Do you have a source for this claim, because I found this:
==Individual income tax return filing is the most time-consuming element of the tax system, with the average taxpayer spending 13 hours to comply with the Form 1040. For individuals with business income, the average amount of time it takes to file taxes is even higher: 24 hours.==
Maybe I'm just extremely fast but I can't imagine it taking that long because like I mentioned, it's just those 3 steps for most taxpayers. It's hard to explain unless you've actually filed taxes in the US which most foreigners haven't.
The estimates you shared are based on survey responses so you'd have to take them with a grain of salt. All the other websites are repeating the same survey.
13 hours is wild. I bought a house, got married, sold a bunch of stock, and qualified for a bunch of deductions last year. We filed jointly in maybe an hour and a half, including finding all of the paperwork. I'm pretty good with numbers and instructions, so I could see 4-6 being the average.
It was through freetaxusa, maybe handwriting balloons the job a bit? But it looks like only 14% file physically.
Do you have a source for this claim, because I found this:
==Individual income tax return filing is the most time-consuming element of the tax system, with the average taxpayer spending 13 hours to comply with the Form 1040. For individuals with business income, the average amount of time it takes to file taxes is even higher: 24 hours.==
https://money.com/filing-taxes-time-money-burden/