Does the US IRS have an auto-fill feature for tax software?
In Canada you sign up at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA is Canada's IRS) and get a log on. Then at tax time you can download free tax software from links on the CRA website, click auto-fill to populate with your info and then click the e-file button. That's it, done.
My dad in his mid 70s probably wouldn't do it so your dad may not either if it was available in the US. But it is a great feature to have it makes it almost to the point of why is anyone doing this it should be automatic each year.
I used to think making it more automatic was a clearly good idea _until_ I listened to that episode and was introduced to the counter-argument that people should well know what taxes they pay, to make it harder to sneak things in there or make the existing things swell without scrutiny.
This is why there's automatic withholding of income tax from your paycheck. If you never see it, you're less likely to miss it. The whole system is designed to try to keep you from realizing how much you pay.
Here in South Africa, you give your employer(s) your tax number and for ordinary employment they report your earnings. Then come tax time, you log onto the e-filing system and most of it is done for you already.
Many companies sell software to do US taxes for you and an automated system would shut them down overnight so they spend a lot of money blocking any changes to make tax easy.
In Canada you sign up at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA is Canada's IRS) and get a log on. Then at tax time you can download free tax software from links on the CRA website, click auto-fill to populate with your info and then click the e-file button. That's it, done.
My dad in his mid 70s probably wouldn't do it so your dad may not either if it was available in the US. But it is a great feature to have it makes it almost to the point of why is anyone doing this it should be automatic each year.