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this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Just FYI, for people living in the following states:
You will be able to participate in the pilot program called Direct File.
Unlike Free File, Direct File is open to any income level and is NOT through a third party provider. You are directly filing with the IRS. That said, it is indeed a pilot program and it does not offer many of the usual IRS forms, so check the website to see if you can use this or not.
And for those wondering. Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing Intuit et al lobbied hard to Congress back in 2022 to not pass.
Obviously this isn't the return free system we've been promised since the 80s. But it is a good first step. The IRS has been tasked to report back to Congress when the pilot is over this year. For all we know the new system may work correct right out of the box, may eat some children, or cause the Hoover dam to explode. This is the first time the IRS has been allowed to build such a thing for the public.
Hopefully this all goes off without a hitch, because every success with Direct File is a kick to Goodarzi's nuts. Here's hoping this is the first step towards simplified taxes/return free taxes.
It is so ass backwards that they functionally require(d) an intermediary to file online. It would be so much easier to just have a literal email address (or webpage) where you could send your taxes. Too bad the vast majority of our politicians serve business interests (money) and not the American people.
And just to pour it on. Remember that Intuit had a PowerPoint presentation that leaked that indicated the number of challenges they have faced with Congress and the IRS repeatedly trying to create a return-free system. One of the slides from that PowerPoint.
It's amazing to think how much energy and money Intuit has spent to prevent simple taxes for the American public. Like it's been a thing they've been doing since the early 90s. They have gone to great lengths to deny people the ability to just click a button on the IRS website and call it done. The fact that we are actually getting Direct File is in itself an amazing accomplishment considering the massive amount of energy the tax preparation industry has tossed at ensuring this one thing, DID NOT HAPPEN.
Like if anyone actually sits and reads the history of Intuit and the US tax system, it's just some amazing, I cannot believe this happened IRL. Just the sheer knowing how evil they are and how they didn't care because it could affect their bottom line. They knew that they were falsely steering people into their paid product out of the Free File program and they didn't need to that to them. There were internal memos that were published where they admitted, "this is not in the spirit of the program" but failed to change course because "doing so would have significant impact of delivery of product to paying customers."
And the sheer level of money, people, energy, lobbying, etc they were throwing stopping all of this from happening. It's incredible. And yet, we're finally getting a pilot program to do some basic things directly with the Government. How Congress managed the squeak it out is a testament to how so many people wanted to indicate that Democrats did nothing with the two years they were given, and just this one thing was monumental and it's barely anything.
Because the people pushing back to prevent it, the term deep pockets, doesn't even begin to explain it. Like I never thought we would ever get a program like this. Yes, it's massively crippled BUT IT'S SOMETHING. It's just wild that this exists this year, I cannot even think of good words to describe how impossible this felt not but five years ago.
For those in and out of those states, there's also Tax Hawk, which has been available for free (for federal taxes) for a few years.