this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023

23 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26903 readers

1811 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

What tax prep companies do you know that are non-scummy (don't lobby against the IRS making tax returns easier and/or free)? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Intuit (Turbo Tax) and H&R Block are the main lobby against easy tax prep (spent millions per year), then the other 12 members of the ACTR are:

Tax Act

OnLine Taxes

Wolters Kluwer

Tax Hawk

Liberty Tax

Drake Software

Jackson Hewitt

also the following financial institutions:

Netspend

Republic Bank

TPG Santa Barbara

pathward

So who do you use that is not one of the 14 companies above (or owned/operated by them)?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Info about their lobbying actions: https://sunlightfoundation.com/2013/04/15/tax-preparers-lobby-heavily-against-simple-filing/

Outside of tax preparers themselves, the industry is reinforced in its opposition to return-free filing by various trade and advocacy groups. One of these is the American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR), an organization composed of various tax preparers and makers of tax software. In addition to Intuit, H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt, their membership includes TaxAct, TaxSlayer, Liberty Tax Services and more. It's a relatively new group, but in the only two years it's existed the ACTR has poured almost $450,000 into the tax lobby, including six mentions of opposing "simple-filing" in their disclosures.

So far from this old reddit mega-thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/10ebor4/tax_filing_software_megathread_a_comprehensive/

the most recommended over the services above is FreeTaxUSA

also there's this tip in the comments:

My tip: turbo tax only charges you at the very end when you go to actually file. So what I do is do my tax paperwork at both turbo tax and freetaxusa then compare the final return (or due) amount between the two. Every couple years, there’s a hundred or so dollar difference between the two and I dig in to find the difference before submitting and paying for ONLY freetaxusa

Edit: Credit Karma was another recommendation, but they are owned by Intuit since 2020:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_Karma

Edit 2: Another article on industry lobbying

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/09/tax-prep-companies-lobbying-against-free-file-face-scrutiny-from-lawmakers/