[mirceal]

the point is that there is almost always a non-zero amount of work you have to do to file your taxes. Depending on your situation the amount of work can increase.

For a large chunk of people the IRS already knows what they're supposed to be paying. Those people are still put throughout the 'tax return' exercise.

I think the other commenters are right that for someone that's not familiar how taxes work in the US this seems overwhelming. I know I had a few people laugh/be amused when I was first attempting to figure out how it works and actually attempted going through the 1040 instructions. The reactions I got: blank stare + dude that's what turbotax is for...

[steve-howard]

And TurboTax spends a lot of money on lobbying [1] and advertising [2] to ensure that, first, it doesn't get any easier to file directly with the government, and second, that consumers think "TurboTax" when they think about tax software. The last sentence of your comment is exactly what Intuit wants to engineer.

[1] http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-these-taxpr...

[2] http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/turbotax-... The ads themselves aren't important so much as the fact that they air during the Super Bowl, one of the most effective and expensive ways to make sure millions of people see your message.