60 percent? That's kinda high. Maybe force of habit, since I don't believe 60% of returns need a tax professional. TurboTax or analogous software probably can do most of the middle class returns. That's what tax preparers are use most of the time anyway - they just ask proper questions, get the docs, put them into software in the right places and file the result. May save some time, and knowing where to put the numbers requires some knowledge, so no problem with that, but I doubt it really needs that and can't be done by a good software.
> _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.
> _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.