Quick: when you hear “1040 Form,” what do you imagine of?
Taxes, yes, IRS, yes, April 15th, yes – but anything else?
Dollars? Yes, you’re getting warmer….
More specifically, “money” as in “investment,” as in “stock market.” As in companies like H&R Block (HRB) and Jackson-Hewlitt (JTX).
State the IRS 1040 Form and if you think hard or long enough, you’ll eventually give thought to the tax preparation industry. So, think about it? Well, how about the fact that it’s a great line of business to invest your money in? Of course, there’s a captive audience involved, and even though profits are seasonal it’s guaranteed every year since practically everyone has to file a return!
A true winner, right?
Not necessarily. Not anymore.
Like just about everything else in our world, computers have altered things drastically.
Tax preparation software continues to be popular, and its usage is even developing now that web-based services exist which require no installation procedures on one’s computer. In fact, many of these web-based services are sometimes free – that’s right, free!
It’s not because the organizations providing them are doing it out of any altruistic desires, obviously. In fact, far from it. For the IRS was about to take advantage of modern technology – as a final point – and offer online tax preparation and filing to all for free, but the industry lobbied greatly against the idea. It would, after all, put them out of business. And while jobs are crucial, so is serving the public good. And although jobs definitely fall within the description of a public good, so is making government more out there.
So, how to proceed?
A steal was brokered which lead to online tax preparation software being absolutely free for those making under twenty-five thousand dollars a year approximately. In exchange, the government contracted to not offer their own free preparation and filing service at the IRS website!
Now back to stocks.
Having preserved fee-based online preparation and filing services, the companies offering them are in position to continue getting money – indeed, to keep on increasing their revenues as progressively more people log onto the web to do their taxes. This puts those running brick-and-mortar operations, such as H&R Block and Jackson-Hewlitt, on the same road the dinosaurs found themselves, the fast track to extinction.
So, what direction to go?
The writing’s on the wall. It’s only a matter of time prior to hardly anyone will do tax preparation and filing offline! The point that some of these forms are utterly ridiculous and a waste of time, as well as money which is also quite as important, but there are counter forms to retaliate against time- wasting forms which virtually do totally nothing with no benefits whatsoever, that is, based on what the cause may be. Makes sense right? Well in a nutshell let’s just say now they have much more proper forms which are proper and accounts instantly to the cause of the form rather than a general form which follows up an appointment to describe to the guy or woman what the actual reason is in filling up that form…maybe more. Makes more sense now doesn’t it?
Learn more about 1040 form. Stop by Terrance A. Philips’s site where you can find out all about form 1040 and what it can do for you.