Weird. The electronic filing has worked flawless for me every year for the past like four or five years. Was the "esoteric" complaint delivered as an email after you'd submitted your paperwork? If so, then in my experience, that's because you've fucked up the data you input into the form and the IRS's backend has a funny-but-useful way of spelling that.

> But phone # validation up front is too much, an overstep.

They definitely didn't do this to me any of the years I've used them to file taxes. When did you file yours? Did you file them long after the 2024 taxes were due?

Started asking about two or three years ago at registration, didn’t try last year. My return is complicated and it couldn’t handle some obscure form. But don’t remember which. On time.