An electronic intermediary electronically receives information from a taxpayer or an authorized tax return preparer of the taxpayer. The received information may include information on a tax data provider and taxpayer identification information. The electronic intermediary connects automatically and electronically to the tax data provider based on the received information. The electronic intermediary collects automatically and electronically tax data from the tax data provider and processes automatically and electronically the collected tax data to obtain processed tax data. The electronic intermediary prepares automatically and electronically an electronic tax return by using the processed tax data. The electronic intermediary receives electronically direction from the taxpayer to provide the electronic tax return and/or the tax data to a tax information distributor, connects electronically to the tax information distributor, and provides electronically the electronic tax return and/or tax data to the tax information distributor.