Suleman Ali

Why Can't the IRS Help Fill in the Blanks? is an awesome NYTimes Article.  Read it immediately if you haven't already.  I've emailed the author congratulating and thanking him!

Incidentally, I was thinking this exact thing yesterday morning.  As I gather my various 1099s and W2s to put my tax return together, I wonder why the IRS is making all this so hard.  Why isn't the IRS leveraging technology to make filing tax returns cheaper, faster, more accurate, and better prevent tax evasion?

The article also mentions that the tax-preparation software lobby is styming improvements to the process and perpetuating the status quo.  That certainly stinks for the rest of us.  But I wish the folks at Intuit would couple their political activism to maintain their market with some innovation to grow their market and business. 

Specifically, I wish Intuit would approach Fortune 500 companies, file their W2s to the IRS for them, and then market "60 second tax returns" to the employees of those Fortune 500 companies.  This would make it cheaper for Intuit to acquire customers (those Fortune 500 companies could market to their employees through corporate channels), get more customers (more Fortune 500 company employees will sign up), increase barriers to entry, and perhaps increase their margins (they could charge more for faster returns?). 

If Intuit isn't going to let the IRS become the clearinghouse for information, I wish it would become one.