Easy Tax Returns: Is the 1040-EZ as easy as can be?

Some of the earliest examples of writing historians have discovered include records of tax payments. Let’s not forget, complaints that taxes are too complex are nearly as old.

Tax authorities have always tried to strike a balance between a simple tax code and a tax code that rewards behaviors they’d like to encourage. The most effective way to do that? Give different taxpayers different ways to file — big corporations like GE may file a 40,000-page tax return, while an individual might file a 1040-EZ. But are these “easy” tax returns easy enough?

 

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IRS: “Help Us Decide Who Does Your Taxes”

This just in: the IRS wants taxpayers to help them decide which tax preparers… they can decide to work with.

At first, it seems like a pretty redundant exercise: the IRS is asking taxpayers and other interest groups to decide what criteria they’d like someone to satisfy before that person can prepare their taxes. People already do this — by paying someone to prepare their taxes. So what is the IRS trying to add here? Continue reading “IRS: “Help Us Decide Who Does Your Taxes””

Recovery Rebate Ruckus: Why are TurboTax Users Getting Angry Letters from the IRS?

Bloggers and forums are abuzz over the news that TurboTax may be calculating the Recovery Rebate incorrectly. Apparently TurboTax users are getting letters from the IRS complaining that they claimed too large a credit for the rebate, and that they’ll need to pay it back. The TurboTax team has responded to explain some of the confusion, but that’s not the whole story.
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