It's technically possible for tax preparation software to collect information about UI interaction (e.g., revising income downward before finishing) and send th

It's technically possible for tax preparation software to collect information about UI interaction (e.g., revising income downward before finishing) and send that information to the IRS. I don't know whether that occurs, and maybe all tax preparation companies decided not to do it for fear of detection and customer backlash. Still, it seems plausible that this new interest in IRS-hosted free e-filing means that someone became uncomfortable with a previous arrangement where those companies were sending UI data "voluntarily" or "accidentally" to help enable data mining for IRS audits. (Backspacing and decreasing a W-2 income value is probably not of interest, but a pattern of backspacing in something like "Gambling income" or "Gross receipts or sales" might be.)