What's really annoying (and I know I've said this before, at least at TMF) is that the IRS already knows what you owe. All those entities (banks, brokers, etc) submit the paperwork to the IRS, and the IRS runs the numbers. Probably long before you file. That's why you sometimes get letters from them that you owe them, and they almost always specify the line and the error.

So why don't they just send us a bill saying "you owe this", and be done with it? Instead of making us go through and understand arcane tax law to tell them something they already know. In over 40 years of filing taxes, I've probably spent months of my life getting documents together, entering numbers where they are supposed to be, etc. I'm getting old. I'd like those months back. But they're gone. It's really annoying.