IRS to Pilot Free Tax Filing Tool in 2024

Democratic lawmakers are applauding the Internal Revenue Service’s recent announcement that it will pilot a free tax-filing tool next year.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Carper, D-Del., as well as Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., Katie Porter, D-Calif. and Don Beyer, D-Va., along with 99 Democratic lawmakers, told IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel Monday in a letter they support “a strong tool available to as many taxpayers as feasible in 2024.”

In late May, the IRS released its long-awaited report “demonstrating the feasibility and importance of a free, government-owned direct file tool, and announced its intention — at Treasury’s direction — to pilot such a tool during the next filing season,” the lawmakers said.

The IRS submitted its report to Congress evaluating a free, voluntary, IRS-run electronic filing system — commonly referred to as “direct file” — for taxpayers, stating that the agency is “taking steps to begin a pilot project for the 2024 filing season.”

The tool, the lawmakers wrote, “will save many hardworking Americans the $140 on average they pay to file their taxes and help provide low-income taxpayers the opportunity to claim thousands of dollars in benefits that have been missed due to the expense and difficulty of filing a return.”

The report also revealed that taxpayers would feel overall more secure filing their taxes directly with the government than through a private tax software company.