Re: Tax software (was Re: my answers to questions)
(Is d-d a better list for this?)
On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Chris Lawrence wrote:
> The problem with an OS tax prep program is that I suspect that the "no
> warranty" bit in the license would not always be interpreted as
> literally meaning "no warranty", particularly if you encountered an
> overly populist judge or jury. If that problem were overcome (can it
> really be?), I can easily see a DFSG-free tax prep program with the
> author selling support - namely, insurance that the program is
> audit-proof.
> FWIW, my taxes are also a mess and I use proprietary software to do
> them, mainly because I'd otherwise be paying someone else more money
> to use proprietary software to do them for me. OTOH, a program that
> will calculate 1040EZ (which isn't easy to screw up, since the form
> and instructions are aimed at or below the 6th grade reading level)
> might be a worthwhile project... and if it were built extensibly, it
> might eventually be useful for 1040A at least. Frankly there are
> parts of 1040 that even the tax prep companies are afraid to touch...
The difficulty, I think, lies mainly in the amount of manpower that must be
thrown at the project *annually* in order to keep the tax forms up-to-date.
The quantity of supporting schedules just for the 1040A that would need to be
reviewed every year to check for changes is not insignificant, and the 1040 is
far worse (though if people really expect open-source software that can scale
up to the 1040, they ought to also be willing to contribute financially to its
development :P)
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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