Technology

In France everyone has to fill a tax return. It will be prefilled with your salaries, but you still need to add deductions (for example house renovations or child care) or special revenues like real estate.

But yeah, if you only have salaries and no deductions you just validate your prefilled return and be done with it.

Western Europe here. I’m old enough that I’ve had to file many paper tax forms. There have always been free services to help with that.

Now you can do it all online, and the known information is pre-filled. The last few years you don’t even have to click “accept” anymore, accepting is automatic if you don’t do anything.

That said, there still are paid services, but their main aim is to find all the ways to reduce what you pay (and they are likely used mainly by the well off).

Australian here. The ATO (australian tax office) has a website you go to. It is pre-filled with various dada, your salary, your bank interest, uni loans, etc.

You add any additional salary, eg gig economy or crypto earnings (lol) and put in your deductions. I deduct heaps because I make money on the side renting out my camper van, and all its expenses are deductable from its earnings, but if you just have one job and thats it, then you can be done with your tax return in 10 mins, for free, online.

You can even preview your expected tax return before you commit. Once you commit, the return lands in your bank acvount usually within a week or so. You even get a receipt showimg what they spent your money on.

that will cost billions.

Cost whom billions?

Luckily, most people are 9 to 5ers. The vast majority of people have simple taxes that a trained monkey could handle if it weren't for the Intuit cabal.

Let not perfect be the enemy of good. This is a good step and from here, we can improve the system by steps until the only people who can't use it are tax cheats. Over optimistic? Yes, but I'm taking my wins to go.

That guy is obviously exaggerating for effect and you are technically correct, but he's not wrong.

Companies like Inuit and H&R Block have been lobbying for ages to keep the free file forms ridiculously overcomplicated, difficult to navigate/complete, and dangerously generalized to the point where if you mis-interpret a line on one of your several non-intuitively named financial forms you will be committing tax fraud

It is objectively easier, safer, and more convenient to file taxes through one of these private companies and the is by design.

In Canada, unless you have some weird stuff, the tax filing form is smaller than the census. They just need to confirm things that links your accounts. They already have your pay and taxes amounts from your employer, your bank tax statements from your banks, etc. So unless you’re doing something only like 1% of the population does, it’s a two pager online, 20 minutes in and out, that’s it.

Gotta love a bribery based legislature system.

nailed it.