Each year, Americans are forced to fill out tax returns and submit them to federal and state governments, even though for a large majority of tax payers the IRS already has this information from the filing of W-2 and 1099 forms. The IRS could reduce or eliminate the burden of filling and filing tax returns for a hundred million American taxpayers by providing a pre-filled tax return for every American employee and investor with any income and capital gains known by the IRS. The return could be amended and filed with corrections, deductions, and exemptions, either by mailed form or online. Filing taxes would take five minutes and would not cost any money.
President Obama should direct Congress to pass a law directing the IRS to implement pre-filled tax returns.