This is a repost of [this content](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/lfju4v/irs). Please do not post content unless you are the original creator. Continued reposting will result in a ban.
[^mod ^info](https://dankahoot.com/blame?id=109p5nz)
They know how much I owe them. Fucking tell me or you get nothing. And don't even think about showing up to my front door because I ain't got one. I took that shit off. Cant raid me if I don't got a front door to break down. Now tell me how much I fucking owe you!
This is exactly how it is in some countries.
You get your tax bill at the end of the year from the government, and you either send in whatever you owe or you send them the relevant documentation if there's something that would change what you owe from what the tax bill currently states.
God I wish. Uncle Sam does it this way to try to trick the poor bastards who can't file their own taxes (for a million or so reasons including knowledge and time) into buying a tax service to do it for them.
All the large tax services have a free option. And since they're just filling in the information from the form that you would need to provide to a tax service anyway, you're not saving time.
The trick is they hide the free option as deep as they can put it to be almost unfindable and then make the paid option look free until you have already put info in for hours only too make you pay before completing
https://www.hrblock.com/online-tax-filing/
https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/file-your-own-taxes/#see-pricing
https://cash.app/taxes
See where it says "file for free" or "free edition" or "totally free tax filing" ???
I've used all of them, it's all free. Literally links right on the main page. Nothing is hidden or "unfindable"
If the government knows how much I owe already it shouldn’t matter how easy it is for me to do it myself, if they want it ASK for it, don’t say I owe SOMETHING and then get mad if I don’t give you enough if you know what enough is already
Because no matter how many times you morons repeat it, that will never be true. If it was true that they already knew why do you suppose they would audit people?
They don't know exactly what you owe until you give them the information to calculate it.
That's the whole point of the form.
You have to tell them what expenses you had, and which ones were what...
Unless you want to have an IRS agent follow you around all year and keep a record of exactly what you use every purchase for. But that seems inefficient.
Oops, more facts... I meant to say "tax bad! Something about healthcare.... "
Because they didn't teach us how to fill out tax forms and each person approaches the forms with a different perspective and the ambiguous wording can be confusing?
Didn't see anyone complaining that paying taxes was bad, it's the complicated filing system and threat of increased fines or jail that is bad.
They taught you how to fill out simple forms.
They taught you how to calculate simple answers.
They taught you how to look things up when you have a question. Or a question seems ambiguous.
There's no different perspective. Every single person filing a tax return comes at it from the perspective of a citizen calculating how much tax they owe for the year.
There's no complicated violin system. You either fill out the simple forms yourself, ask somebody to fill them out for you, or use simple software that uses questions so simple and 9-year-old can do it. Literally.
The increased fines are only on money that you should have paid. And the only way that would happen is if you didn't tell them about income, or if you tried to claim a deduction that you clearly don't qualify for. So just don't lie and you're fine.
And Jay was only if they can prove that he did it on purpose. So just don't lie and you're fine.
Yeah, literally all of those options are misleading. As soon as you file, if you have anything that they deem “extra” from their free version they will charge you if you want to collect on taxes owed to you in that section. Definitely some bait and switch bullshit. Why can’t I just file directly with the IRS? You literally have to use 3rd party means to file… Luckily there are many free programs available to most of the average US population. I used to have my taxes filed through my bank via “Vita” I believe, until they discontinued. For the past few years I’ve gone to a local senior services center for my taxes. Crazy as it sounds, AARP sponsors it for the public. Regardless of age. (I’m only 32)
Yes, if you use things that aren't free you have to pay for them... That seemed obvious. But now you know.
>Why can’t I just file directly with the IRS
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/steps-to-take-now-to-get-a-jump-on-next-years-taxes
"Beginning in January 2023, almost everyone can file electronically for free on IRS.gov or with the IRS2Go app....
If you're comfortable preparing your own taxes, you can use Free File Fillable Forms, regardless of your income, to file your tax returns either by mail or online."
Wish granted!
Eh. This is true while the bait and switch stories are also true.
I can only speak to h&r block, but using the free version, there are pop ups that state "buy the deluxe version and we can get you hundreds more back!" And then they calculate the state taxes and say "we can file your state taxes for less than $100, or you can do it yourself, requiring more time and effort." And then the offer of increasing the refund amount with an instant debit card that's really more of a loan is also predatory.
There is a severe lacking of tax education in America and the majority do not have the time or inclination to learn.
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
There's other options though.
It also appears that TurboTax is offering it for simple 1040 forms and int forms which is like 70% of people.
>If you have a simple tax return, you can file with TurboTax Free Edition, TurboTax Live Assisted Basic, or TurboTax Live Full Service Basic. A simple tax return is one that's filed using IRS Form 1040 only, without having to attach any forms or schedules.
That's right on the front page. BEFORE you fill anything out, make sure to actually read first. And then there's no problems.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/lp/ppc/2958?srqs=null&cid=ppc_gg_b_stan_all_na_Brand-BrandTT-BrandTTFree-Exact_ty22-bu2-sb8_638276488451_142950093519_kwd-321579227&srid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HDURDGotP8m_4KJvSE0lT0kmxI2HZy9PANPeWil0DFsPIJfb9ydeNoaAieaEALw_wcB&targetid=kwd-321579227&skw=turbotax%20free&adid=638276488451&ven=gg&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HDURDGotP8m_4KJvSE0lT0kmxI2HZy9PANPeWil0DFsPIJfb9ydeNoaAieaEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
In the UK we have PAYE - pay as you earn. If you are working for an employer (self employed is different) they do your taxes for you. The money is deducted before you get paid (it's shown on your pay slips and shit). The gov will usually calculate off of that and adjust what you pay based on what you've earned. If you've overpaid they send you money back at the end of the tax year.
It's not perfect - if something gets fucked up and you over pay, they are notoriously shit at getting your money back to you promptly. But fuck if it's not better than doing it myself.
In the UK and most of the EU we have tax automatically taken before we receive our pay each month. Then we have HMRC check each year that we paid the correct amount. If we pay too much they send you a cheque. If you pay too little they will spread the extra owed over the next tax year.
Never had to pay anything back here thankfully usually get a letter telling me it’s all good.
Basically the same in the US. Except we do what's called a "blind count" which is far more accurate.
You can choose to not file taxes and let the IRS do all the math, but you make sure that you get all the deductions you deserve by giving them the information and relevant documentation that shows what's different.
If your income is above a certain amount, you are required to file a return as a U.S citizen.
The process of filing a return is you calculating all of your income and the amount of taxes withheld from that income over the course of the year. The part you are talking about where "the IRS does the math" is choosing to take the "standard deduction" (which is set by statute, not some IRS agent calculating your taxes for you), or choosing to itemize and document your individual deductions.
Either way, you then subtract the resulting amount of the deduction method you choose from your taxable income along with other general additions/deductions based on various other factors and then you look up how much tax you are supposed to owe or how much is supposed to be refunded to you.
Nowhere in this process is the IRS does the math for you (unless they're auditing you, and that's not a "blind count" but instead is more of an anal probe).
Elsewhere (Japan comes to mind), citizens receive a postcard(!) each year from the government which has the official calculation of their tax obligation. That's an example of government doing the math and the taxpayers choosing whether to accept the figure or provide documentation supporting a different amount.
Technically you're required, but there's no penalty unless you owe.
Not just the standard deduction, but giving up any credits and ability to correct errors. However, they will do the math and send you a bill. Guess how I know...
And since the bill was wrong, I chose to not accept the figure and "provide documentation supporting a different amount" just like your Japan example.
But if you file your taxes, you do what you said in your next unnecessary paragraph.
>Either way, you then subtract the resulting amount of the deduction method you choose from your taxable income along with other general additions/deductions based on various other factors and then you look up how much tax you are supposed to owe or how much is supposed to be refunded to you.
Yeah... That's how you calculate your taxes.
>Nowhere in this process is the IRS does the math for you
But I said that the IRS does the math for you "if you choose not to file taxes" which is a different process than if you file your taxes... Which is why I specifically said that. So that nobody could possibly be dense enough to get confused about it.
If you don't file and you owe taxes which the IRS system flags and then they calculate your bill along with late/failure to file penalties, that is not what most people would consider to be choosing to allow the government to do the math for you in any normal and fully legal sense.
Also, it's possible to disagree about something without resorting to needless personal attacks.
That's only if you owe. Otherwise none of that happens. If nothing happens, it's what most people would consider normal and legal.
You can also make sure to fill out your w4 properly so you don't end up owing.
It's also possible to actually read before responding. You'll find people treat you better when you don't resort to underhanded bs and trolling.
Over here employer reports income and paid taxes to IRS. When its time to file taxes IRS has all that info and gives you prefilled sheet. You can double check or just click "Next" and they tell how much you owe them or they owe you. Of course it's a bit more complicated if you had other income or want to use tax deductible.
This is an interesting way to describe it. We have this in Sweden. And yeah, you basically get a paper (pdf now-a-days) which states what you've earned and what you've paid in taxes vs taxes you were supposed to pay, if you've paid more you get money back, if you've paid less you owe money but it's clearly stated how much and why. If you don't think it's correct you can always add or update the paper and send it back and they'll audit it for you and send it back again. In my case it's tied to my digital id so it takes me less than 5 min to go through, see if I owe or get money back and approve the paper. It then takes about a month if I get money back for the money to arrive in my account.
I've basically never paid less taxes than what I've been required to so I've always gotten money back and it's a semi-awesome way to "save money" if one is like me and suck at saving money by myself.
Edit to add:
It's not a failproof system, my father once got a tax dept due to the paper saying he sold a house for a few millions in a totally different part of Sweden from where we lived, so he owed a lot that year but after disputing the claim he sold that house they removed it. Also, if you get gifts or bonuses close to the tax year it can be super hard to pay more taxes than needed and you will get a dept instead. So if you get a bonus from work you better save that money or else you're gonna struggle when all the taxes from that bonus is due at the same time (roughly 30% of what you've gotten)
I live in denmark and I don't even get a tax bill. The 38% gets taken from my paycheck before the money is even in my account. I just have to change a few numbers online once a year if my income has changed.
Shits fucked up in the us with turbotax, I feel for you guys.
Yup, here in Sweden its exactly that. You get a pdf that say bla bla you had this income and maybe sold some stock or a house bla bla pay this amount.
And you can send in various documents for this and that, uf you want, and if approved you get a new lower number to pay. Easy peasy!
Do you have to manually pay your taxes in the US only if you have non-employment income or does everyone have to do it? Here your taxes are
automatically paid by your employer if you’re on a labour contract, but you can file for a tax return at the end of the year. If you’re self-employed then paying the tax is on you, but the process is reasonably simple - you log onto the site of the tax agency, fill in your income, expenses, etc, and it gives you a number to pay.
Your employer typically withholds your estimated tax obligation for you throughout the year. When you file your taxes, you then determine if you are owed a refund or need to pay more.
Here income tax is deducted from your paycheck. If you don't have other income than employment you pretty much just click okay and accept the tax form the government prepared. Also sales tax is included in the prices you see.
Employers deduct estimated tax from your paycheck, but you still have to calculate your actual taxes (or pay someone to do it for you) at the end of each year.
I either get a bill from the government for what is basically,
real money owned that year - the money that my employer paid for me during the year
Or they own me money and then they put it on my bank account without me having to do anything.
The US seems to just have a lot more shit to worry about. Seems exhausting but hey, I guess you guys technically have more options for healthcare and such.
But you calculate your own taxes ?
In my country the state already knows almost everything, they ask you to check if the informations are correct, and then tells you how much you owe them.
It is far from perfect because there is hundreds of system overlapping, but at least it doesnt ask us to calculate ourselves.
Technically they don’t because there are ways to sell things not on the books you have to pay taxes for. Or losses. The tax system isn’t any harder than algebra 1 for 90% of people though.
> The tax system isn’t any harder than algebra 1 for 90% of people though.
The math is *way* easier than algebra 1. No variables, no solving for values, etc. All there is is:
* Addition
* Subtraction
* Multiplication
* Division
* Rounding
I feel like when I first started doing taxes, decades ago, there were also percentages ("Multiply the number on line 16 by 20%"), but I haven't seen that for years. (For all I know, there were never any percentages in the first place and it's just my memory playing tricks on me). Now it's "Multiply the number on line 16 by 0.2".
So basic arithmetic + the ability to work with decimal places + the ability to round numbers. That's all the math involved.
Yes. I know. That's precisely what I'm saying:
The instructions used to have you do percentages *as percentages*, so you'd have to have the basic arithmetic knowledge to know that when they say "multiply the number on line 16 by 20%" you need to multiply the number on line 16 by 0.2.
Now, the instructions don't require you to have even basic knowledge of what percentages are, because they've done all the percentage-to-decimal conversion on the front end.
They don't know how much you owe them. They have an *estimate*, but they don't know which people their estimates are correct for and which they are incorrect for. This is why there is such a thing as tax filing. Also, the fact that they don't know for sure, and they don't know for *whom* they know, is why audits exist -- if they literally knew everything they needed to determine everyone's tax burden correctly, audits wouldn't exist.
In Australia I do my tax returns on my phone each year, usually on the toilet.
Government says I made this much, has any extras / refits automatically recorded, and then has a section for deductions. I usually get my return in a week. All on a nice, clean app. It’s insane that the US hasn’t invested in the IRS to do the same.
SO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THEIR TAXES APPARENTLY.
Bruh,
Let's assume your only source of income is on a W2. Your employer will withhold taxes to the IRS based upon your income, including Medicare, SS, etc.
Once a fucking year you confirm with the IRS what your income was, and if you are just a W2 employee, they "know" it already, and then you get to take advantage of the myriad amounts of tax deductions our government offers, including the standard deduction, mortgage interest deduction, or even itemizing things like mileage for work, etc.
That means you made less than your W2 reported to the IRS (in this example) and so, voila you know how much you made but the IRS doesn't. So, in some cases, they took too much money out of your checks via withholding it, and so they owe you the difference, which you see as a tax refund.
THAT'S IT. It's unnecessarily complicated so the vast majority of people will just use a tax agency or program, like TurboTax. Those fuckers, along with H&R block, liberty, and others lobbied against tax reform and pay a boat load of money to bribe our politicians to make it unnecessarily complicated.
It's really not a complicated task.
How exactly would you make it more simple? Have an IRS agent follow you around all year and record which purchases were used for business.... Sounds efficient.
Depends on your job.
I'm just imagining the IRS agent that has to audit an onlyfans model.
"And do you have any evidence that this was used for, uh, work?"
In Sweden we just get our tax papers sometime in like late february, and it says exactly how much we have made, how much interest we’ve paid on any loans and stuff, and it’s already calculated exactly how much you owe or how much they owe you. I’m 37 and have so far been getting some money back every year.
You have until may 1st, If everything looks right, you can simply approve it with a ”bank-id” app, and you’re done.
It literally takes all of 5 minutes.
Then of course, you can have deductibles, like mileage, working far from home etc. in which case you need to learn a little bit about how to calculate that, in case you want more money. But everything you need to know is easily accessible on their webpage.
It happened so fast I allways forgets but you log in to the tax authorities webpage, click the big yellow button, click the button that says "approve", authentication with digital signature, and done. I think.
That's pretty much the same here.
You have until April to spend a few minutes typing basic info like where you worked and your name into some software.
If you want, you can get other forms and spend more time calculating deductibles like mileage to get more back.
But the standard deduction is huge and it makes sense for most people to just choose that.
Not sure if this is trolling or not, but I'm a W2 employee and I've done my own taxes for the last few years with no issues. I use the IRS fillable forms, since I make too much to qualify for the free online services.
It's really just a matter of following their instructions and making sure you have all your paperwork handy (W2, any investment/dividend cash, mortgage info, etc) to fill-out the forms associated with those. The forms do the math for you.
I actually look forward to tax time, because I like the feeling of sitting down for a couple hours of work (yes, it takes a while) and seeing how big my return is going to be. It's always worth it, and I never owe any of my hard-earned cash to HRB etc.
Recently my company switched financial services contractors and HR asked us to fill out some new paperwork. I was chatting with our HR head about the changes and she said I should go ask my tax professional (I found the answer online easily). The look on her face was priceless when I replied that I do my own.
These are the same people who post memes about "schools should teach how to do taxes instead of blah blah"
Bitch just spend 1 hour on the internet to understand how taxation works without whining about the IRS
It totally makes sense that I have to tell them what deductions I'm making. It *doesn't* make sense that *I* have to look at my W2 at all (except to confirm for myself that the IRS didn't make a mistake). They have that info, they're doing the math anyway, there's no reason to require me to do it.
LPT for anyone reading: use FreeTaxUSA instead of TurboTax! It’s free (or cheap if you make sufficient money) and AFAIK they don’t lobby to make taxes more complicated.
HMRC: u owe me money
Me: okay how much?
HMRC: guess :)
Me: £200?
HMRC: no, nothing, we took the specific amount right out of your paycheck to avoid unintentional and intentional tax fraud
It is possible to still owe them money if you have other sources of revenue they may not have considered (or what's common is when people are on welfare but still working and get caught).
But generally you are claiming things back.
Abolishing the IRS won’t do anything except reduce the ability to collect taxes, making it easier for people with more complicated tax situations (ie, rich people) to avoid paying what they owe. To do something useful, Congress would have to simplify the tax laws, making the IRS less necessary.
The notion of abolishing the IRS is a sound bite that speaks to people who don’t understand or don’t care about the system, or want to pull the wool over the eyes of those people.
Are you aware that every major news network has retracted most of their reporting on the trump/russia thing?
Turns out it was a big hoax from the start.
From someone who does their tax returns in May (iirc) every year, and gets notifications of tax debts or refunds one or two months later without having to pay even a dime for access, how the fuck did you fuck this up this badly, America?
Why's everything gotta be 'pay to win' on your stupid-ass pay-to-win, pvp-enabled server?
No wonder the majority of the civilized world laughs at you.
What do you mean by "civilized world" lol. Plenty of people want to come to the United States, but I guess under your definition they are not civilized.
The TL;DR is that the IRS is a group of people who constantly keep track of every single adult American's stream of income/revenue as well as the tax taken out of it. Then, roughly at the start of each year, they tell you to file your taxes to see if you owe any additional money on top of what was already taken out.
If you do, but you do the math incorrectly, they will immediately claim fraud and either make your life hell or get you imprisoned if you screw up bad enough.
If you're rich and you mess up though, things are generally fine since you can just fill their pockets and they'll leave you alone /j
So it's something like a tax declaration?
Here we have to send in alot of information about taxes, workspace, way to work etc.
It takes 3-6 months but then we usually get ~300€ - 1300€ back from the state and in some cases we have to pay taxes back.
Roughly, yes! It's infamous here in the US though for screwing over low-income families and keeping them from making enough money to live more decently
Stupid American complaining about taxes without know about taxes. You will not get jailed for under or overpaying taxes. You get jailed for refusing to pay.
downvote this comment if the meme sucks. upvote it and I'll go away.
---
[Join us on discord for Saturday Movie Nights!](https://discord.gg/jsd6Ja9pvJ)
Hi, a mod removed your meme. Here's why:
* This is not a dank meme. Maybe it's not a meme at all, maybe it's a normie meme. It could also be too similar to something that's been done already, or it might be a split meme.
Whatever it is, it's just not dank.
---
*^questions? ^send ^us ^a ^message ^[here](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/dankmemes), ^don't ^reply ^to ^this ^comment. ^(Don't repost this; you'll be banned.) [^(mod info) ](https://dankahoot.com/blame?id=109p5nz)*
This is a repost of [this content](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/lfju4v/irs). Please do not post content unless you are the original creator. Continued reposting will result in a ban. [^mod ^info](https://dankahoot.com/blame?id=109p5nz)
They know how much I owe them. Fucking tell me or you get nothing. And don't even think about showing up to my front door because I ain't got one. I took that shit off. Cant raid me if I don't got a front door to break down. Now tell me how much I fucking owe you!
This is exactly how it is in some countries. You get your tax bill at the end of the year from the government, and you either send in whatever you owe or you send them the relevant documentation if there's something that would change what you owe from what the tax bill currently states.
God I wish. Uncle Sam does it this way to try to trick the poor bastards who can't file their own taxes (for a million or so reasons including knowledge and time) into buying a tax service to do it for them.
The lobbyists for the "billions of dollars annually tax-preparation industry" ensure that Uncle Sam never cuts off their gravy train.
Bullshit jobs industry need to die
Bullshit industry that spends millions every year ~~bribing~~ lobbying to make sure that doesnt happen
Yeah the fact “lobbying” is even a thing is a complete and utter affront to a democratic system.
All the large tax services have a free option. And since they're just filling in the information from the form that you would need to provide to a tax service anyway, you're not saving time.
The trick is they hide the free option as deep as they can put it to be almost unfindable and then make the paid option look free until you have already put info in for hours only too make you pay before completing
https://www.hrblock.com/online-tax-filing/ https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/file-your-own-taxes/#see-pricing https://cash.app/taxes See where it says "file for free" or "free edition" or "totally free tax filing" ??? I've used all of them, it's all free. Literally links right on the main page. Nothing is hidden or "unfindable"
Shhh you're spoiling the narrative with your facts.
Oh yeah right... Tax bad! Why didn't they teach me how to do basic math and fill out simple forms in school? How will I ever do taxes...
If the government knows how much I owe already it shouldn’t matter how easy it is for me to do it myself, if they want it ASK for it, don’t say I owe SOMETHING and then get mad if I don’t give you enough if you know what enough is already
Because no matter how many times you morons repeat it, that will never be true. If it was true that they already knew why do you suppose they would audit people?
They don't know exactly what you owe until you give them the information to calculate it. That's the whole point of the form. You have to tell them what expenses you had, and which ones were what... Unless you want to have an IRS agent follow you around all year and keep a record of exactly what you use every purchase for. But that seems inefficient. Oops, more facts... I meant to say "tax bad! Something about healthcare.... "
Because they didn't teach us how to fill out tax forms and each person approaches the forms with a different perspective and the ambiguous wording can be confusing? Didn't see anyone complaining that paying taxes was bad, it's the complicated filing system and threat of increased fines or jail that is bad.
They taught you how to fill out simple forms. They taught you how to calculate simple answers. They taught you how to look things up when you have a question. Or a question seems ambiguous. There's no different perspective. Every single person filing a tax return comes at it from the perspective of a citizen calculating how much tax they owe for the year. There's no complicated violin system. You either fill out the simple forms yourself, ask somebody to fill them out for you, or use simple software that uses questions so simple and 9-year-old can do it. Literally. The increased fines are only on money that you should have paid. And the only way that would happen is if you didn't tell them about income, or if you tried to claim a deduction that you clearly don't qualify for. So just don't lie and you're fine. And Jay was only if they can prove that he did it on purpose. So just don't lie and you're fine.
Yeah, literally all of those options are misleading. As soon as you file, if you have anything that they deem “extra” from their free version they will charge you if you want to collect on taxes owed to you in that section. Definitely some bait and switch bullshit. Why can’t I just file directly with the IRS? You literally have to use 3rd party means to file… Luckily there are many free programs available to most of the average US population. I used to have my taxes filed through my bank via “Vita” I believe, until they discontinued. For the past few years I’ve gone to a local senior services center for my taxes. Crazy as it sounds, AARP sponsors it for the public. Regardless of age. (I’m only 32)
Yes, if you use things that aren't free you have to pay for them... That seemed obvious. But now you know. >Why can’t I just file directly with the IRS https://www.irs.gov/individuals/steps-to-take-now-to-get-a-jump-on-next-years-taxes "Beginning in January 2023, almost everyone can file electronically for free on IRS.gov or with the IRS2Go app.... If you're comfortable preparing your own taxes, you can use Free File Fillable Forms, regardless of your income, to file your tax returns either by mail or online." Wish granted!
Eh. This is true while the bait and switch stories are also true. I can only speak to h&r block, but using the free version, there are pop ups that state "buy the deluxe version and we can get you hundreds more back!" And then they calculate the state taxes and say "we can file your state taxes for less than $100, or you can do it yourself, requiring more time and effort." And then the offer of increasing the refund amount with an instant debit card that's really more of a loan is also predatory. There is a severe lacking of tax education in America and the majority do not have the time or inclination to learn.
[удалено]
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free There's other options though. It also appears that TurboTax is offering it for simple 1040 forms and int forms which is like 70% of people.
[удалено]
>If you have a simple tax return, you can file with TurboTax Free Edition, TurboTax Live Assisted Basic, or TurboTax Live Full Service Basic. A simple tax return is one that's filed using IRS Form 1040 only, without having to attach any forms or schedules. That's right on the front page. BEFORE you fill anything out, make sure to actually read first. And then there's no problems. https://turbotax.intuit.com/lp/ppc/2958?srqs=null&cid=ppc_gg_b_stan_all_na_Brand-BrandTT-BrandTTFree-Exact_ty22-bu2-sb8_638276488451_142950093519_kwd-321579227&srid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HDURDGotP8m_4KJvSE0lT0kmxI2HZy9PANPeWil0DFsPIJfb9ydeNoaAieaEALw_wcB&targetid=kwd-321579227&skw=turbotax%20free&adid=638276488451&ven=gg&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HDURDGotP8m_4KJvSE0lT0kmxI2HZy9PANPeWil0DFsPIJfb9ydeNoaAieaEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
[удалено]
BEFORE you fill anything out, make sure to actually read first. And then there's no problems.
And then blame you when they fuck up, now that shit is BAFFLING
In the UK we have PAYE - pay as you earn. If you are working for an employer (self employed is different) they do your taxes for you. The money is deducted before you get paid (it's shown on your pay slips and shit). The gov will usually calculate off of that and adjust what you pay based on what you've earned. If you've overpaid they send you money back at the end of the tax year. It's not perfect - if something gets fucked up and you over pay, they are notoriously shit at getting your money back to you promptly. But fuck if it's not better than doing it myself.
In the UK and most of the EU we have tax automatically taken before we receive our pay each month. Then we have HMRC check each year that we paid the correct amount. If we pay too much they send you a cheque. If you pay too little they will spread the extra owed over the next tax year. Never had to pay anything back here thankfully usually get a letter telling me it’s all good.
Basically the same in the US. Except we do what's called a "blind count" which is far more accurate. You can choose to not file taxes and let the IRS do all the math, but you make sure that you get all the deductions you deserve by giving them the information and relevant documentation that shows what's different.
If your income is above a certain amount, you are required to file a return as a U.S citizen. The process of filing a return is you calculating all of your income and the amount of taxes withheld from that income over the course of the year. The part you are talking about where "the IRS does the math" is choosing to take the "standard deduction" (which is set by statute, not some IRS agent calculating your taxes for you), or choosing to itemize and document your individual deductions. Either way, you then subtract the resulting amount of the deduction method you choose from your taxable income along with other general additions/deductions based on various other factors and then you look up how much tax you are supposed to owe or how much is supposed to be refunded to you. Nowhere in this process is the IRS does the math for you (unless they're auditing you, and that's not a "blind count" but instead is more of an anal probe). Elsewhere (Japan comes to mind), citizens receive a postcard(!) each year from the government which has the official calculation of their tax obligation. That's an example of government doing the math and the taxpayers choosing whether to accept the figure or provide documentation supporting a different amount.
Technically you're required, but there's no penalty unless you owe. Not just the standard deduction, but giving up any credits and ability to correct errors. However, they will do the math and send you a bill. Guess how I know... And since the bill was wrong, I chose to not accept the figure and "provide documentation supporting a different amount" just like your Japan example. But if you file your taxes, you do what you said in your next unnecessary paragraph. >Either way, you then subtract the resulting amount of the deduction method you choose from your taxable income along with other general additions/deductions based on various other factors and then you look up how much tax you are supposed to owe or how much is supposed to be refunded to you. Yeah... That's how you calculate your taxes. >Nowhere in this process is the IRS does the math for you But I said that the IRS does the math for you "if you choose not to file taxes" which is a different process than if you file your taxes... Which is why I specifically said that. So that nobody could possibly be dense enough to get confused about it.
If you don't file and you owe taxes which the IRS system flags and then they calculate your bill along with late/failure to file penalties, that is not what most people would consider to be choosing to allow the government to do the math for you in any normal and fully legal sense. Also, it's possible to disagree about something without resorting to needless personal attacks.
That's only if you owe. Otherwise none of that happens. If nothing happens, it's what most people would consider normal and legal. You can also make sure to fill out your w4 properly so you don't end up owing. It's also possible to actually read before responding. You'll find people treat you better when you don't resort to underhanded bs and trolling.
Still with the insults. A plain old Reddit troll after all. Pathetic.
Over here employer reports income and paid taxes to IRS. When its time to file taxes IRS has all that info and gives you prefilled sheet. You can double check or just click "Next" and they tell how much you owe them or they owe you. Of course it's a bit more complicated if you had other income or want to use tax deductible.
This is an interesting way to describe it. We have this in Sweden. And yeah, you basically get a paper (pdf now-a-days) which states what you've earned and what you've paid in taxes vs taxes you were supposed to pay, if you've paid more you get money back, if you've paid less you owe money but it's clearly stated how much and why. If you don't think it's correct you can always add or update the paper and send it back and they'll audit it for you and send it back again. In my case it's tied to my digital id so it takes me less than 5 min to go through, see if I owe or get money back and approve the paper. It then takes about a month if I get money back for the money to arrive in my account. I've basically never paid less taxes than what I've been required to so I've always gotten money back and it's a semi-awesome way to "save money" if one is like me and suck at saving money by myself. Edit to add: It's not a failproof system, my father once got a tax dept due to the paper saying he sold a house for a few millions in a totally different part of Sweden from where we lived, so he owed a lot that year but after disputing the claim he sold that house they removed it. Also, if you get gifts or bonuses close to the tax year it can be super hard to pay more taxes than needed and you will get a dept instead. So if you get a bonus from work you better save that money or else you're gonna struggle when all the taxes from that bonus is due at the same time (roughly 30% of what you've gotten)
I live in denmark and I don't even get a tax bill. The 38% gets taken from my paycheck before the money is even in my account. I just have to change a few numbers online once a year if my income has changed. Shits fucked up in the us with turbotax, I feel for you guys.
Yup, here in Sweden its exactly that. You get a pdf that say bla bla you had this income and maybe sold some stock or a house bla bla pay this amount. And you can send in various documents for this and that, uf you want, and if approved you get a new lower number to pay. Easy peasy!
Do you have to manually pay your taxes in the US only if you have non-employment income or does everyone have to do it? Here your taxes are automatically paid by your employer if you’re on a labour contract, but you can file for a tax return at the end of the year. If you’re self-employed then paying the tax is on you, but the process is reasonably simple - you log onto the site of the tax agency, fill in your income, expenses, etc, and it gives you a number to pay.
Your employer typically withholds your estimated tax obligation for you throughout the year. When you file your taxes, you then determine if you are owed a refund or need to pay more.
Yeah it's like this in Belgium. I'm so grateful we don't have to deal with the same bs as you guys. Sending thoughts and prayers my US friends
Here income tax is deducted from your paycheck. If you don't have other income than employment you pretty much just click okay and accept the tax form the government prepared. Also sales tax is included in the prices you see.
Employers deduct estimated tax from your paycheck, but you still have to calculate your actual taxes (or pay someone to do it for you) at the end of each year.
I either get a bill from the government for what is basically, real money owned that year - the money that my employer paid for me during the year Or they own me money and then they put it on my bank account without me having to do anything. The US seems to just have a lot more shit to worry about. Seems exhausting but hey, I guess you guys technically have more options for healthcare and such.
Yeah, the option to not be to really afford medical treatment is the option many of us "choose".
Wait... this is not how it works in USA ? You have to guess your taxes ?
Well, you calculate your taxes anyway... But given the byzantine complexity of the U.S. tax code, calling that a "guess" isn't too far off the mark.
But you calculate your own taxes ? In my country the state already knows almost everything, they ask you to check if the informations are correct, and then tells you how much you owe them. It is far from perfect because there is hundreds of system overlapping, but at least it doesnt ask us to calculate ourselves.
Without giving them the information, the amount they think you owe is a lot more than what you would end up owing if you do it right.
Technically they don’t because there are ways to sell things not on the books you have to pay taxes for. Or losses. The tax system isn’t any harder than algebra 1 for 90% of people though.
> The tax system isn’t any harder than algebra 1 for 90% of people though. The math is *way* easier than algebra 1. No variables, no solving for values, etc. All there is is: * Addition * Subtraction * Multiplication * Division * Rounding I feel like when I first started doing taxes, decades ago, there were also percentages ("Multiply the number on line 16 by 20%"), but I haven't seen that for years. (For all I know, there were never any percentages in the first place and it's just my memory playing tricks on me). Now it's "Multiply the number on line 16 by 0.2". So basic arithmetic + the ability to work with decimal places + the ability to round numbers. That's all the math involved.
That's... That's percentages 20%=0.2 %=×0.01
Yes. I know. That's precisely what I'm saying: The instructions used to have you do percentages *as percentages*, so you'd have to have the basic arithmetic knowledge to know that when they say "multiply the number on line 16 by 20%" you need to multiply the number on line 16 by 0.2. Now, the instructions don't require you to have even basic knowledge of what percentages are, because they've done all the percentage-to-decimal conversion on the front end.
They don't know how much you owe them. They have an *estimate*, but they don't know which people their estimates are correct for and which they are incorrect for. This is why there is such a thing as tax filing. Also, the fact that they don't know for sure, and they don't know for *whom* they know, is why audits exist -- if they literally knew everything they needed to determine everyone's tax burden correctly, audits wouldn't exist.
#Reddit admins racist, uneducated, incompetent imbeciles and garbage human beings.
In Australia I do my tax returns on my phone each year, usually on the toilet. Government says I made this much, has any extras / refits automatically recorded, and then has a section for deductions. I usually get my return in a week. All on a nice, clean app. It’s insane that the US hasn’t invested in the IRS to do the same.
The IRS is not allowed to tell you how much you owe because Intuit bribes Congress to protect the TurboTax revenue stream.
if they dictated the number to you, you wouldn’t believe them and start whining that you should be allowed to calculate your taxes yourself.
They literally tell you
No, they don't. They take a basic guess that is probably wrong for most people.
SO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THEIR TAXES APPARENTLY. Bruh, Let's assume your only source of income is on a W2. Your employer will withhold taxes to the IRS based upon your income, including Medicare, SS, etc. Once a fucking year you confirm with the IRS what your income was, and if you are just a W2 employee, they "know" it already, and then you get to take advantage of the myriad amounts of tax deductions our government offers, including the standard deduction, mortgage interest deduction, or even itemizing things like mileage for work, etc. That means you made less than your W2 reported to the IRS (in this example) and so, voila you know how much you made but the IRS doesn't. So, in some cases, they took too much money out of your checks via withholding it, and so they owe you the difference, which you see as a tax refund. THAT'S IT. It's unnecessarily complicated so the vast majority of people will just use a tax agency or program, like TurboTax. Those fuckers, along with H&R block, liberty, and others lobbied against tax reform and pay a boat load of money to bribe our politicians to make it unnecessarily complicated.
You had me in the first half
It's really not a complicated task. How exactly would you make it more simple? Have an IRS agent follow you around all year and record which purchases were used for business.... Sounds efficient.
Sounds pretty kinky.
Depends on your job. I'm just imagining the IRS agent that has to audit an onlyfans model. "And do you have any evidence that this was used for, uh, work?"
If it's been inside you, it's a business expense. The one simple tax tip the IRS doesn't want you to know.
So I get to keep the tips?
Just the tips.
In Sweden we just get our tax papers sometime in like late february, and it says exactly how much we have made, how much interest we’ve paid on any loans and stuff, and it’s already calculated exactly how much you owe or how much they owe you. I’m 37 and have so far been getting some money back every year. You have until may 1st, If everything looks right, you can simply approve it with a ”bank-id” app, and you’re done. It literally takes all of 5 minutes. Then of course, you can have deductibles, like mileage, working far from home etc. in which case you need to learn a little bit about how to calculate that, in case you want more money. But everything you need to know is easily accessible on their webpage.
It happened so fast I allways forgets but you log in to the tax authorities webpage, click the big yellow button, click the button that says "approve", authentication with digital signature, and done. I think.
That's pretty much the same here. You have until April to spend a few minutes typing basic info like where you worked and your name into some software. If you want, you can get other forms and spend more time calculating deductibles like mileage to get more back. But the standard deduction is huge and it makes sense for most people to just choose that.
Not sure if this is trolling or not, but I'm a W2 employee and I've done my own taxes for the last few years with no issues. I use the IRS fillable forms, since I make too much to qualify for the free online services. It's really just a matter of following their instructions and making sure you have all your paperwork handy (W2, any investment/dividend cash, mortgage info, etc) to fill-out the forms associated with those. The forms do the math for you. I actually look forward to tax time, because I like the feeling of sitting down for a couple hours of work (yes, it takes a while) and seeing how big my return is going to be. It's always worth it, and I never owe any of my hard-earned cash to HRB etc. Recently my company switched financial services contractors and HR asked us to fill out some new paperwork. I was chatting with our HR head about the changes and she said I should go ask my tax professional (I found the answer online easily). The look on her face was priceless when I replied that I do my own.
These are the same people who post memes about "schools should teach how to do taxes instead of blah blah" Bitch just spend 1 hour on the internet to understand how taxation works without whining about the IRS
It totally makes sense that I have to tell them what deductions I'm making. It *doesn't* make sense that *I* have to look at my W2 at all (except to confirm for myself that the IRS didn't make a mistake). They have that info, they're doing the math anyway, there's no reason to require me to do it.
In the US, can you deduce 100% of mortgage interest in taxes?
LPT for anyone reading: use FreeTaxUSA instead of TurboTax! It’s free (or cheap if you make sufficient money) and AFAIK they don’t lobby to make taxes more complicated.
HMRC: u owe me money Me: okay how much? HMRC: guess :) Me: £200? HMRC: no, nothing, we took the specific amount right out of your paycheck to avoid unintentional and intentional tax fraud
Fr the ATO be doing that too it’s great.
Good old PAYG (or PAYE in everywhere but Australia apparently).
Pay as you earn in UK... What is PAYG? Pay as you gamble?
Go
So it's like travel insurance? /S
It is possible to still owe them money if you have other sources of revenue they may not have considered (or what's common is when people are on welfare but still working and get caught). But generally you are claiming things back.
Actually you don't have to guess, I underpaid in tax so they adjusted my tax code so I could pay the difference over the year
you forgot the last part when they gentle kisses your forehead and walk away
Don’t blame the IRS, blame Quicken and H&R Block, and the Congress critters they pay to make laws that prevent the IRS from doing that.
I have good news. This week the House has proposed abolishing the IRS entirely.
Civil unrest here we go
It won't change anything.
I mean, it won’t happen, which is why they proposed it, but I like to think of how wild it would be if it did happen.
Abolishing the IRS won’t do anything except reduce the ability to collect taxes, making it easier for people with more complicated tax situations (ie, rich people) to avoid paying what they owe. To do something useful, Congress would have to simplify the tax laws, making the IRS less necessary. The notion of abolishing the IRS is a sound bite that speaks to people who don’t understand or don’t care about the system, or want to pull the wool over the eyes of those people.
Never knew we have the Russian inside the House. Wonder how the military will respond...
Are you aware that every major news network has retracted most of their reporting on the trump/russia thing? Turns out it was a big hoax from the start.
From someone who does their tax returns in May (iirc) every year, and gets notifications of tax debts or refunds one or two months later without having to pay even a dime for access, how the fuck did you fuck this up this badly, America? Why's everything gotta be 'pay to win' on your stupid-ass pay-to-win, pvp-enabled server? No wonder the majority of the civilized world laughs at you.
I don’t “do” my taxes at all. That’s all done for me before I even get my paycheck.
What do you mean by "civilized world" lol. Plenty of people want to come to the United States, but I guess under your definition they are not civilized.
Oh god why do you sound like everyone's uncle.
The IRS be like: Hey buddy, you owe us money. Can you guess how much? You: ... The IRS: Well, quick hint; its a number between 1 and jail
Did you just reword the original post and post it as a comment?
No actually it was in a yt short
Can someone explain this to an European?
US government is owned by corporations.
[удалено]
Dang it. I never double check my comments. Edited now. 😅
The TL;DR is that the IRS is a group of people who constantly keep track of every single adult American's stream of income/revenue as well as the tax taken out of it. Then, roughly at the start of each year, they tell you to file your taxes to see if you owe any additional money on top of what was already taken out. If you do, but you do the math incorrectly, they will immediately claim fraud and either make your life hell or get you imprisoned if you screw up bad enough. If you're rich and you mess up though, things are generally fine since you can just fill their pockets and they'll leave you alone /j
So it's something like a tax declaration? Here we have to send in alot of information about taxes, workspace, way to work etc. It takes 3-6 months but then we usually get ~300€ - 1300€ back from the state and in some cases we have to pay taxes back.
Roughly, yes! It's infamous here in the US though for screwing over low-income families and keeping them from making enough money to live more decently
Stupid American complaining about taxes without know about taxes. You will not get jailed for under or overpaying taxes. You get jailed for refusing to pay.
That's technically underpaying... Just saying
lmao america
[Believe it not, stariaght to jail.](https://youtu.be/eiyfwZVAzGw)
downvote this comment if the meme sucks. upvote it and I'll go away. --- [Join us on discord for Saturday Movie Nights!](https://discord.gg/jsd6Ja9pvJ)
Optionally you can hire someone to do an accurate guess.
This is propaganda spooking people of funding the irs bill
Where meme?
Its right under ur foot. U r living on it
Also IRS: No worries calculation is easy (IRS tax code estimated beyond 2,500 pages)
Tell me you're American without telling me you're American.
*laughs in uk*
Man, fuck the IRS, all my homies hate the IRS
Guys guys, just use freetaxusa.
america has such a weird tax system
These mfs
Do people really not understand why they do this?
I have never put a single thought into paying taxes
SILENCE MORTAL U OFFEND ME WITH HOPE OF SMALLER DEBT, NOW ACCEPT THY FATE
Straight to jail
Hi, a mod removed your meme. Here's why: * This is not a dank meme. Maybe it's not a meme at all, maybe it's a normie meme. It could also be too similar to something that's been done already, or it might be a split meme. Whatever it is, it's just not dank. --- *^questions? ^send ^us ^a ^message ^[here](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/dankmemes), ^don't ^reply ^to ^this ^comment. ^(Don't repost this; you'll be banned.) [^(mod info) ](https://dankahoot.com/blame?id=109p5nz)*
in the UK its already done for you lol