(Yahoo!News) Each spring, Americans are collectively aggravated by filing taxes. The problem isn’t paying them—that’s usually done each paycheck—the problem is filling out arcane forms, using a website to help you, or having to hire someone to just take care of the whole thing. It’s a massive waste of time. There is a better way, however.

The tax forms, like the W-2s and 1099s, that arrive in your mailbox are not just sent to you. Your employers and financial institutions also send them to the IRS, which compares those forms to the numbers you or your accountant puts in the little boxes.

If they already have this information, why the heck are they asking you for it? This is the idea behind “pre-prepared returns,” which is a system favored by many countries in Northern Europe like Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

According to the Tax Foundation, the vast majority (just under 70%) of Americans take the standard deduction instead of itemizing. For pre-populated returns, the idea would be the IRS sends a filled-out tax 1040 with the standard deduction and information filled in. For 70% of the country, filing taxes would be as simple as reading over the form, sending it back, and waiting for a refund.

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