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| Home Front: Politix |
| Geithner Links Woes to TurboTax |
| 2009-01-23 |
| Maybe, next time, Timothy Geithner should pay an accountant. Or take a simple computer course. Geithner, President Obama's choice to run the U.S. Treasury and spearhead America's recovery from its financial crisis, is well on his way to being confirmed after the Senate Finance Committee voted 18-5 Thursday to forward his nomination to the full Senate. But the endorsement came only after he underwent embarrassing scrutiny for his failure to pay all of his income taxes in 2001 and 2002 -- a mistake he blamed on an easy-to-use computer income tax program used by 18 million taxpayers a year. Geithner said he used the popular software program TurboTax to complete his income tax forms in those two years, and he failed to include self-employment taxes in his federal returns. He said that, to his recollection, the program did not prompt him to report income and pay self-employment taxes. "I mistakenly believed that I was meeting my obligations fully, including self-employment taxes, but I did not prepare my returns in a way that caught that mistake initially," Geithner told the committee, adding, "these are my responsibility, not the tax software responsibility." But TurboTax itself says the program is designed for average taxpayers and prompts everyone to report any additional income or wages earned through self-employment. "The way TurboTax works, we ask you your personal information up front" and "walk you down an interview path that asks you the source of your income," said Scott Gulbransen, a spokesman for TurboTax. Even if you fill out a W2 tax form from a primary employer, "once you're done with that it will ask you if you had other sources of income," he told FOXNews.com. "The whole idea of TurboTax is to make sure we have all your information," Gulbransen said. Intuit, the company that makes the software, estimates that its customers receive tax returns in the hundreds of millions of dollars every year, he said. "There's a lot of time that's put in to make sure that the product is easy to use for the average American," Gulbransen said. "The numbers speak for themselves." The tax program -- now in its 25th year -- is retooled annually, he said. "Because the tax laws change every single year, the code, we -- in essence after every tax season -- have to recreate the product from the ground up as far as tax code goes," Gulbransen said. "So from that perspective, we update it every year for not only the federal taxes, but also for each individual state that has income tax." Dan Maurer, a senior vice president of TurboTax, issued a statement Wednesday saying user input is key. "TurboTax, and all software and in-person tax preparation services, base their calculations on the information users provide when completing their returns. TurboTax also has built-in error-checking tools that routinely catch common taxpayer mistakes. "Federal law and our own privacy policy prohibit us from discussing specifics of any customer's return," Maurer said. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #8 Is he kidding. TurboTax is so generic and simple even a simpleton can use it. Oh..... I think I see the problem..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-01-23 21:49 |
| #7 Oh, sure, I can see how Turbotax would have messed him up. I mean, it's not like his employer told him he had to pay self-employment tax on his earnings, or gave him the money to pay the tax, or he signed a statement that he knew that money was to pay the self-employment tax, or anything.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-23 21:38 |
| #6 His next misstep was accusing China of currency manipulation. "Mr Geithner’s comments were also criticised in unusually strong terms by prominent academics in China. “This is a sign of his immaturity and his inability to do such an important job,” said Shen Dingli, professor of American studies at Fudan University. “He is digging a trap for himself because after a few months he will have to recognise that he has made a mistake.”" |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-01-23 17:02 |
| #5 Strange isn't it, he apparantly was never audited by the IRS? Obviously his returns were not processed by the IRS Atlanta field office. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-23 08:43 |
| #4 Also - real tax prep. software (Lacerte, Pro System FX, etc.) would not have caught this either. The only 'prompt' that would have come up would be to ask for the FID and address of the 'day care' provider. Real tax prep. software would also provide hyperlinks to the relevant instructions for a given IRS or state form (in this case, it's on Page 2 of the Form 2441 instructions - But do not include any expenses for sending your child to an overnight camp, summer school, or a tutoring program.) |
| Posted by: Raj 2009-01-23 08:30 |
| #3 The guy's gonna be Secretary of the Treasury and he uses Turbotax? God help us... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-23 08:27 |
| #2 This is like blaming your car when you get into a fender bender. |
| Posted by: Raj 2009-01-23 08:21 |
| #1 And in other news, dog eats homework. They're playing your SONG Geithner! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-23 07:26 |