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https://www.zoho.com/subscriptions/h...-salestax.html
Came across this just now while googling. The company (zoho) makes software for india's newly introduced federal (all india reach) GST compliance. So I just googled it. Does it help?
You probably won't find anything for doing American taxes at your Linux computer, at least nothing very good, though you could use one of the online services. Developing and maintaining tax software is very capital intensive, extremely complex and, requires extensive annual updates and a large development staff.
You can find some good Linux accounting programs, such as Kmymoney and GNUcash. My finances are not so complex as to require an accounting program.
I keep a Windows box happy and healthy for the primary purpose of doing my taxes (and I don't use TurboTax, I use the H&R Block Tax Cut and I do not do them on line--I'd do them by hand first).
Phooey(!) on (US) Tax Software! I will never use it again!
The actual tax calculations are very simple: a spreadsheet can do it very nicely, with only one table-lookup from an official document. All of the forms that you could possibly require are available on-line now as PDFs, and all of them are "fillable."
I now do our taxes each year on a spreadsheet ... which I know is not subject to ... (ahem) ... errors ... and, having done them, I print them out.
Then, I waltz down to the local Post Office with the completed envelope package and mail them in, Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested! When the green postcard arrives back in the mail, I staple it to the folder containing another copy of the printed documents, after making a photo of it just-in-case.
And this paper file will remain ... f=o=r=e=v=e=r.
I feel that I am losing absolutely nothing, and actually gaining quite-a-bit, by doing the relatively-trivial(!) calculations myself.
When you actually go through the motions of preparing the return, first of all you see how the tax form changes subtly each and every year. You see what "goodies for the rich" have been added, and which have been removed. And, if you know what documents to review each year, you learn to anticipate where those changes might be. In some years, I have been able to work those "lawful changes" to my considerable advantage – and, sometimes not. But, either way, I(!) am fully in control of it, and fully aware of it, and my by-now well honed spreadsheet is doing the calculations.
Never again(!) will the tax authority be able to say, "oh, but we didn't get that <<X_years_ago>>." (Where "X+1 years minus one month" is the statute of limitations, and they'd never said a single thing until then.) Been there, done that. "Here, you oh-so-conveniently "forgetful" government agency, let me send you a photocopy of that green postcard. Yeah, I still have it. Would you like the paperwork, too? How about a copy of the check? A copy of the X-year old bank statement proving that you cashed it? (They won't let us have copies of the cancelled checks anymore, or I would send you a copy of that.)" Go find another ass to pick on, willya? This ass is covered.
Last edited by sundialsvcs; 07-17-2017 at 12:12 AM.
Phooey(!) on (US) Tax Software! I will never use it again!
I've been quite happy with H&R Block's (used to be Kiplinger's) Tax Cut. I've used it for over 15 years and it works for me. I can attest that, since I've been using it, I've only received one letter from the IRS, and that was because of a faulty 1099 from someone renting the family farm. I appealed and the IRS accepted my appeal because I made my case.
But, really, if you don't want to use tax software, that's fine.
My girlfriend uses TurboTax online (I wouldn't use online on a bet!), but it works for her. As I said, I wouldn't do my taxes in the "cloud" on a bet. It's my social security number, by golly, and I'm not putting it out there!
I made the mistake of using tax software on a system with a case-sensitive file system, and wound up filing a return with gross math-errors that my lazy and too-trusting self did not bother to look for. ("Computers don't make mistakes, right?")
Then, IRS waited until one month before the statute of limitations would run out to spring their trap.
Since then, I have discovered that I like to know, to see and to actually decide, how the extremely-simple math on Form 1040 is done. I actually read(!) the instructions section where they disclose the changes to tax law that were made in that year, and in quite a few years I have saved money because of it. I've also discovered that, buried on their web site, they also post discussions of 'proposed rule-makings' and other tax law changes which will apply to the current year, even before the forms become available. You don't need an accountant to tell you about them. You can profitably, and perfectly legally, adjust your financial picture to save literally thousands of dollars in the coming year. Tax software keeps you blissfully in-the-dark about any and all such things, since the consumer versions are sold to ... John Q. Public.
The 1040-replicating calculations (complete with form line-numbers) all fit on the top of one page of my spreadsheet. You frankly don't need to spend money on software to do something so trivial.
Last edited by sundialsvcs; 07-18-2017 at 11:01 AM.
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