For years I wondered with frustration why Americans can’t simply log into an IRS-hosted website and find much of their tax forms pre-filled in with the data the IRS receives from employers, banks, brokerages, etc. Instead the IRS compares their data with what we manually enter in commercial software.
The current inefficient system is a game of “gotcha.” If you enter a wrong number, transpose some digits or miss a number that should have been entered you may pay interest and penalties. Defying common sense, Americans are forbidden from seeing our data the IRS collected and comparing it to what we enter. An IRS-hosted system would save Americans time and stress and reduce errors, while also saving the IRS the time and expense of sending out deficiency notices. An efficient IRS system is deliberately kept from Americans by Congress thanks to tax software lobbying. Google the expose by propublica.org “Inside TurboTax’s 20-year fight to stop Americans from filing their taxes for free.”
