Re:Filing Taxes in Japan Is a Breeze. Why Not in the US?
by gumby on Friday April 14, 2017 @03:21PM
(#14116520)
How do you think the IRS checks your return? They already have everything they need for the vast majority of people (which includes tax payers, those who don't need to pay tax, those who don't need to even file, etc).
People with various sorts of cash businesses that don't appear at any of the classic touch points are few and far between, and probably don't report anyway.
And for the remaining people who, say, want to record an expense to offset a capital gain (like a remodel that increases the sale price of their home): they have an incentive to let the tax authorities know, since it reduces taxes. I doubt many people would do this more than once or twice in their lives unless they ran a real estate business.
Re:Filing Taxes in Japan Is a Breeze. Why Not in the US?
by ams6110 on Friday April 14, 2017 @04:17PM
(#14116943)
Since the sale of your primary residence rarely involves capital gain tax liability anymore, there's not even that much incentive to keep track of improvement expenses.
People with various sorts of cash businesses that don't appear at any of the classic touch points are few and far between, and probably don't report anyway.
And for the remaining people who, say, want to record an expense to offset a capital gain (like a remodel that increases the sale price of their home): they have an incentive to let the tax authorities know, since it reduces taxes. I doubt many people would do this more than once or twice in their lives unless they ran a real estate business.