I'm confused because I can't tell what this actually refers to. It says:
> Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.
But the IRS already has one. I used it yesterday to fill out and e-file my taxes. It's "Free File Fillable Forms" (freefilefillableforms.com) that is basically an online replica of the tax forms, some fields get automatically calculated, but you have to manually calculate the actual level of tax you owe, and it's submitted electronically.
And all income levels can use it, unlike the free tier of commerical tax prep programs which are limited to below a certain income level.
I use it out of principle -- it's harder to use, closer to filling out tax forms by hand (unlike the "wizard"-type interfaces of commercial tax prep software), but I don't want to support the commercial solutions exactly because of lobbying like this.
So I can't tell what this bill aims to do specifically. Is it trying to get rid of Free File Fillable Forms, or is it preventing the IRS from building something better?
EDIT: Free File Fillable Forms is apparently a private organization that the IRS website links to. In my years of using it, I'd always assumed it was provided by the government. Wikipedia clarifies:
"Another component of Free File is Free File Fillable Forms, which is available to all taxpayers, including taxpayers whose incomes are greater than $66,000. It is an alternative to Free File Software, although both are free. Free File Fillable Forms is operated by a private organization, the Free File Alliance and not the IRS. Though IRS links to it, they do not endorse it or any product... There are no income restrictions for using Free File Fillable Forms... It provides free electronic filing. Free File Fillable Forms is managed by the Free File Alliance." [1]
I'm still unclear, however, if there's pressure to get rid of this option that is free for everyone. I sure hope not.
> Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.
But the IRS already has one. I used it yesterday to fill out and e-file my taxes. It's "Free File Fillable Forms" (freefilefillableforms.com) that is basically an online replica of the tax forms, some fields get automatically calculated, but you have to manually calculate the actual level of tax you owe, and it's submitted electronically.
And all income levels can use it, unlike the free tier of commerical tax prep programs which are limited to below a certain income level.
I use it out of principle -- it's harder to use, closer to filling out tax forms by hand (unlike the "wizard"-type interfaces of commercial tax prep software), but I don't want to support the commercial solutions exactly because of lobbying like this.
So I can't tell what this bill aims to do specifically. Is it trying to get rid of Free File Fillable Forms, or is it preventing the IRS from building something better?
EDIT: Free File Fillable Forms is apparently a private organization that the IRS website links to. In my years of using it, I'd always assumed it was provided by the government. Wikipedia clarifies:
"Another component of Free File is Free File Fillable Forms, which is available to all taxpayers, including taxpayers whose incomes are greater than $66,000. It is an alternative to Free File Software, although both are free. Free File Fillable Forms is operated by a private organization, the Free File Alliance and not the IRS. Though IRS links to it, they do not endorse it or any product... There are no income restrictions for using Free File Fillable Forms... It provides free electronic filing. Free File Fillable Forms is managed by the Free File Alliance." [1]
I'm still unclear, however, if there's pressure to get rid of this option that is free for everyone. I sure hope not.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File#Free_File_Fillable_F...