[plongeur]

The amount of taxes being collected throughout the year are by design higher than what you actually owe to the government. That's the same in most countries.

Of course you can get your overpaid taxes back by means of the tax return - but a lot of people don't have the money or time or knowledge to do that.

The overpaid money is to the government if requested back, an interest-free loan - if not requested back, a gift.

If the government would now tell the IRS to fill out the form for you - then there would be significantly less income - due to more accurate taxation.

[woobar]

> The amount of taxes being collected throughout the year are by design higher

This is not true at all. You decide how much money will be deducted from each paycheck by filling out form W-4 and similar state forms. You can make withholding adjustments after each paycheck.

IRS will penalize you if you "prepay" too little (for instance, if you owe them more than 10% of your total tax), but there nothing that prevents you from not giving them interest-free loan.

[goodcanadian]

I have found that when I fill the forms out honestly and accurately, it results in too much tax being withheld. It is certainly true that I can fudge the forms to get a more accurate withholding (and I have done that at times), but it does seem to withhold too much by default.

[plongeur]

Just that the process you described is risky ("penalize") and seemingly more complicated than filing a tax return.

[woobar]

This process does not replace tax return, so I am not sure why would you compare it to filing a tax return. It's a required step to establish your paycheck withholdings. You will do it anyway. There is always a risk of penalty if you make a mistake while filling out this form or have unexpected income during the year.