So, my return didn’t go as smoothly as in the past years. I made 900k+ last year, and I moved between states, so I guess that made me a target too. They sent me a paper letter requesting more info to back up my income. Basically, my W-2. The two options to respond were paper letter and fax. Yes, a fax. I bet some people don’t even know what that is. No web interface, incredibly. Even with all the money given to fund audits this year they couldn’t build one. So now we know we needed to fund an army of fax-reading, mail-opening folks. Such a great use of my 6 figure taxes. Anyway, that didn’t stop me. I used the Genius Fax and Genius Scan apps and sent the requested documents. I got my refund about a week or so after that. The fact that these services use such legacy solutions make me nervous about the capabilities of the US. Not long after, I read about the a young airman leaking top secret intelligence on Discord. The US be like 🤡🤡🤡. Quite frankly, the US needs an urgent generational change in government, and technological upgrades. Old people really struggle with tech. Old leadership avoids modernization. Make government cool again or die. And get a younger president please. No offense but c’mon. End rant.
Yeah, it’s cool. I don’t keep thinking about this lol. I just started connecting it with the leaks case and a WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tax-irs-technology-gao-report-1dcdc87
I can’t stop thinking about it thought. What level are you? How did you make 1M on w2? Is it combined?
Dude fax is actually safe and basically hack proof lol. If I had to share personal data I wouldn’t mind sending a fax despite the inconvenience… but agree there should be an easier way forward
Good point. I chose fax because it gives proof of reception. I didn’t want to risk the letter getting lost. They asked for the SSN in every page. Regarding security, I’d say it’s ripe for a targeted attack cuz everyone knows the number and also know that the volume is gonna be high. And literally every page has an SSN. If an attacker succeeds, it’s a treasure trove.
Yeah but you have to go into a secure govt building to conduct the “attack” - this will deter most, especially foreign actors
IRS has been underfunded and understaffed for years (and often deliberately so, by people who don't want to pay taxes and tax prep lobbyists.) Modernization of legacy systems is hard, expensive, and needs manpower. Want a better service? Tell it to your congressfolks.
I agree in that no politician wants to make improving the IRS the center of their campaign. It’s the hardest sell. Unfortunately I’m not a citizen. Citizens please ask your politicians to improve the government tech and to let all taxpayers vote in some way according to their tax burden.
One country was ahead in digital transformation of its government. Now its citizens can be locked up for not responding to a push notification. Is that the future?
Problem with the government is they value phd and years of experience over raw talent
And is corrupt, no accountability for anyone
None of what you say is wrong. It'd be great for a modernization of the gov systems
US is inventor of web but sadly US system is worse than even some subsaharan African countries.. nothing is online 😂😂😂😂😂😂 a lot of countries are way ahead if US😂😂
Curious, how does the fax app work? I assume you send a scanned image (containing personal info) to their server, which then used fax protocol to fax that? Do they delete your doc immediately?
Yeah, that was also in my mind. I don’t know what they do. But they seem serious, and if I was serious, I would get rid of it after proof of reception is received. Storing that would cost money and liability anyway. I already store a bunch of docs with them in their scanning app. No problems so far.
Don't forget the OMB basically leaked all the SF-85/6's cleared US personal. And a year or two later a security audit showed their still sharing credentials.
🤯
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Blame Intuit for half of the problems with our tax code. Blame h&r block and the large tax accountant firms for the other half. Regulatory capture and lobbying are the main reasons our tax code is so convoluted and terrible. Regulators literally leave their government jobs and then go into private practice with a huge pay bump so they can help their clients take advantage of loopholes they created. In other countries, the government just sends you a bill for your taxes. Our fucked up system is for the benefit of corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
Bro no don’t ur gonna make me lose my job
And for some thought - yes some of the blame lies on Intuit for lobbying the govt to not create their own tax software (which would probably be shitty anyway) but the vast vast majority of people submit a W-2 on TurboTax and call it a day. The main reason the tax code is so convoluted is because it makes it easier for the rich (I.e our politicians and CEOs) to keep their money. These people aren’t using TurboTax lol, and TT doesn’t have anything to do with them.