This could be a Good Thing
Internet filing of tax returns for FREE! About dadgummed time--I can order stuff all over the web, renew my car tags, buy tickets--and I would have filed electronically long ago if I didn't have to go buy something else to do it with. I am cheap, and I figure I can do well enough with a calculator, pencil, and a stamp. We just about always get back a refund, so being able to simply fill in a form and hitting "send" would be aces. It would be even nicer if all of the stuff that already gets reported to the government--1098s, 1099s, W-2s and the like, would automatically populate the appropriate fields when you log in, then calculate everything after you put in any other deductions or credits like a regular tax program.

The idea of helping out with the math comes from the time I got gigged one year when I either divided or multiplied by 2 on some number, which resulted in my reporting that I owed half the tax I was really liable for. I got a letter saying I owed money and was steamed. I called the IRS rep, started going through my return line by line, and then had one of those horrible feelings like you had as a child when the teacher asked you to work a problem on the blackboard and you got all through and were so proud and the kid you hated pointed out that it was wrong and everyone laughed because you added instead of subtracted and you got all flustered and ran crying from the room and hid in the back of the utility room beside the restoom and then were embarrassed once more when the teacher came in to get you and made you sit beside her desk for the rest of the morning because you left without asking. Not that that ever happened to me, understand, I was just making a point. Really, I was. Because the worst thing was having to send in another big check with a nice long letter begging the IRS to forgive me for being unhandy with the ol' number thing. Which was like when you went on a date with this really cool girl...oh, never mind.
posted by Terry at 9:52:00 AM