Hey - who wants the IRS to do your taxes for you?

[chanel]

There is already a thread on the "outsourcing of tax preparation" to India. Imagine "insourcing".

The new IRS blueprint is already in play in California, whose rules for regulating tax preparers seem to have inspired Commissioner Shulman, including his new education and registration requirements. To get taxpayers away from preparers and off-the-shelf software, the state is pushing programs like CalFile, which allows voters to file returns through a state run electronic program. Under the ReadyReturn program, the state will even scour your W-2 for the year and send you a return for your signature already filled out. The eventual goal seems to be to have the government do everybody's state tax return, like the French do.

The feds are now getting in on this act, with Montana Democrat Max Baucus and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley supporting a free e-file portal at the IRS Web site that would compete directly with private tax preparation software. In March, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a Ways and Means Committee hearing that he'd also like the IRS to begin sending taxpayers pre-completed returns.

We can certainly understand why Mr. Geithner wants government to do his returns, but please spare the rest of us. By insourcing tax preparation to the government, the IRS would shift the burden of objecting to any error onto the taxpayer instead of the IRS. That would change the dynamics of U.S. tax compliance, trending away from a voluntary system in which taxpayers are expected to be honest about declaring income and deductions—subject to audit. Instead, the feds would apply their standards, and a taxpayer would have to appeal for an exception to the same efficient folks at the IRS you can't get on the phone at tax time.

H&R Blockheads and the Regulating IRS - WSJ.com

Obviously it's gotten too complicated for those "stupid" Americans. Let big daddy gubmint take care of it. I'd rather go with the Indians.

Thoughts?

 

[mudwhistle]

Who feels like selling the farm or losing your business because the IRS decided your taxes were more then you can pay?

 

[Zoom-boing]

Whoever did Geithner and Rangel's taxes are welcome to do mine.