[seanhunter]

Something approaching this is certainly possible and is the status quo in other countries. I remember a Swedish colleague demonstrating their tax system by filling out his return on his mobile phone live in front of an audience about 5 or 6 years ago. It involved literally no typing - all the numbers were already there, he just had to check them and hit "accept" or challenge anything that was wrong. At the end it told him how much he still owed/was owed.

In the UK a very substantial portion of my tax return is trivial to fill out, and filing online doesn't require any kind of software - the uk hmrc website does all the calculations for you. I was absolutely flabberghasted when I had to complete a US tax return a few years back at how incredibly archaic and byzantine the process was. It could certainly be a lot simpler which would save time and money for both the citizens and the IRS themselves.