How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by Freak_NL on Saturday March 16, 2019 @04:06AM (#19406887)

It's a breeze in the Netherlands.

I finished filing my taxes two weeks ago, a day after the pre-filled form became available online on the revenue service's website (works in all modern browsers, on all operating systems).

It took five minutes (two incomes, mortgage, bank accounts, all filled in correctly by employers and banks). Most of that time was spent authenticating myself and my partner.

Anyone fighting this in the US should make a bunch of videos showing average people from these countries filing their taxes in the blink of an eye.

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Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by tnolet on Saturday March 16, 2019 @06:01AM (#19407115)

For employed people the Dutch system is indeed awesome. When you run a business, it's still quite archaic.

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Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by refurb on Saturday March 16, 2019 @11:20AM (#19408242)

Then it’s not that different than the US (absent the automatic form generation).

If you’re single, one job, no house or investments, filing taxes in the US is a breeze.

Beyond that it gets messy.

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Re:How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing ... by Freak_NL on Saturday March 16, 2019 @12:07PM (#19408473)

Not really comparable though. Tax filing in the Netherlands is simple for almost anyone who doesn't own a business. That's the vast majority of people. If you do own a business, it's still manageable, just not as automated.

I own a house in a household with two incomes: taxes took five minutes for both of us.

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