The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’s) Use of federal tax information (FTI) in open source software webpage offers a large amount of information, and it’s especially relevant to anyone who may want to start their own open source tax software project. To hit the finer points:
- Federal tax information (FTI) can be used in any open source software
- Software creators mush follow all security laws and compliance requirements
- Any such software must be supported either by a vendor or a community
- The software must be approved by the federal government
One other reason researching this topic was rather difficult (but ultimately rewarding) is that, by federal law, the major tax software companies are required to provide their services for free to any person earning under $69,000 per year. About 70% of Americans fit into this category, and if you are one of them, you can check the IRS’s Free File webpage for links to free filing software from well-known companies.
OpenTaxSolver cuts down on tax calculations when you fill out your tax forms and simplifies the hardest part of doing your taxes: the math. You still have to fill in your data and turn the paperwork in, but using the software means you can do it in about half of the time.
This looks like a great service. Here is South Africa we have a similar (but paid service) called Tax Tim which I would be lost without – it also does the automated submission of our tax return though.
See how to get going with OpenTaxSolver at Getting started with OpenTaxSolver
OpenTaxSolver is an open source application for US taxpayers to calculate their state and federal income tax returns. Before I get into the software, I want to share some of the information I learned when researching this article. I spent about five hours a day for a week looking into open source options for doing your taxes, and I learned about a lot more than just tax software.