[dhs12345]

Seems like the IRS could “audit” every electronically submitted return. It would take a fraction of a second for them to read it in and another fraction of a section to compute the totals and verify them the from the tables and employer records. Not sure how ancillary forms are submitted and entered into the database but those could be electronic too.

It would save a huge amount of time if the whole process was completely electronic.

A paper submittal requires a human to read them and review them.

[catnipman]

“Seems like the IRS could “audit” every electronically submitted return. It would take a fraction of a second for them to read it in and another fraction of a section to compute the totals and verify them the from the tables and employer records.”

indeed, that is in fact exactly what is done for ALL submissions, though obviously electronically submitted ones don’t have to wait for the extra data-entry step of the IRS converting paper returns to electronic ones ...

However, those automatic checks are not audits: the IRS computer checks are simply looking for various errors relating to mismatches between the return and the various W-2, 1099 and other income related data submitted by payers to the IRS, as well as data entry, logic, and mathematical errors that mostly occur on paper returns ...