tax software (was Re:Speech on Linux...)

[Henry Spencer]

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, James Knott wrote:
> > ...I think you'd need a program, not just a set of rules. 
> > I doubt you could write a rule-interpreting engine that could do the job
> > and wasn't essentially an interpreter for a programming language.
> 
> No, not the program, just the rules for running one.  As it stands now, 
> it publishes the relevant acts for accountants and whoever else can be 
> bothered reading them.  How's that different from publishing tax rules 
> in a "computer freindly" format, that apps could use?

The problem is that the rules are so complex and so unsystematic that a
"computer friendly" format almost certainly would have to *be* a program. 
I think you're grievously underestimating the complexity of turning the
current RevCan pronouncements into something that's easily analyzed and
unambiguous.

> > (Say you've got things running great, including the complications of
> > self-employment... and then RevCan decides that most small businesses
> > henceforth have to use the calendar year as their fiscal year...
> 
> Will off the shelf tax programs handle that?

Can't say for sure -- haven't used one -- but any program which can handle
self-employment *must* handle this, and more people than you might think
have some amount of self-employment income in addition to a job. 

A generally useful program can't just say "hire an accountant" when it
hits anything even vaguely complicated, because there are too many such
things, and too many people to whom they are relevant. 

                                                          Henry Spencer
                                                       henry-lqW1N6Cllo0sV2N9l4h3zg at public.gmane.org

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