Anyone used Open Tax Solver to do your taxes? (US)
Anyone used Open Tax Solver to do your taxes? (US)
I'd been vaguely aware of campaigns by tax-prep companies to stop the IRS from offering its own tax-prep software. I was going over some of my old tax info today, and started to wonder if there were any open source tax-prep programs.
What I found was Open Tax Solver. I get the impression that it's more clunky that using commercial tax-prep. Does anyone here have firsthand experience with it?
The IRS offers free tax services, you can find them under
That's a damn fine URL. Thanks for sharing ❤️
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I had no idea FOSS tax software was a thing. Huh. I'll try and play around with it at some point and let you know.
There are some open source tax software around. Depending on your country's requirements you should get by with it. It might be "clunky", and you might have to persevere with some kind of inconvenience, but I'm of the opinion that any open-source transparent software, preferably a local installation, is worth using. The alternatives are usually hostile to you despite selling as convenient and friendly. Remember that any cloud solution is basically "someone else computer". Would you put your most private financial information on some random person's computer? Any assurance of security is a farce. There's been many data breaches of tax prep corporate databases. Having said, that's not the worst aspect of using most app based or online tax prep software. Most of them look at your data, profile you, and then sell that information (your private financial information) to data brokers! If you're using the app you likely agreed to them doing that whether you're aware or not. Check the privacy policy and terms of use. Additionally, many hold your records for ransom! You need to keep a certain number of years worth of records, and if you aren't keeping a local copy for yourself they are the only source. Many will deny you your tax records if you haven't payed for their services. It's extortion. Something that belongs to you cannot be attained unless you pay them to give it to you. It ensures that you remain a customer forever. If you want to quit them, they know they will get years of payment out of you because you need access to your own financial documents. This is an insidious practice and I don't know why anyone puts up with it. Find an accountant who is willing to work with alternate open source software. They exist.