> A quality tax preparer is no more than "a few hundred bucks".

I do not want to continue to contribute to the tax preparation ecosystem any more than absolutely necessary. Paying a CPA to file my taxes is no different than paying intuit for a new copy of turbotax every year. I don't see a distinction in principle. They probably use the same software internally.

My tax preparer is also my accountant and one of my financial advisors. Tax preparation is a service he offers. And I have access to all of the spreadsheets he uses to calculate them, so I'm fairly certain it's not "the same software internally".

If you don't see a distinction here, I suspect it's because you don't want to.

Where do you find good people for this?

I asked friends and got recommendations from solid people I trust, like I do most things.