regulations or principles governing conduct.
Got a letter from the IRS advising me that I made an error computing my taxes, and would I please send extra monies posthaste?
This doesn't surprise me at all. I did my best to read the instructions, but I'm not an expert, and I'm not even especially careful. I made a good-faith effort and paid an appropriate ballpark figure. The IRS decided I owed slightly more and politely asked me for that amount. Not a big deal. That said, I would have liked to discover my mistake before sending off my return.
In some countries the government produces tax software. I can understand why the IRS doesn't do that. (Instantly create the most tempting target in existence? Sign me up.) But it'd be nice if they released some kind of "constraint document" in an open, computer-parsable format, that said stuff like "schedule D must be filled out if line n is greater than amount y."[1] It'd be like a set of business-logic rules, which is a well-defined area of software populated by extremely boring people.[2] It wouldn't have to have any executable code, wouldn't have to submit returns online or collect any information -- it'd just be a set of constraints dictating the contents of a well-formed tax return.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constraint_programming is tangentially related. The thing that I find most interesting about this is that it hints at an entire realm of practical software that I've never had occasion to deal with.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_rules_engine If you're ever tempted to write something like this, drink until the impulse goes away. (Or stop drinking, as applicable.)
This doesn't surprise me at all. I did my best to read the instructions, but I'm not an expert, and I'm not even especially careful. I made a good-faith effort and paid an appropriate ballpark figure. The IRS decided I owed slightly more and politely asked me for that amount. Not a big deal. That said, I would have liked to discover my mistake before sending off my return.
In some countries the government produces tax software. I can understand why the IRS doesn't do that. (Instantly create the most tempting target in existence? Sign me up.) But it'd be nice if they released some kind of "constraint document" in an open, computer-parsable format, that said stuff like "schedule D must be filled out if line n is greater than amount y."[1] It'd be like a set of business-logic rules, which is a well-defined area of software populated by extremely boring people.[2] It wouldn't have to have any executable code, wouldn't have to submit returns online or collect any information -- it'd just be a set of constraints dictating the contents of a well-formed tax return.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constraint_programming is tangentially related. The thing that I find most interesting about this is that it hints at an entire realm of practical software that I've never had occasion to deal with.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_rules_engine If you're ever tempted to write something like this, drink until the impulse goes away. (Or stop drinking, as applicable.)