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In Australia, the ATO knows everything. Employment income for a start, but also bank account interest, dividends, health insurance payments, and a lot more. For
by shortcake27 3y ago
In Australia, the ATO knows everything. Employment income for a start, but also bank account interest, dividends, health insurance payments, and a lot more. For the average person, the pre-fill is all you need and you can just submit the return as-is.
Not sure why the US isn’t able to do that. All employers and banks have your SSN, right? Sharing data with the IRS at the end of the tax year isn’t rocket science.
- dessimus 3y agoShort answer: Lobbyists. Basically, the Intuits, H.R. Blocks, Jackson-Hewetts, et al., stand to lose a large chunk of their revenues if the IRS did everyone's taxes for them. Additionally, those in power, or with enough influence over those with power, do not want to fund the IRS to have easy visibility into all of those possible revenue streams in an easily correlated manner.