- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Massachusetts
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New York
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington State
- Wyoming
For the 2025 tax filing season, Direct File will also be available in: - Alaska
- Connecticut
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Maine
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Wisconsin
https://cash.app/taxes is already free for both federal and state and handled all of my complicated tax needs the past two years.
(Cash App is also likely to not survive the FedNow instant payment rollout to all US deposit accounts, tangentially)
[1] https://federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/2024/06/house-gop-pr...
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/12/10-facts-...
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/age-generati...
https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024...
Here in NZ about 40 years ago we greatly simplified our tax system, most people don't have to file a return, if you have a single job chances are your employer will pay exactly the right amount of tax - if they got it wrong our IRD will either ask you for some more or send you a refund (with interest). If you want you can file online, it's a ~3 page web form (all your employer data, like W2s, are available on line).
No one sells tax programs in NZ.
Here in the U.S. over the same period we greatly complicated our tax system. Special interests, tax breaks for the wealthy, welfare payments issued as refundable credits, etc.
It’s just not even remotely close to the same scale of problem. The United States has the largest economy in the world. It’s larger than the next three (China, Germany, Japan) economies combined.
I’m glad New Zealand was able to achieve their goal but I don’t see what it has to do with the US.
The US has vastly more resources to draw on than NZ, and benefits from economies of scale.
The goal is constant improvement, not just making excuses for why the status quo has so many things broken or done very badly.
Aim higher.
Why should we aspire to this? Why is NZs solution better?
> The goal is constant improvement, not just making excuses for why the status quo has so many things broken or done very badly.
I’m not making excuses for the US tax code. I’m explaining that the situations are completely different.
> Aim higher.
Yes, we are. That’s literally the topic of the submission.
Because New Zealanders, as well as almost everyone else in a developed country, spend much less time and money on a chore that can be optimised to be easy and free? Not to mention the pure PR side of things - people don't like doing their taxes. The easier it is for them, the less they'll hate it.
India has 4 times bigger population that the US and it has both direct and indirect taxes that "can" only be filed for free by anyone on government portals only.
there is a small cottage industry of software that cater to tax professionals to help them prepare returns data (like turbotax) and can track hundreds of clients' data in a single place but that is absolutely not needed.
the softwares are supposed to help prepare data but eventually all happens on government portals only.
this means when govt portals are down, it is down for everyone.
citizens CAN and DO file their own tax returns, both direct and indirect taxes but if they go to a professional for help, they usually use a software because it is easier, avoids repetitive work, helps in reducing errors and stuff.
even then, these softwares charge a pittance. something like $100/year for unlimited clients, unlimited everything because you, the professional installs it on their machine and stuff.
india has, in the past 7 years updated their government taxes websites and that has cost them actual billions of dollars but that has had clear benefits going forward
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Dev...
I’m not defending Turbotax here and I’m glad the IRS is building this system but I don’t see how the comparison to NZ is useful or even relevant.
There's no excuse for the state of the US system other than incompetence and greed.
The only real difference is that you have states and as a result have 2 levels of taxation
Having the option to sit face-to-face with another person who can answer questions about your situation at no charge is of value.
[0]https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-...
If you're in a classic situation, you just check the numbers match, and next next approve the form (online on a government website). If you have anything specific (like donations or capital gains abroad in foreign banks), you declare that yourself.