Worth it? Am I understanding this?

OK, State income tax is a complication — one that I luckily don’t have to think about. Good point. Nevertheless, they can fill in everything except that, you add that, and you’re done. That’s how it works in many places in Europe.

It’s even conceptually possible for States to report State income tax paid to the IRS, analogous with how employers report income.

As for mortgage and charitable-donation deductions though, the math is pretty obvious, eh?

In short, it would be trivially simple for the IRS to run the equivalent of TurboTax on the numbers they have, then say “anything else”? Again, a lot of places in Europe do that.

 

If we could have this, I won't complain, but the people here that can make it happen don't want it. They won't even let the IRS set a site to handle the EZ filings.

Those places in Europe are willing to pay their IRS equivalent to do run the additional steps this filing system will add to what ours can handle now. We've been cutting funding to the IRS for years now. They are understaffed for what they have to do now, and the fact this makes tax fraud easier was a consideration for their budget.

This is just like wanting the EPA to directly test more cars themselves. If you want this, you have to tell Congress, and tell them you are willing to pay for it.

 

The 1040-EZ doesn't even exist anymore, 2017 was its last year. The "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017" abolished the old standard 1040/A/EZ forms, and pushed us to the new "simplified" postcard style forms.

(FWIW, I needed the long form 1040 even with my very first tax return at age 18, never ever qualifying for the simpler 1040-A. This year was the first time in my life ever filing a different form: the brand new 1040-SR, for Senior.)

 

I thought they did. With the use of software and e-filing, I haven't really looked at my hard copy tax form in years. I'm using EZ here to refer to a filer that opts for the standard deduction amount, and wouldn't need to send additional info to the IRS for this hypothetical system..

 

Do other countries file taxes the same way as the USA?

 

^ How can that sort of system possibly served all the special interests that must be catered too?

 

So, going back to the credit here, is there an actual additional form I need to fill out for this at tax time? I use TaxAct, and I don't recall it asking me about it for my 2019 taxes (though there are additional forms in there that I could pick from).

 

Form 8936 is the form need to be filled. Instructions for Form 8936 (2019) | Internal Revenue Service
When I did mine for 2017, TurboTax automatically generated the form from the interview. I believe for the 2019 tax return filing earlier this year, people had to wait sometime for the form to be ready from the IRS.

I am due to repeat the process next year for my purchased of 2020 PRIME this year.

 

TaxAct had the form from when I bought my 2005 Prius.