1097
IRS successfully launches their own free Direct File - some of my fellow 'murcans are eligible
(sh.itjust.works)
For your simple[r] tax needs: https://directfile.irs.gov
Oh yeah. See we've intentionally made it hard for our government to do normal things because Freedom^tm^. If we want to create a new web app like this we have to go about the worst way possible. By using the lowest bidder who will then cheat in every way possible to keep more of the money as profit.
Most of the computer systems in use in the US government were developed in the 1980's and 1990's by in house software developers. Even a lot of the "new" systems are literally just GUI interfaces slapped on the old system. This is because one of the first things George Bush did was gut a lot of the government's internal support structure and force the civil service to rely on contracting.
Then you have corporate lobbying, which is why filing taxes is so hard in the first place. They literally pay the politicians to create a business opportunity for them and misery for the everyone else. Combining the two and it's not hard for the lobbyists to get something like this cancelled, underfunded, or poisoned in some way.
So yeah welcome to America the land of proud dysfunction.
Yes. It can be a huge pain. Especially when compared to how easy Skatteetaten makes it.