In US, about 60 percent of individual tax returns are filed by a professional tax preparer, at every income level. People who owe no income tax still have to file tax returns to receive tax credits. In many other modern countries, _the_majority_ of the tax payers file no tax returns at all.

> _the_majority_ of the tax payers file no tax returns at all.

I think there's a confusion here. Maybe several. First of all, in US filers and payers are not the same, as you may pay federal taxes (e.g. by deductions) and still not have to file (e.g. low income). Second, there are state taxes, which most countries don't have. Third, many countries just don't have the tax return as a thing - if you got something deducted, it's gone, good luck getting anything back. In US, you get stuff back for mortgage interest, state taxes, property taxes, charity donations, etc. etc. - you can get quite a decent amount of money back. I think it's better than just sending it over and getting nothing back, even if it could mean a bit more work.

http://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax-individual/end-year/ir3/ii...

My favourite part of our tax system is the advice to file if you have "income from an illegal enterprise"

EDIT: Just as a reply to the original point. I'm not sure how complicated the US system is. I'm not trying to say it's bad either, it just seems to me that we have a system similar to the one that is getting lobbied against. And I like our system, it works well for me..

FYI - At various stages of my life I've filed in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Switzerland and the US (California).

I can't generalize to all persons, but I do have a decent spread of countries in my own experience - and the US was by some serious margin the most complicated.

That's entirely the point of the linked article. TurboTax has lobbied to keep the system convoluted so they can sell you their software.

Countries with simple tax rules don't get to micromanage their economy so much.

Tax filing in US is a huge waste of people's time. I wonder if anyone ever computed the amount of people-hours spent on this malarky, and how much productive output it could generate if used for something else.

Although I guess it could be worse... I generally have extra taken out of my regular paycheck so I don't have to make quarterly payments. But it's just guesswork for the most part, as I just don't know where things will be precisely. Some years, I'm happy not owing anything, or at least much (I've owed the state a couple times), Other years I get more back than expected.

"Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity."

"If you receive a bribe, include it in your income."

"You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or similar payments you receive in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), if from your self-employment activity."

"If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner."

See: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch12.html

I wonder what happens if you steal something, keep it until the next year, and then return it? Do you declare it as income in the year you steal it, and a loss in the year you return it?

(Probably not. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I recall another document that explains that, while income from illegal activities is taxable, expenses for illegal activities are not deductible.)

In over 10 years here I have never needed to do anything more than to sign a couple of forms provided (and pre-filled-in) by my employer, once a year.

If you make only the equivalent of U$400 in extra income, there's no need to declare it. I think the cap is around U$2000.

If you own a standard investment account, your broker will automatically levy taxes on your dividends and capital gains (rates are the same, BTW). You can still open a different type of account if you want to pay the taxes yourself. But if you're just investing for retirement and going buy-and-hold-forever there's little reason to do so.

Also we have no capital gains tax (a mistake IMHO). Tax on interest, (and a second income) is withheld by banks at our nominal marginal rate.

In practice if the govt doesn't care about the tax on your cabbage patch doll, unless you are selling thousands of them it costs more to collect that tax than they would receive

This hurts my head to think about. According to CNN, 20% of large corporations pay almost nothing in corporate taxes.[1]

1 - http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/13/pf/taxes/gao-corporate-taxes...

But that's because I feel that corporations should be mostly about collective ownership and protection from direct liability. It shouldn't be a carte blance.

Plus, tons of third-parties will file returns for free, even ones more complicated than 1040ez.

Could you list any of these websites or PM me please?

List of supported forms, including 1040: https://www.taxhawk.com/eligibility.jsp

They don't do everything, but they certainly go beyond 1040EZ. Federal filing is free. They charge for federal extensions and state returns.

That's hilarious.