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No more Windows here, all Linux

somebodyelse said:
Why would using linux prevent you doing taxes? Is this is one of those things where what's normal in one country looks just plain weird from another?
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In the United States, if one wants to take advantage of myriad adjustments ("deductions" and "credits") that the Internal Revenue Code makes available, one typically uses a tax software program. I believe there are four such programs available to consumers (Turbotax, Tax Act, H&R Block, and Tax Slayer). (There are "professional" versions of each available to accountants.) At least one of these programs, Turbotax, is available as SaaS, but, if you have complicated taxes (e.g., partnership interests with annual adjustments to basis), the SaaS version of TurboTax does not give access to all the requisite tax form fields.

Therefore, many of us end up using desktop software to file taxes and pay around $100 for it every year. This software runs only on Mac and Windows (and now only on Windows 11!). I managed to get Windows 11 installed on my unsupported 2015 Dell XPS13 and file my taxes. I don't like running tax software on my Mac, which is for BACCH only, and I don't have any other non-Linux machines in the house.
 
Dialectic said:
In the United States, if one wants to take advantage of myriad adjustments ("deductions" and "credits") that the Internal Revenue Code makes available, one typically uses a tax software program. I believe there are four such programs available to consumers (Turbotax, Tax Act, H&R Block, and Tax Slayer). (There are "professional" versions of each available to accountants.) At least one of these programs, Turbotax, is available as SaaS, but, if you have complicated taxes (e.g., partnership interests with annual adjustments to basis), the SaaS version of TurboTax does not give access to all the requisite tax form fields.

Therefore, many of us end up using desktop software to file taxes and pay around $100 for it every year. This software runs only on Mac and Windows (and now only on Windows 11!). I managed to get Windows 11 installed on my unsupported 2015 Dell XPS13 and file my taxes. I don't like running tax software on my Mac, which is for BACCH only, and I don't have any other non-Linux machines in the house.
Click to expand...
I see. TaxCalc would be the equivalent software in the UK and it's available as a native Linux app. I have used the Windows version before, but my current tax situation doesn't warrant the cost anymore.

Google suggests OpenTaxSolver as a option for our Linux friends across the pond: https://opentaxsolver.sourceforge.net/
 
Berwhale said:
I see. TaxCalc would be the equivalent software in the UK and it's available as a native Linux app. I have used the Windows version before, but my current tax situation doesn't warrant the cost anymore.

Google suggests OpenTaxSolver as a option for our Linux friends across the pond: https://opentaxsolver.sourceforge.net/
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I didn't know about OpenTaxSolver, but it requires that you print returns and file on paper. Filing on paper is not advised.

The reason that there are just a few software products available for filing U.S. taxes is that they have been approved for "e-filing."
 
Dialectic said:
In the United States, if one wants to take advantage of myriad adjustments ("deductions" and "credits") that the Internal Revenue Code makes available, one typically uses a tax software program. I believe there are four such programs available to consumers (Turbotax, Tax Act, H&R Block, and Tax Slayer). (There are "professional" versions of each available to accountants.) At least one of these programs, Turbotax, is available as SaaS, but, if you have complicated taxes (e.g., partnership interests with annual adjustments to basis), the SaaS version of TurboTax does not give access to all the requisite tax form fields.

Therefore, many of us end up using desktop software to file taxes and pay around $100 for it every year. This software runs only on Mac and Windows (and now only on Windows 11!). I managed to get Windows 11 installed on my unsupported 2015 Dell XPS13 and file my taxes. I don't like running tax software on my Mac, which is for BACCH only, and I don't have any other non-Linux machines in the house.
Click to expand...
It's got a bit worse than the last time I heard about it, and it seemed nuts then. At that point the software providers were obliged to offer a free version too, but did their best to hide it so people thought they had to pay. The requirement for the free version was the quid pro quo for the IRS not making a free one of their own, which might have ended up like the web-based one we have (although I believe paper is still an option). The reporting I saw was about lobbying from both sides, one wanting the web-based one to be made, or at least the free versions to be less hidden, and the other from the companies wanting not to have to make a free version at all, but still block the IRS from making one. I guess the companies made the bigger bribe campaign contribution.
 
somebodyelse said:
It's got a bit worse than the last time I heard about it, and it seemed nuts then. At that point the software providers were obliged to offer a free version too, but did their best to hide it so people thought they had to pay. The requirement for the free version was the quid pro quo for the IRS not making a free one of their own, which might have ended up like the web-based one we have (although I believe paper is still an option). The reporting I saw was about lobbying from both sides, one wanting the web-based one to be made, or at least the free versions to be less hidden, and the other from the companies wanting not to have to make a free version at all, but still block the IRS from making one. I guess the companies made the bigger bribe campaign contribution.
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Yes, the free versions are available only to low-income taxpayers who have simple returns. If you have investments, or if your income is above a very low level, you have to pay up.

Filing on paper is free but is a magnet for a tax audit. After having trouble with accountant mistakes (my wife and I have experienced the same), a friend filed a complicated return on paper and was then subjected to five years of harassment by the IRS, which resulted in no findings of any error or wrongdoing on his part. The experience persuaded him to buy citizenship in St. Kitts and move to Dubai.
 
Dialectic said:
In the United States, if one wants to take advantage of myriad adjustments ("deductions" and "credits") that the Internal Revenue Code makes available, one typically uses a tax software program. I believe there are four such programs available to consumers (Turbotax, Tax Act, H&R Block, and Tax Slayer). (There are "professional" versions of each available to accountants.) At least one of these programs, Turbotax, is available as SaaS, but, if you have complicated taxes (e.g., partnership interests with annual adjustments to basis), the SaaS version of TurboTax does not give access to all the requisite tax form fields.
Click to expand...

TurboTax runs perfectly fine in a browser, I have been doing my taxes that way forever.
 
pablolie said:
TurboTax runs perfectly fine in a browser, I have been doing my taxes that way forever.
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But you can't edit the data in the forms using the browser version, which includes only the "questionnaire" view.

If you're selling master limited partnership interests, for example, you will need access to the forms, not just the questionnaire.

I also had difficulty making requisite adjustments to Schedule H using the questionnaire view. Sometimes you just need access to the damned tax form so that you can type in the right numbers.

Form editing functionality is available only in desktop TurboTax. It's absurd, but that's how it is.
 
Ricardus said:
I don't understand? Is there a joke I'm missing?

H&R Block works fine, as do many other online services.
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Sigh. If you have relatively complicated taxes (partnership interests, household employees, foreign tax credit carryforwards, etc.), you have to edit forms directly in desktop software should you wish to e-file. To my knowledge, "forms view" is not available in the SaaS version of any U.S. tax software.
 
Last edited:
Dialectic said:
Sigh. If you have relatively complicated taxes (partnership interests, household employees, foreign tax credit carryforwards, etc.), you have to edit forms directly in desktop software should you wish to e-file. To my knowledge, "forms view" is not available in the SaaS version of any U.S. tax software.
Click to expand...
I get you; you can drop into the same forms view in the TaxCalc desktop app.
 
Back on topic...

I have just blown Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon away and replaced it with...

Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 to see what Mint is like with Canonical's Ubuntuness removed :)

1777229380143.png


It appears that my fastest Mint repo @6.6MB/s is in Belgium! (Debian is fastest in the UK @71.3MB/s) :)
 
I'm happy with Linux Mint 21.3 on my first-gen Thinkpad Carbon X1 (2012), which is my "daily driver" but not for taxes or music listening. It boots fast and, despite having only 4GB of RAM, works perfectly for ASR and other web browsing. The ProtonVPN app runs nicely, and, with the laptop on a small desktop stand, the cooling fan practically never comes on.
 
Dialectic said:
This software runs only on Mac and Windows (and now only on Windows 11!). I managed to get Windows 11 installed on my unsupported 2015 Dell XPS13 and file my taxes. I don't like running tax software on my Mac, which is for BACCH only, and I don't have any other non-Linux machines in the house.
Click to expand...
I assume it won't run under Wine then. How about installing Windows in a virtual machine? I've used the free but time limited MS developer VM image on the rare occasions when I need to run something that absolutely requires Windows.
 
Dialectic said:
Sigh. If you have relatively complicated taxes (partnership interests, household employees, foreign tax credit carryforwards, etc.), you have to edit forms directly in desktop software should you wish to e-file. To my knowledge, "forms view" is not available in the SaaS version of any U.S. tax software.
Click to expand...
Cool? I'm just wondering what this has to do with using linux to do audio?
 
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