[zamalek]

That's exactly the propaganda that the likes of TurboTax/H1B spread, and you're falling for it. Here's a thought, what if you could decide to do them yourself? That's basically how it works elsewhere in the world, the government sends you your taxes and you return them signed if you agree. If you disagree or don't trust the government, then shred them and do it yourself.

[refurb]

So if you have even a moderately complex tax return, what you're saying is you'd be stupid not to do your taxes yourself and compare to what the government autofilled in the form?

So basically it would just say me the time of typing in some numbers but otherwise all the work is the same?

[kelnos]

No, you'd read the pre-filled return, verify that it has everything on it that you expect, and accept or amend it.

Sure, if you were excessively paranoid, you'd want to make sure all the numbers matched and added up to the same things, but... well, I suspect most people aren't like that. I don't see why we should all suffer just because some people are paranoid.

[refurb]

"Excessively paranoid"?

The numbers that are pre-filled come from the government, which come from your employer. If you're confident your employer would never make a mistake, then you have way more trust in HR than I do.

I've lived in a country where it's all pre-filled in, and you can bet I double checked the numbers. I actually found an error that I had to go back and get HR to fix (they had claimed less was put into a retirement account than actually was).

It was much easier, but not so much because the numbers were filled in, but because the tax code was so simple. You just punch in: a) total wages, b) any kids, c) any donations, d) any money you put in a retirement account. That's it.

In the US it can be super simple if you have W2 income and that's it. Throw in even basic stuff like interest, owning your own home, even a Roth IRA and the math gets complex enough because of the rules around eligibility, or the fact that critical numbers aren't shared with the IRS.

So it wasn't hard for me to just eyeball the total wages and retirement contributions because they are the same each month. No doubt it's more convenient, but you'd be nuts not to double check all the numbers.

[zamalek]

Here's the thing: if you believe that the extra effort is warranted then, great, put in the extra effort.

Why that means that the rest of us have to be forced to do the same is beyond me.