Tax Filing (was Re: App Question)

[Roger Oberholtzer]

On Tue, 2004-01-27 at 18:16, Net Llama! wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Jan 2004, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
> > On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:36:57 -0500
> > Gary Sublett <gsublett at gmsdigita.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Just in case anyone is still interested, filed my very simple federal
> > > and state taxes yesterday with http://www.taxactonline.com.  Already
> > > have confirmation of acceptance by the IRS and should have a deposit in
> > > the bank during the first week of Feb.  No Windows or IE in sight, just
> > > plain old linux and mozilla.
> >
> > I wonder if it can be used for reporting from abroad. I hate doing that. In
> > fact, I skipped it for a number of years. Then, I decided that I had better
> > get back on the books before they come after me. Filing the 5 previous years
> > is what it takes. But the IRS does not provide the same services abroad at
> > this time. So it is paper. Can't you also file on line direct with the IRS?
> > Or does that require local software?
> 
> Unfortunately you cannot file online directly with the IRS.  You still
> have to go through a 3rd party vendor.  It sux.

What is this electronic key that you can get from the IRS? It looked
like something related to on-line filing. I will have to check when the
yearly batch of forms hit the door step. Last year's info was recycled
long ago.

In Sweden many do electronic filing direct on the government's web site.
Previous to that (and still), for most people, the form came already
filled out. If you were happy, do nothing. If not, do your own. And,
being Sweden, it is not legal for the government to cheat you in the
sense that if a law applies to you that will lower your tax, it will be
included in the pre-printed form. Unfortunately, a raise in tax can also
result from this logic. Of course, only if you have a rather straight
forward setup. In Sweden, all banks and investment companies have to
report everything about your money. So, the government has a rather
complete picture. I have mixed ideas on this.

-- 
Roger Oberholtzer <roger at opq.se>