You definitely can, you'll just have to fill out a bunch of complicated forms (accessible via the "Use Free File Fillable Forms" button on the page you linked), which is what you pay your accountant to do, and that anyone has the option to purchase TurboTax software to assist with.

The article leaves this out.

Yes, it would be great if the IRS were able to provide software as slick as Intuit's to assist with this, and it would also be nice if Intuit didn't use so many dark patterns, and at the same time they've built a product that makes self-filing far easier to do correctly than any other option out there.

I’d love to see the government created tax filing website, that would be similar to TurboTax, crash when say, 25 people logged into it.

Maybe, but if you're in the over $72k category (I guess the article is from 2019 and the threshold has changed) it's literally just electronic versions of the paper forms which I consider a huge waste of my time and mental energy. Intuit doesn't charge you _and_ make you do the work. Intuit charges you _instead_ of making you do the work, just like you'd pay an accountant for. The IRS doesn't even offer guidance on which forms you need.

> If you choose Free File Fillable Forms as your Free File option, you should be comfortable doing your own taxes. Limitations with Free File Fillable Forms include:

> It won't give you guidance about which forms to use or help with your tax situation

> It only performs basic calculations and doesn't provide extensive error checking

> It will only file your federal return for the current tax year

> No state tax return option is available

I don't want to "do my own taxes". That's the whole point of paying for a service that makes it easier. And also it's not even available right now:

> Free File Fillable Forms reopens Feb. 12, 2021 at noon ET.