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Comment by balls187 | Hacker News Reader

It is bonkers that the IRS cannot prefill information for the majority of Taxpayers.

This last year when filing my taxes with a paid turbotax product some value was auto-filled and looked about right. After submission I was notified that the IRS rejected my form because the field was wrong. They did not correct the field or otherwise communicate what they believed the value should have been. Tracking down what number they actually wanted there was a hassle. So... they have on file what they expect your taxes to be, will reject your filing if you get it wrong... but won't just use their gathered values to do your taxes. Very frustrating.

Huh, I've never had my filing rejected but I've had the IRS send me letters a couple times. Once a year or two later, the other time (last year) a few weeks later or so before I got the refund: each time they told me exactly what they thought I'd missed.

Which still highlights the absurdity of making me re-enter the stuff they already know.

In most cases, you know the information (and may have to file) before they’ve processed it. Request your tax account transcript (what they know about your account) on April 15 and again on August 15. I can pretty well guarantee they’ll be different for the prior calendar year.

It might be stuff they’ll eventually know, but it’s not necessarily stuff they already know at the relevant time.

I don’t typically get 1099s until in February. I suspect wouldn’t get you pre-filled tax forms until late March.

Rejection is usually something the IRS can suss out immediately when you e-filing such as incorrect SSN for dependents. Correction letters are just form letters from automated audits, usually forgetting to input a 1099 misc from some bank account.

They'll send you a letter with the wrong value and the value they think is correct. And if you agree, you usually don't have to take any action (beyond maybe paying more).

Well, they can; that's the service the article is discussing?

They could. They just want you to confess the things that are harder for them to track. So they pretend they know more than they do.

Most people get money back from the IRS. If anything, making tax returns optional for people with just employment income would mean the IRS would keep more money.

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