Seems appropriate today...

pan to tax preparation companies taking turns sucking off Uncle Sam
- My son made a mistake on his state taxes and his return was rejected. The letter he got back basically said "we couldn't verify your reported property taxes, so you can resubmit a correction or do nothing and accept our version of your taxes" (where he gets back about $200 less because of a typo.)
  So, like, yeah. They're just comparing your notes to theirs, with the default benefiting the state.
  
  Seems like the property taxes would be the easiest thing in the world for them to verify. Unless they've been lying to themselves.
- No panning required, just zoom out on the last frame and its quite explicit, with Unc's thought bubble being "I'M HAVING ONE!"

They don't actually know. If they think something looks suspicious, they do an audit, and then they know.
The vast majority of people's taxes fillings are taken on good faith.
- Mind you, if you routinely fudge your taxes, they will eventually notice something strange, or hit you with a randomized audit. Then, whoops, we found something! Better take a closer look at all your past filings too....
- They don’t actually know the final amount, but they do have an independent expectation for certain items.
  If your job withholds income tax then it is paid quarterly to the government, so they know how much you made and how much taxes you should be paying.
  If you win a large sum of money in the stock market or gambling at a casino then the broker or management company reports a tax bill to the IRS. The same happens for large early withdrawals of retirement funds.
  They also know information based on previous returns, like how many kids you have or if you own a home.
  They may not know it down to the dollar amount you’ll be paying because of the complexity of the US tax code and the deductions you’ll claim. For example, the government has no record of you purchasing a $600 electric car charger but you can claim that on your taxes to reduce your tax liability. That being said, if you under-report the amount you made at your job they will almost surely audit you if the number reported by your employer doesn’t match the number you provide.
  
  In many countries, the government does have a record of you purchasing that electric car charger as long as you ask the seller to include your tax number in the receipt - which you need to do if you want to file it - and it all comes automatically pre-filled in my tax deductions. Its become really easy to do taxes, it's literally 3 clicks for most people.

"Listen bub, I'm just telling you what Intuit and H&R block pays me to tell you. So yeah, I both know and don't know what you owe. Let's call it Schrodinger's taxes and call it a day."
- You don't know what we know about what you owe.

The answer of course is that the IRS doesn't know how much you owe, and it isn't feasible for them for figure out exact numbers for everyone with the tax code as complicated as it is. So, they audit a fraction of Americans every year to keep everyone honest. It's a bad system that taxes are so complicated but it's not a conspiracy.
- It absolutely is a conspiracy though:
  https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free
  
  Except the federal government literally this year started instituting a free, public filling service to get around TurboTax. And they fought it tooth and nail.
  There is a conspiracy, but it's not a federal government conspiracy. It's just a bad system that certain companies conspired to take advantage of.
- I mean, the tax system is so bad because tax preparers like Intuit bribe politicians to keep it that way.
- It is engineered the way that it is to provide loopholes for rich people.

God, I would hate to have to work out my taxes every year laughs in British
- Hey, some of us do have to do taxes, but you pretty much follow a questionnaire on the gov.uk website then fill out some numbers from paperwork you'll already have (P60, payslips, etc). I had to whip out the calculator once to add up 12 numbers for my student loan.
  Could probably do it in under an hour if you're not doing anything unusual.
  The American system sounds very much not that.
  
  For many Americans it’s actually pretty simple as long as they’re working with a standard W-2 (form you get from your employer with the year’s wages and taxes and stuff filled out). Many tax prep services will even import these numbers automatically and all you have to do is click through the questions and optional things like if you want to donate your returns to anything or pay estimated taxes for the next year - mostly stuff that most people aren’t concerned with anyway.
  Taxes here start getting complicated when you are an independent contractor (you’re responsible for holding out taxes from your income since you don’t have an employer to do it for you) and/or have non-standard sources of income like stocks, shares, real estate holdings, etc. which the IRS may or may not have information on, thus why you need to provide the info.
  Most of what has made calculating taxes and paying/getting returns a pain in the ass is tax prep companies like TurboTax lobbying to make and keep the tax filing process a confusing one, with the goal of steering you into paying for the non-free filing options.
  
  You guys have to fill in numbers? The Australian Tax Office pre-fills your tax return with the data they get from your bank and employer, so most people can do it in 5 minutes by clicking next a bunch of times.
  
  Um, The American system is exactly like that.
- Its a nice break from figuring out if the amount my medical providers charged me lines up with the estimation of benefits provided by my medical insurance company and trying to get a denied claim paid.
- I know what you mean. Laughs in Dutch

because they won't tell you about the loop holes and exceptions you could be taking advantage of.
- yep. They won't tell us if we payed them too much, they'll only tell us if we didn't pay them enough 😡
  
  A few years back in Massachusetts actually, the taxpayers hit an annual threshold cap and the state had to refund some of the money to those who filed.

works as well with just the last two panels
- Wow, yeah -- way punchier

This year I think the IRS is rolling our free preparation (federal, some states offer it to I think).
Go check it out.
But yeah this could all be automated. Just another cigarette in your eye for daring to exist in the conservative fascist multiverse.
- I looked into this. I didn't qualify due to having an HSA.
  
  Yeah this year it seems there's a lot of restrictions. I'm hoping next year it will be accessible to more people
- They are! I qualified for free federal and state - admittedly, I have very simple taxes - and it was easy and fast. Even got my refund in under the estimated time!

I hate fucking taxes. Just stayed on a call with Fidelity because I overpaid my 401k by a few dollars and they don't know how to set a reimbursement. Now I'm on a call with Anthem because they don't know why I never got my 1099-SA. Fuck. I really fucking hate taxes.
- Of course they have to mail it to me. Now I gotta figure out how to calculate my own 1099 SA.
  
  Just file for an extension, it'll give you until October (?) to complete your taxes with the proper paperwork.
  Few years ago, I estimated my pay/taxes because a former employer never mailed me my W2 since they just sucked. I'm foggy on all of the specifics, but I remember getting a letter saying they couldn't verify the info from that W2, and that I wouldn't get my refund until it was verified.
  Got the company to send me my actual W2, filed a revised return, and ended up owning like $1700, even though it had told me before the letter I'd get a refund of like $3k. Annoying as fuck, but ultimately my fault, I should've just waited for the W2 and filed for an extension in the meantime.
  Following year, I got a letter from the IRS saying they owed me $1300 that was never released due to my tax shenanigans the previous year.
  Moral of the story: just file for the extension, save yourself the anxiety and headache.

I enter in my w4 and take the standard deduction. Takes me 5 minutes.
Haven't owed since I had a retail job that reset my withholding when I got promoted to make it look like I got a bigger raise.
- Do you not earn interest on any accounts? No loans on which you pay interest? Are you a student?
  
  Like I said: standard deduction. Those numbers never come close to make itemized deductions worth the time and effort.

He only knows because your employer ratted you out
- Your employer doesn't know all your sources of income if you have independent stuff going on.
  
  If you have taxes witheld the will know. Only way to avoid that is through contract labor cash only

- I mean, that’s essentially what our taxes are. Things vary based on tax brackets, state, dependents/spouses, and total earnings of course, but we all have a base tax.
  The hard part of taxes is usually deductions, or when you start having things like investments or small businesses.
  
  I guess that was some sort of short-circuit on my part?

What is special about today?
- Last day to file taxes in the US without having filed for an extension.