Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America's Taxpayers

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Experiences with Direct File and Government Options

  • Several people used IRS Direct File and found it fast, simple, and refreshingly free of upsells; many are angry or saddened it won’t be expanded.
  • Some clarify distinctions: e‑file (general electronic submission via many products), Direct File (IRS-built, income‑limited), Free File (private partners), and Free File Fillable Forms (barebones online 1040, reportedly hosted by Intuit infrastructure).
  • Multiple states (e.g., Oregon, Massachusetts, California, Illinois) have decent free state filing portals; some users rely on those plus manual or third‑party federal filing.
  • Commenters from other countries (e.g., Sweden, Australia, Sri Lanka) describe near‑automatic or heavily pre‑filled returns, underscoring how unnecessary US complexity feels.

Role of Intuit, Lobbying, and Ideology

  • Many see this as textbook regulatory capture: relatively small lobbying outlays (e.g., $240k in a quarter) yield huge protection of Intuit’s business model.
  • Others emphasize conservative ideology and anti‑IRS sentiment (including Norquist’s influence) as at least as important as corporate money.
  • Debate over public vs private provision: one side claims private firms are more accountable to customers; critics point to monopolies, collusion, deceptive marketing, and weak antitrust.

Private Tax Software Alternatives

  • FreeTaxUSA receives extensive praise: free federal filing, low‑cost state, minimal upsells, honest UI, and clear mapping to IRS forms that helps users understand the code.
  • Cash App Taxes also gets positive reviews, even for fairly complex returns, though some worry it may be a loss leader to drive other services.
  • Open-source or low-level options like Open Tax Solver and Free File Fillable Forms are mentioned for those wanting more control.

Manual Filing vs Software

  • A minority advocates doing returns by hand (sometimes 10–15 hours) for independence, privacy, and understanding of deductions and loopholes.
  • Most responders think that time cost is excessive, stressing stress, complexity, and risk of errors or penalties; many prefer cheap or free software or an accountant.

Privacy and Data Concerns

  • Strong anxiety about tax software vendors and financial intermediaries aggregating and potentially selling or leaking highly sensitive data.
  • Some argue this risk exists broadly (banks, payroll, Plaid, Palantir’s IRS contracts), but others still prefer limiting additional exposure where possible.

Views on Corporate Ethics and Tax Policy

  • Recurrent theme: legality of lobbying vs moral “evil” of shaping laws to preserve complexity and extract rents.
  • Many want the tax code massively simplified so that products like TurboTax are unnecessary; others warn that killing Direct File in the meantime is “perfect as enemy of good.”