PCA Forums

TurboTax, H&R Block, and others have extreme lobbying power.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4383 ... -provision

One of the things I'm too stupid to do is file taxes. The one time I tried 20 years ago, I couldn't even get the EZ form correct as the IRS pointed out in the letter I received telling me I did it wrong. Now with a mortgage and my wife's side business, I couldn't hope to figure it out. We reluctantly use H&R Block and I feel like I got screwed twice when I leave.

In retrospect, I don't get why filing basic forms aren't taught to all High School students. Maybe in some places they are taught but I never was.

Here is an ideal... why dont the IRS just tell you what you owe or get back and if you dispute that result then you can file like we do now?

That's what a lot of people have proposed but companies like Intuit and H&R Block have lobbied Congress to prevent it.

Nowadays the IRS knows exactly what you make since anybody who gives you money has to file a form. Most Western governments do just that - they basically fill out the forms for you and send them to you with a bill. You either pay it as is or you file an amended form that you feel is more correct.

With the changes that were made to the tax laws recently, 90% of the people out there don't need to claim deductions anymore. So it would be easy to implement that here.

But there's way too much money involved.

Err: Next year I would highly recommend you find a small CPA office to do your taxes. You want a small enough office that there's just one or two accounts who are the owners and who actually do most of the work themselves. You don't want one of those mass production tax offices pretending to be accounting firms, where there's several seasonal people doing the forms and then they're just rubber-stamped by some accountant on the way out. This doesn't have to cost much, and it may even be cheaper than going H&R Block.

My wife and I have had a fairly complicated tax situation for 22 years since we're both self-employed and have a lot of investments and own LLCs. I only did it a couple of years myself cuz it's way too complicated.

However I have never used a tax service like H&R Block. Instead I found small CPA with a good reputation around here.

People are under the impression that having a CPA do your taxes costs a lot of money. It doesn't have to. My CPA does taxes for small businesses, individuals, even retirees who have very simple taxes. His rates are very reasonable. I have been stunned by what some people tell me they pay a Tax shop to do their taxes.

Sure I could drop a box off at his office full of loose receipts and let him do ALL the work and he'd probably charge me an arm & a leg, and I know for a fact he has some clients like that. But every year he sends me an electronic tax organizer to fill out. It includes all the entries from the previous year, and it's not particularly hard to fill out. He doesn't use that exclusively because he assumes most people are idiots and we'll fill it out wrong anyway so I also have to give him all the necessary forms and a sheet with the totals for personal and business expenses. If there's anything I forgot he emails me and asks. It's not hard - I put aside a day to put it all together for him. I don't actually use him as an accountant - I do my own bookkeeping - he just does my taxes.

Most importantly HE CARES. He doesn't just run it through the software and let it go like the part-timers at H&R Block. He lives this stuff. I know for a fact (because we've become good friends over the years and we mountain bike together) that during tax season he works insane 14-hour days because he doesn't allow a form come to out of his office unless he's personally reviewed it several times. He becomes a hermit during tax season.

I've gotten an email from him at 2 in the morning asking me about something while he's working on my taxes.

Thanks FP.

With the new laws, I think you have to have >24K in deductions in order to claim them so the only thing we'd have to get help with is the wife's side business.

I get tax law and finance on a surface level but I don't get the forms. It would be cheaper if we lived in a civilized western society where we just got a summary and a bill if we owe. There would sill be a need for accountants because of businesses. The average consumer just wouldn't get hosed.

I use a small CPA who used to work for the IRS herself. She's always told me to never file an EZ form. She jokes that the EZ form means it makes it "EZ" for the govt to keep your money.

BAM!!!

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, is the latest example of legal action being pursued against tax-preparation companies for allegedly hiding their free options. Last week the Los Angeles city attorney filed lawsuits against Intuit and H&R Block.

Class-action lawsuit filed against owner of TurboTax
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/4434 ... otax-maker

wife use them (on Line) to do are tax's this year and last couple. we just file short seeing I closed the company down. and we did min on the stock market any more. I did question her for a min when she said she payed. it did seem like a lot to file and her print the return out . but we didn't push it as she may of tossed it back at me . we did get a nice chunk of change back . she keeps going back because they do keep a record of the last years return . if this class action go's anywhere i'm sure we be included in it. so 10 years from now we might see a check . they have a bunch of small added fee's that don't seem like a lot when you get a return .but if you owe its like a extra bill you didn't expect to your done going though all the filing .
even a short form take 1 hour or more if you any extras to include in your filing . will say its nice that its a one stop for finding all the needed forms -no running back to the post office or digging thought uncle sam's site to find the right required form to fill out and print .

AAAAND maybe this will cause a bit more outrage. Seems like Military personal are getting screwed also:

TurboTax Uses A “Military Discount” to Trick Troops Into Paying to File Their Taxes
https://www.propublica.org/article/turb ... file-taxes