Germany's system is shitty without Intuit. They don't have a monopoly on this.

Germany's system doesn't penalize you for doing nothing if you're just a worker. That's very different from the US.

Last year I had an error on a form. The finanzamt sent me a letter (from a real person). My partner was able to call and ask some clarification questions. We filed the correction and it was no big deal. I wasn't in any risk of going to jail or being the target of a lawsuit.

Yes, getting a tax advisor (Steuerberater) here is very difficult, and sometimes necessary. But otherwise, the system is way less intrusive than the US's in my opinion.

Slow, sure. But not dangerous.

> Last year I had an error on a form. The finanzamt sent me a letter (from a real person). My partner was able to call and ask some clarification questions. We filed the correction and it was no big deal. I wasn't in any risk of going to jail or being the target of a lawsuit.

This is almost verbatim what would occur in the US as well if the IRS believed there was a mistake on your tax filing. People just keep repeating false information about the IRS year after year, and nobody fact checks anything they read from random people on the internet, that now everyone thinks if you miss a zero on your tax filing you committed a felony or something.

Calling US tax filing unnecessarily annoying and in-need of improvement just isn't enough for some people. They need to make up stories and baseless claims to spread fear or something.

It's totally illegal in Germany to lie on tax forms. Whether you'll be sentenced for an honest mistake or not is a different matter, I don't think you would in either jurisdiction if it's something minor.

Lying and making a mistake are two different things. The IRS penalizes you for both.

The IRS sends you a notice to correct your return if they find a mistake. You fill out the form and send it back. Matter solved.

If it's a simple arithmetic error, the IRS will sometimes silentliy fix it for you and you'll never know.

I would not say it is shit. Free fillable forms is pretty easy for 99% of people. You start filling it out, and there are pdfs of all the instructions available next to the form you are filling out.