
Ask HN: So how does one go about creating a tax preparation software? - pthreads
So far not a single year has gone by when I have disliked tax preparation software (except for the couple years when I used a pen and paper). I hate the cost, the UI, hidden fees, uncertainty about data security, unsupported OSes, work flow, and the list goes on.<p>I now seriously wonder what does it take to create a tax filing&#x2F;preparation software. Something that can handle filing beyond the most basic i.e. 1040. Say one that can also work for joint filing or even small businesses.<p>Any ideas from the HN brain trust?
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philiphodgen
I am a tax lawyer.

You probably need years and multiple millions of dollars to write competent
tax return preparation software. Our office uses an expensive pro package
(Lacerte, owned by Intuit) which is frankly a C- product.

I don't know what would be more important -- coding skill or a deep, intimate
knowledge of tax law. Tax law is an internally inconsistent logic box. Oh. And
ambiguous too. I'm not sure how you deal with those situations.

Even if you succeed in writing awesome tax prep software, you have a marketing
problem.

We do not like Lacerte. We have identified software we would rather use. But I
cannot get my team to move to the new software. Learning curve fear, data
conversion fear. Etc.

Look at the accounting software business. Why does Quickbooks continue to
dominate the market?

If you are interested in breaking into the market, find a tiny subset that you
can competently serve. E.g., my friend Mary Beth and her business partner
solved a truly horrific piece of tax hell at www.form8621.com. You have no
idea about the intellectual complexity of the tax law underpinning her
software.

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pthreads
Thank you. That is useful. I had, perhaps foolishly, assumed that the tax law
would be an unambiguous logical tree at least for non-corporate taxes.

~~~
greenyoda
This year I was helping a friend figure out how to report OID income from a
contingent payment debt instrument (this sounds like something esoteric, but
it comes from a CD sold to her by an investment advisor at her local bank).
Trying to understand the IRS's explanation of this is a world of pain, since
it reuses concepts that were designed for a completely different purpose, and
they flat out tell you that the number reported on your 1099 form may not be
the right number to report on your tax return.

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sjg007
The IRS has fillable forms available. But the best thing is to just hire a tax
accountant.

