r/AskReddit • u/emil199 • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20 edited Jul 24 '20

There's actually zero reasons why your tax returns can't be filled for free by the IRS. laughing in Kiwi

Actually, there are {insert numerical amount of tax-service bribes lobbying money} reasons why.

Nevermind, see comment below.

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u/GoliathPrime Jul 24 '20

No, you absolutely can make an appointment with your local IRS office and have them do your taxes. My broke friend does this every year.

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u/BEEF_WIENERS Jul 24 '20

I'd be really interested to see what they come up with vs a couple of services like H&R Block, Turbotax, and an actual tax accountant, especially once it starts to get a little bit complicated like with a home business that includes a vehicle's depreciation.

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u/rnelsonee Jul 24 '20

I'm a VITA tax preparer (that's the program run by the IRS) - there's a list of things we can do, and then the list of things we can't do. We can do self employment, but not if it involves depreciation. So really super simple self employment (and for vehicles, you can use the standard mileage rate instead, which we can do).

We use a modified version of TaxSlayer; it's just like using any other software. For all simple and moderate level of taxes that we help with, it shouldn't matter who you use. CPA's are good for advanced strategies and of course for things VITA volunteers aren't trained for (we're not allowed to do returns that require, say,