Timeline for Why doesn’t the IRS just send me a bill for the taxes I owe based on the info they already have?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 14, 2019 at 14:01 | comment | added | Nzall | @pipe The IRS can be very thorough in investigating any supposed tax fraud. For most citizens, the possibility of an IRS investigation levied against them is enough of a deterrent. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 15:37 | comment | added | Doktor J | @Anoplexian the idea here is that the government sends you the tax form, not your employer. You (if so inclined) can verify what the government sends vs the W-2 or equivalent you get from your employer. If the government form says you paid $8K in taxes but your employer's W-2 shows you paid $10K, you flag that to the IRS. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 14:06 | comment | added | KRyan | @Anoplexian The idea here is the option for having your taxes do themselves, not a requirement. If you have special circumstances like those Adrian raises, or if you have serious suspicions about your employer, you can always file yourself. Even if you don’t, you would still have all the paperwork available to double-check things if you like. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 9:27 | comment | added | pipe | @Anoplexian Why would anything other than laws stop it? What's stopping citizens from filing bogus tax reports today? | |
| Apr 16, 2018 at 16:08 | comment | added | Anoplexian | Also, if your employer is shady and sends out a tax form that says they charged you 10k in taxes, and sent 8 to the IRS, what's to stop them from just using that, and pocketing the money (other than laws)? | |
| Apr 13, 2018 at 18:05 | comment | added | Chuu | @AdrianMcCarthy It would be incredibly difficult for the IRS to generate an optimal tax return, but very easy to generate a tax return based solely on 1099s and W-2s with the standard deduction and EIC. For the majority of people that's good enough. If that's not good enough for you, hire a tax professional. It's the same way in those countries. | |
| Apr 13, 2018 at 17:00 | comment | added | Adrian McCarthy | The article is presupposes several disputable claims, e.g., "it would not be particularly difficult to give U.S. taxpayers the same option." In many cases, it would be tremendously difficult for the IRS to get all the relevant information from someone other than the taxpayer. The fundamental problem here is not political, it's feasibility. The fact that it's done in other countries suggests to me that their tax systems require far fewer inputs and/or those countries track a scary amount of information about their citizens. | |
| Apr 10, 2018 at 21:19 | comment | added | Mark K Cowan |
It’s already like that in parts of Europe. - I can confirm. I forgot to submit a tax-return one year while living in Estonia. The form submitted itself and I missed out on a €20 deduction. The next year, I took the 5 minutes to actually sign in, check it, and submit it.
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| S Apr 10, 2018 at 19:14 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Apr 10, 2018 at 19:14 | comment | added | Philipp♦ | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Apr 10, 2018 at 17:50 | vote | accept | Thunderforge | ||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 18:20 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 18:57 | |||||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 6:47 | review | First posts | |||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 8:04 | |||||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 6:45 | history | answered | AquaticFire | CC BY-SA 3.0 |