no one does physical mail anymore lol
  Edit: shit that just reminds me, I don't even have a printer!
  
  Libraries have printers. Somehow its still 10 cents a page
  
  So far, Cashapp is still offering free filing. Feels weird to use it, but it's worked out fine for the past few years. I refuse to go back to TurboTax and their predatory free-until-its-not pricing.
  
  Freetaxusa.com if you feel weird supporting cash app
  
  you could always file a paper return
  
  Yep. That sounds about right in the year of Our Lord Yog Sothoth 2025 in the planet's richest country.
  
  They seem much more like worshippers of the Black Goat of the Woods.
  
  I just click accept on my taxes and then pay or receive whatever says there.
- So you can't file your taxes online? That's insane. Muricans need to get rid of this dude asap.
  
  This has been the status quo for many years. Direct file with the government was released within the last few years, which is what Trump is killing.
  Historically, you've had to pay someone like Intuit, H&R Block, or a local tax accountant to walk you through filing. Third parties that will all charge you a couple hundred dollars for the privilege, though the big firms will have online filing. You could also file purely by paper and mail, if you're a psycho (confident that you won't make audit-able mistakes).
  
  He's a mad king over an impressively uneducated and inept populace.
- i haven't invested in intuit out of spite (former tax accountant here, the term you're looking for is tax professional as there are too many worthless certs) but i'm really curious how much krasnov did. now the "easy" way to file in the US is turbotax, which is fine if you know how to answer the (intentionally obtuse) questions, which most people don't. Now it'll cost everyone at least $75 unless they raise their prices, which they will.
- intuit, and HR BLOCK have been lobbying forever to prevent it, they succeeded.

106 comments