Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Hi Robleyd, I have another question for you. I paid to have an accountant file my US and state income taxes last month. I got to thinking about Open Office Spreadsheets I use to keep track of what I spend for next year taxes. I tried calling IRS and it is impossible to get through to them at this time of year.
IRS and State I am in have lots of forms like 1040, Federal Estimate tax work sheet and lots of schedules that have to be filled out. All have places to put in numbers and subtract or divide in other places.
Is there some way for me to take an IRS form put it into my computer and using Open Office all I have to do is enter my numbers into boxes and then see totals then save page do another and save each page as a .pdf and up load directly to IRS and state I am in?
All of this is to save what an accountant charges me to do above which will probably be more next year for sure.
Thanks.

Please read the Survival Guide for the forum.
I have split your post from your previous topic that has been solved and that has nothing to do with your new question.

Please provide more information: what kind of file is the IRS form?

Let me jump in as someone who suffers directly from the US tax system. I don't think the proposed method is practical. I suppose someone with enough programming skill could get information out of OpenOffice and into a PDF version of the tax forms, but it would take a lot of programming and it would have to be adjusted every year as the forms change. Of course, there are software tools that take in your information and file a return, but they are supported by a host of programmers. There are free versions of those tools for simple tax filings. If you don't qualify for those, that is a sign that automating your tax filing is an even bigger job than for most people.
It is reasonable for simple filings to set up a spreadsheet that takes in your information and calculates the quantities that go into most of the tax form boxes. You can then manually transfer the results to the tax forms and check for adjustments due to changes in the forms, the laws, or your particular circumstances that year. That is a long way from an automated process.

There are those that can use Intuit or like for free for simple IRS forms. Others have to file going to H&R Block or a CPA. My suggestion to Open Office and for those who know how to use Open Office Spreadsheets a download charge for IRS and State 2024 filing forms having automatic adding, dividing and balance totals. Forms are downloaded to user for a fee, filed out and then uploaded to IRS or State by user. Open Office does not see what is on forms and there are lots of filers out there that might want to give it a try.
Just a suggestion. I like Open Office Spreadsheet and how auto adds and subtracts totals.

I went to irs.gov/forms and downloaded Schedule form B interest and ordinary dividends.
I opened and added a few names and numbers and tried and quickly gave up to make box #2 show total. I have no clue how to do what I know how to do Open Office Spreadsheet
Is there a way or should I just give up?
Thanks

There is no way I know of to perform any calculations in a PDF. That simply isn't the purpose of a PDF; it is for displaying text. I think you should set this idea aside.

OK Thanks.
I will set my idea aside to automatically show an account balance and be able to subtract from balance and show a new balance.

OOO1 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 4:34 am OK Thanks.
I will set my idea aside to automatically show an account balance and be able to subtract from balance and show a new balance.

Calculating balances and carrying that result into other calculations is easy in a spreadsheet. In a PDF, it is not.

Just for the record, I use a PDF that does sums: in a column, figures are summed in a total cell of the table. When I look at the properties of the file, it says it was created with MS Word 2016.
It seems to be possible in LO with the form fields that have a "Calculate" field. So tells my browser IA...
I also found that one: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/math-calc ... orms/12208

But if you pay an accountant to do the job, I guess it's not only to fill in the figures, it's also to have a service around it. Else, you would have put the numbers yourself in the form, wouldn't you? Thus, even if you mimic the form, how to be sure that you have the correct formulas and the best method to out the numbers (if there are ways to optimize what you need to pay in the way you fill in the form)?