Ask HN: Whats the most boring form that you had to fill? Why did you hate it?
3 comments
The Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung. Every freelancer and small business owner in Germany has to fill it. It's long, it's complicated, and it's full of things that are hard to understand.
I wrote a guide on how to fill it (http://allaboutberlin.com/guides/fragebogen-zur-steuerlichen...), but I wish there was an easier way to fill it.
I wrote a guide on how to fill it (http://allaboutberlin.com/guides/fragebogen-zur-steuerlichen...), but I wish there was an easier way to fill it.
Offtopic, but speaking of delayed trains, I remember Italia offering me a half refund on a train that broke down and delayed to arrive at destination. I didn't have to fill any form, and the email arrived 2-3 hours past the arrival.
Thats how it should be I suppose, but can't be taken for granted everywhere.
I am looking for terrible forms that can be simplified for consumers. Online or Offline doesn't matter to start with. I have done a few in Europe already, but desperately looking for more.
Some examples that I have done:
- If your train in Germany is delayed, they make you fill out a paper form, hand sign it and post(!) it to them to claim a refund. No email or fax allowed. I built a little online form that prefills it with data from your ticket. You can also post it through my site.
- If your train in France is delayed you have to fill out a similar form thats only available in french.
Some examples that I am thinking about:
- Resident parking permits are different by council/county and some can be a total pain to renew.
- taxes (although many have done this incl. TurboTax etc.)
- reclaiming capital gains tax paid on shares in Switzerland is super awkward for German citizens
Anyhow. Please let me know processes like that that really annoyed you, ideally with link to the original form. Big Bonus points for recurring stuff! Many thanks!