I don't care if a scammer scams the IRS out of $20K; that's their problem, not mine. If they think I'm responsible, well they can check my accounts; they're shit outta luck.
And their protective measures demonstrably did not work, anyways. Requiring a tenuous chain of several checks to all succeed is ridiculous; I have plenty of ways to verify my identity, FFS.
Right, but that's not helpful if I'm unable to efile because of their "new measures." Why not allow several forms of ID, like maybe a driver's license or passport? Why is a phone number the blocking step? Who designed this system?
That's how I feel whenever I am forced to interact with the IRS. Once, I went to one of their fully automated systems only to find that the entire website was only open between the hours of 9AM-5PM on weekdays! What?
I'm getting real tired of this shit. It's just unreasonable to expect me to jump through all of these hoops for something that they insist is so essential. If it's essential, then make it easy! If it's not easy, then don't make me do it!
Life is hard enough without the government ordering me to do busywork, and then failing to support the systems which they want me to use. Either it shouldn't be an order, or the system should work. Full stop. And I wouldn't be so upset if this horseshit bureaucracy and presumption of malfeasance wasn't starting to permeate every single aspect of modern life.
Damn, if your time is so valuable just hire an accountant for a few hundred bucks and let them file for you. That's what I do since I own a small consultancy. Total bill this year: $150. Time spent on taxes? < 1 hour.
Tax evasion and fraud affects us all, whether you want to admit it or not.
There have been efforts to change state/federal law so that tax agencies can send you a bill for what they think you owe, potentially saving you a lot of work. Unfortunately tax-prep companies have lobbied against it.
And their protective measures demonstrably did not work, anyways. Requiring a tenuous chain of several checks to all succeed is ridiculous; I have plenty of ways to verify my identity, FFS.