A NerdWallet/Harris survey found that 80% of taxpayers aged 18-34 "are fearful about some aspect of preparing their taxes." That's the largest percentage of any age group. Millennials are also most worried about "leaving tax-refund money on the table" and "more likely than other age groups to ask key questions before hiring help."
Here's some so-called reasoning:
“In some ways, it makes sense — Millennials tend to have less experience with a deeply confusing tax code, less cash to seek professional help and less need for the more complicated returns that having children or a mortgage can bring,” says Liz Weston, NerdWallet columnist and personal finance expert.
You see, this is the type of rationale that makes all this generational talk pretty stupid. It's true, an 18-year-old probably doesn't have much experience with the "deeply confusing tax code." On the other hand, I hope a 34-year-old has some experience with the tax code, if only it's punching numbers off a W-2 into TurboTax. And did I miss the announcement that 18-34 year-olds stop procreating and sinking themselves into debt?
Anyway, tax season scares lots of people. That's why the bogus IRS calls are such a big success. Still, I'll bet most Millennials prefer tax returns to performance reviews.
“The Buffett thing is just theatrics. If Warren Buffett made his money from ordinary income rather than capital gains, his tax rate would be a lot higher than his secretary’s,” he said. “I think it’s not fair to say that wealthy people don’t pay their fair share. They pay a much higher percentage of their income, they have a higher rate than people who make less,” Bloomberg added. [
“Perhaps the most telling indicator of taxpayer confusion over the code’s complexity is that today, 90% of individual taxpayers pay for professional tax preparation or tax software to prepare their tax returns. IRS research estimates that, over the past 10 years, the burden for the typical taxpayer has increased by about 20% and would likely be even more if they had to prepare returns themselves without any aids or tools. Moreover, we estimate individual taxpayers and businesses spend more than 7 [billion] hours each year complying with filing requirements.” [