Any half decent state also offers free online tax returns. If all you are is an employee with stocks/bonds in a brokerage that gives you the necessary forms, it is super easy.
It does some calculations itself, and some you have to do yourself, but it is very easy to use and file online, and get a pdf return to save for yourself.
Any half decent state also has had free online tax return filing for some time now.
I've been using TurboTax for almost 20 years. Yes, I could save a few bucks by doing it a different way, but I learned how to do it one way and I don't want to learn how to do it a different way.
The bigger issue has to do with how US politics work. "What makes sense," is what most countries do: the government sends you a completed tax return and you just verify that it is completed correctly. Due to lobbying, the US government is prohibited from telling you how much tax you owe. Instead, what happens is the government does your taxes for you in secret, and if the amount you pay is significantly different from what they believe you owe, the government sends you a bill with a suggested payment. You don't have to actually pay the amount that they suggest, but if you don't, you better have a darn good reason to explain why the government calculated your tax wrong.
In general, it is to your benefit to err in your favor. The interest rate on a "tax mistake" is extremely low. But, if you accidentally overpay, the government will very rarely send you a refund automatically.
