[Accujack]

There are "tax help" open source programs out there, but online filing (which is the main goal here) is impossible without a corporation working with the IRS to set up access, negotiate protocols, and such.

There's no open standard/API/infrastructure or protocol for online filing, so the only option for an open source program to help with that is "print out the whole thing and send it in" which is usually a lot more trouble (more expensive in time and money) than just paying Turbotax or similar services.

Turbotax and the rest of the tax prep industry have lobbied for years to prevent easy/free options for citizens to file taxes... it isn't just them preventing other companies from building products to do it, they're suppressing all competition and modernization, basically anything that would threaten the money they get from charging people to prep taxes.

At this point the entire system is set up with high barriers to entry, and open source solutions/free software don't typically work well in that kind of setting.

Essentially, no open source program has any chance of facilitating online filing in the US because of corruption in the US government.

[nojvek]

Or incompetency.

I think our leaders spend way too much figuring out how to block the other party from moving forward than solving hard problems.

China’s a bully but my god, it gets shit done at an insane pace.

That being said, how do people file Taxes in China?

[vonmoltke]

> There's no open standard/API/infrastructure or protocol for online filing, so the only option for an open source program to help with that is "print out the whole thing and send it in" which is usually a lot more trouble (more expensive in time and money) than just paying Turbotax or similar services.

That is the least burdensome part of the process, to me. In fact I used to do that from H&R Block Tax Cut back when there was an additional charge for e-file.