Re: [lp-ca-on] Proposed Proof of Concept Tax Calculation

[Rudolf]

At this point I would highly recommend creating a repository on Gitlabs (it's FSF approved yay): https://gitlab.com

it would make it easier to keep track of various issues and discussions and for people to get some code examples into the repo

-rudolf

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 12:26 PM Allan Zhang <address@hidden> wrote:

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Greg, did you file your last request to the CRA under your name or on behalf of LP-CA-ON?


- -------- Original Message --------
From: Greg Knittl <address@hidden>
Sent: June 5, 2016 12:20:22 PM EDT
To: Stephen Paul Weber <address@hidden>, Libreplanet Canada Ontario <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: [lp-ca-on] Proposed Proof of Concept Tax Calculation

Hi Stephen,

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/bsnss/crpnt/sftwr-eng.html
Testing time frames gives some idea of the schedule. The paper/PDF forms
are usually available around the beginning of January so I doubt the
developers get much of a jump on everyone else.
The limit of 20 returns per computer could be interesting - I'm fine
with coding that but we have to give the user access to the source to
change it so I can see the CRA using this as an excuse to deny free
software solutions... We may have to start with paper filing while we
fight the battles to open up the CRA's interfaces.

Yes, the constant changes to the calculations are why my intuition is
that the tax calculations have to be externalized as some kind of
formula language so the changes can be crowd sourced. Perhaps it could
be Prolog statements that get compiled into a Prolog program. It could
also be R, bash, some spreadsheet formula language, I don't have strong
opinion yet. There needs to be a way for people to contribute back
partial updates to those portions of the logic they use, which might
only be a subset of the calculations on a form - github? At some point
would have to take a branch and try and certify it...

My feeling is that if we can get crowdsourcing the tax calculations to
work we have a good chance of displacing the commercial software. We
might not conquer the mass market first but if we can get accountants
with more complex calculations to start contributing perhaps we could
become the reference implementation and there would be pressure on the
CRA to accommodate us. /end daydream.

We can't be the first to struggle with these issues. I wonder what our
friends in the States are doing... Anyone care to contact Libre Planet US?

Greg


On 16-06-05 11:09 AM, Stephen Paul Weber wrote:
> Of course the biggest hurdle for the tax *calculation* part is that it changes every year and so needs constant updating to be useful.
>
> I wonder if authorised vendors get access to the forms ahead of time in order to have the software ready by tax time...‎
>
>


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