<story><title>TurboTax and H&amp;R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat</title><url>https://www.propublica.org/article/intuit-turbotax-h-r-block-gutted-free-tax-filing-internal-memo</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>asdff</author><text>Is there even a reason we have to file? My understanding is that if you don&amp;#x27;t file, the IRS knows about your W2 or 1099s anyway and will punish you, so what&amp;#x27;s even the point of filing yourself? Just have the IRS send a check or bill in the mail in April and end this nonsense industry.</text></item><item><author>danso</author><text>FWIW, Turbotax&amp;#x2F;H&amp;amp;R&amp;#x27;s hiding of their Free File site pages was discussed here about a week ago: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=19758126&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=19758126&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They have since made their pages discoverable by search engines and have denied that it was intentional obfuscation. But the news in TFA is that apparently someone at (or formerly at) H&amp;amp;R leaked internal documents with explicit guidance:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;“Do not send clients to this Web Site unless they are specifically calling about the Free File program,” the guidance states, referring to the site with the company’s free option. “We want to send users to our paid products before the free product, if at all possible.”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;(there&amp;#x27;s also interviews with former employees recalling meetings)&lt;p&gt;This is all &amp;quot;news&amp;quot; because Congress is considering a bipartisan tax reform bill that includes a law that would 
 &lt;i&gt;block the IRS from creating its own official Free File program. Senator Ron Wyden, the bill&amp;#x27;s co-sponsor, is now having second thoughts [0] and yesterday, NY Gov. Cuomo ordered a state investigation into the tax prep companies [1].&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.huffpost.com&amp;#x2F;entry&amp;#x2F;taxpayer-first-act-free-file_n_5cc9fb90e4b0d123954db6f4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.huffpost.com&amp;#x2F;entry&amp;#x2F;taxpayer-first-act-free-file_...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.governor.ny.gov&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;governor-cuomo-calls-department-financial-services-and-department-taxation-and-finance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.governor.ny.gov&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;governor-cuomo-calls-depart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;edit: &lt;/i&gt;changed &amp;quot;permanently block&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;block&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cbhl</author><text>I highly recommend Episode #760 of Planet Money, which talks about what happened to ReadyReturn, which was a proposal to have the government send you a pre-filled tax return.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.npr.org&amp;#x2F;sections&amp;#x2F;money&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;709656642&amp;#x2F;episode-760-tax-hero&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.npr.org&amp;#x2F;sections&amp;#x2F;money&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;709656642&amp;#x2F;epis...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Transcript: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.npr.org&amp;#x2F;templates&amp;#x2F;transcript&amp;#x2F;transcript.php?storyId=708195702&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.npr.org&amp;#x2F;templates&amp;#x2F;transcript&amp;#x2F;transcript.php?stor...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>TurboTax and H&amp;R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat</title><url>https://www.propublica.org/article/intuit-turbotax-h-r-block-gutted-free-tax-filing-internal-memo</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>asdff</author><text>Is there even a reason we have to file? My understanding is that if you don&amp;#x27;t file, the IRS knows about your W2 or 1099s anyway and will punish you, so what&amp;#x27;s even the point of filing yourself? Just have the IRS send a check or bill in the mail in April and end this nonsense industry.</text></item><item><author>danso</author><text>FWIW, Turbotax&amp;#x2F;H&amp;amp;R&amp;#x27;s hiding of their Free File site pages was discussed here about a week ago: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=19758126&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=19758126&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They have since made their pages discoverable by search engines and have denied that it was intentional obfuscation. But the news in TFA is that apparently someone at (or formerly at) H&amp;amp;R leaked internal documents with explicit guidance:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;“Do not send clients to this Web Site unless they are specifically calling about the Free File program,” the guidance states, referring to the site with the company’s free option. “We want to send users to our paid products before the free product, if at all possible.”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;(there&amp;#x27;s also interviews with former employees recalling meetings)&lt;p&gt;This is all &amp;quot;news&amp;quot; because Congress is considering a bipartisan tax reform bill that includes a law that would 
 &lt;i&gt;block the IRS from creating its own official Free File program. Senator Ron Wyden, the bill&amp;#x27;s co-sponsor, is now having second thoughts [0] and yesterday, NY Gov. Cuomo ordered a state investigation into the tax prep companies [1].&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.huffpost.com&amp;#x2F;entry&amp;#x2F;taxpayer-first-act-free-file_n_5cc9fb90e4b0d123954db6f4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.huffpost.com&amp;#x2F;entry&amp;#x2F;taxpayer-first-act-free-file_...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.governor.ny.gov&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;governor-cuomo-calls-department-financial-services-and-department-taxation-and-finance&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.governor.ny.gov&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;governor-cuomo-calls-depart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;edit: &lt;/i&gt;changed &amp;quot;permanently block&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;block&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>javagram</author><text>The IRS does not actually have all the information placed on the tax return.&lt;p&gt;For instance, all interest is charged as income for tax purposes, but 1099-INT is only issued for $10 and above. Similar restrictions exist for 1099-MISC but at a higher threshold, if you are a freelancer who receives a lot of small 1099 income from multiple sources, the IRS has no way of knowing that.&lt;p&gt;Conversely, if you’re eligible to itemize deductions, the IRS has no way of knowing what you gave to charities over the year. That’s entirely self reported and they only even ask for the receipts if you get audited. Charities don’t send records of their donors to the IRS.</text></comment>