The pilot program would give taxpayers another free option for filing.
06/02/2023 2:15 P.M.
1.5 minute read
The Internal Revenue Service is planning to test a free tax filing program during the 2024 tax filing season.
The pilot program will help the federal government decide whether to move forward with potentially implementing it in the future, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel and the Treasury’s Chief Implementation Officer Laurel Blatchford said May 16, according to the Associated Press.
Currently, the federal government partners with some private tax companies to offer free electronic tax preparation for lower-income taxpayers through its “Free File” program, although only about 2% of taxpayers used it in 2022.
As part of the “Free File” agreement, the IRS initially agreed not to make its own free filing service, but that provision ended in 2019, according to a Money.com article.
Last year, the Inflation Reduction Act directed the IRS to study the feasibility of establishing a free, voluntary tax-filing system run by the federal government.
The IRS recently released a report to Congress detailing its findings.
“The report finds that many taxpayers are interested in using a free IRS-provided tool to prepare and file taxes, and that the agency is technically capable of delivering a Direct File program. It also concludes that effective execution of a Direct File program would require sustained budget investment and careful management of the potential program’s operational complexity,” according to a press release.
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