Treasury, IRS announce postcard-size form 1040 for next year

[mfcorey1]

RIDICULOUS!!!!

Next year, Americans will be able to file their individual tax returns on a postcard.

The GOP's long-promised change is an offshoot of a tax overhaul last year that cut corporate rates and winnowed down the number of individual tax brackets. On Friday, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service unveiled the new postcard, which will replace the current forms 1040, 1040A and 1040 EZ.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, "The new, postcard-size Form 1040 is designed to simplify and expedite filing tax returns, providing much-needed relief to hardworking taxpayers.”

The tax overhaul was designed to make it so simple nine out of 10 people would be able to use the postcard to file, according to GOP Congressman Kevin Brady, in comments last year around the time the tax bill was introduced. It was ultimately passed and signed by President Trump, who had campaigned heavily on tax reform.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/treasury-irs-announce-postcard-size-form-1040-for-next-year/ar-AAzlzQh?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[Hekate]

1. Morons. Effing morons.

[oberliner]

2. Wasn't this a Ted Cruz idea?

[Freethinker65]

3. A gimmick with pages of worksheets

[NightWatcher]

4. I read that 92% efile and this was a huge waste of effort.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. There's a New 1040 Tax Form. Will Millions of E-Filers Even Notice?

There’s a New 1040 Tax Form. Will Millions of E-Filers Even Notice?

Paper form is ‘iconic,’ but 89% of households filed electronically this year

By Richard Rubin

@RichardRubinDC
[e-mail]

Updated June 29, 2018 1:04 p.m. ET

The IRS tax form 1040 is an icon in transition.

For years, taxpayers followed the instructions and carefully worked their way down the form, using pens to input information on the 1040 and mailing the paper to the government with a check or a request for a refund. Now, for most people, the 1040 is a summary of answers to questions posed by software or a paid preparer that doesn’t command the same amount of direct attention from taxpayers.

The form’s redesign, prompted by the 2017 tax legislation and Republican desires to deliver on a promise of postcard-size filing, was unveiled formally Friday as President Donald Trump celebrated the six-month anniversary of the tax law. Because the 1040’s role in the tax-filing process has changed, the real-world impact of the shortened new form may not be so drastic.

“It’s vestigial,” said Robert Kerr, executive vice president of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, tax experts licensed to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. “The 1040 is this sort of iconic, symbolic thing, but no one actually fills out a 1040 anymore, so there’s a lot of energy being consumed by a new 1040 without the more fundamental question of: So what?”

The IRS says 89% of households filed electronically so far this year, including 72 million depending on tax professionals and 54 million filing electronically themselves. The IRS has encouraged the shift to digital filing, which the agency says is cheaper, faster and safer. The government isn’t urging people to go back to paper and expects digital filing to keep growing, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview.
....

Write to Richard Rubin at [e-mail]

[Throck]

6. Haven't used paper in 10 years.

[Sgent]

7. This helps no one

but will piss off anyone who deals with tax returns on a regular basis (accountants, bankers, mortgage brokers, etc.). Mostly because we can glance at a tax return, give guideiance by line number, etc. -- all of that is now down the drain.

For some poor soul who is still actually doing their return by hand, it sucks because all of that information now has to be done on supporting worksheets.

[Patterson]

8. Who the hell is going to put their income on a postcard for everyone to see?

[Totally Tunsie]

9. You'll still be using an envelope to mail the postcard.

The cards will still need to be routed to the correct processing center for your region and that can't be accomplished using just the postcard itself since there is no mailing address info on the postcard. (See the link for a sample postcard.) Your private information will still be secure.

[link:https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/treasury-irs-announce-postcard-size-form-1040-for-next-year/ar-AAzlzQh?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout|

Also, some filers will need to submit supplemental forms in addition to the postcard.

All in all, a waste of time and money. Much easier to file online.

"Promises made, promises [stupidly] kept."

[logosoco]

10. More proof that this "administration" is still living like it's the 1980s.nt