The IRS Free File Program is a service that allows U.S. taxpayers to prepare and e-file their federal income tax returns for free. Through the program, commercial tax software companies that are part of the Free File Alliance offer free tax preparation software to tax filers with annual adjusted gross income (AGI) below $73,000 for Tax Year 2022. The AGI is adjusted and typically increases slightly for each tax-filing season.[1][2] The service is available through the IRS's website at www.irs.gov/freefile. Free fillable forms also are available to all taxpayers as part of the Free File Program.
More than 65 million American taxpayers have used Free File since its inception in 2003. Using a conservative savings estimate of $30 per return, the IRS Free File Program has saved taxpayers nearly $2 billion that they otherwise would have spent for tax preparation during this period.
Through the program, 70% of U.S. taxpayers are eligible to use commercial software for free to file their tax returns and almost all taxpayers can use free fillable electronic versions of paper forms to electronically file their tax returns,[3] though less than 5% of eligible individuals do so. In 2019, investigations by ProPublica asserted that companies such as Intuit (makers of TurboTax) and H&R Block allegedly misled taxpayers into paying for tax preparation services despite qualifying under the Free File Program.[4][5] Subsequent investigations by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the New York State Department of Financial Services confirmed these findings.[6][7][8][9]
As of the 2021 tax filing season, the two most used tax-filing software programs (TurboTax and H&R Block) no longer participate in the Free File Program. With the two largest members of the Free File Alliance ending their participation in the Free File Program, there have been renewed calls for the IRS to develop and offer their own free tax-filing software to taxpayers.[10]
- ^ IRS.gov, www.irs.gov/freefile
- ^ "About the Free File Program". irs.gov. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
- ^ "Free File: Do your Federal Taxes for Free | Internal Revenue Service". www.irs.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
- ^ Justin Elliott, Lucas Waldron (2019-04-26). "TurboTax Deliberately Hid Its Free File Page From Search Engines". ProPublica. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
- ^ Justin Elliott, Kengo Tsutsumi (2019-05-23). "TurboTax Uses A "Military Discount" to Trick Troops Into Paying to File Their Taxes". ProPublica. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
- ^ United States Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (2020). IRS Oversight of the Free File Program (Report).
- ^ Elliott, Justin (2020-06-09). "Senate Investigation Criticizes the IRS for Failing to Oversee Free Filing Program". ProPublica. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
- ^ Elliott, Justin (2019-12-19). "TurboTax Tricked Customers Into Paying to File Taxes. Now Several States Are Investigating It". ProPublica. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
- ^ Elliott, Justin (2020-09-08). "TurboTax Tricked Customers Into Paying to File Taxes. Now Several States Are Investigating It". ProPublica. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
- ^ "The IRS has a big opportunity to fix the way Americans file taxes". 13 August 2021.