I worked on tax software and have seen these kind of efforts. Noble, yes. Short lived, yes.
It’s relatively easy to make a free 1040 file. The real problem comes from all. The. Edge. Cases.
1) do you support xyz state?
2) what if I lived in multiple states?
3) what if i…
And on and on.
And it’s not just one and done. Every year IRS and states are changing their shit so you have to go thru and make all kind of updates and verifications every year.
It takes an army to build and maintain. Generally not the kind of thing for open source (unless they’re paid). But then what’s the point? One may say it’s more transparent, but TurboTax etc are transparent with their formulas - you can check every box they fill in for you.
I think the only thing that can really disrupt this dynamic are “free” commercial software (like credit karma now cash app), or government provided.
It’s relatively easy to make a free 1040 file. The real problem comes from all. The. Edge. Cases.
1) do you support xyz state? 2) what if I lived in multiple states? 3) what if i…
And on and on.
And it’s not just one and done. Every year IRS and states are changing their shit so you have to go thru and make all kind of updates and verifications every year.
It takes an army to build and maintain. Generally not the kind of thing for open source (unless they’re paid). But then what’s the point? One may say it’s more transparent, but TurboTax etc are transparent with their formulas - you can check every box they fill in for you.
I think the only thing that can really disrupt this dynamic are “free” commercial software (like credit karma now cash app), or government provided.