If your income falls under the IRS Free File limit, which covers about 70% of taxpayers, you can prepare and e-file your federal return with guided tax software at no cost. Start at IRS.gov/FreeFile, because going straight to a company’s own site gets you its commercial product instead.
Few people take the deal. The Government Accountability Office found that only 4% of eligible taxpayers used IRS Free File in the 2021 filing season. Of the people who did use it, 44% reported incomes of $17,000 or less on their returns, even though eligibility reaches well into the middle class.
Part of the reason is how people find the software. Many companies run ads outside the program, some of which may mention free offers, GAO noted. The companies in the program have no incentive to send you to the IRS version instead of their own.
One company went further. In 2022, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, agreed to pay $141 million to settle claims from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The states said it steered low-income filers away from IRS Free File with look-alike product names and search ads.
The IRS version isn’t limited to simple returns. Each partner company sets its own limits on income, age, and state residency, and the software handles returns that claim the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit, or deduct business expenses. Some partners file your state return free, too.
Go to IRS.gov/FreeFile, answer the matching tool’s questions, and pick an offer that includes your state return if your state taxes income. Filers over the income limit can use Free File Fillable Forms, which work at any income but do little of the math and file no state return. For help from a person, volunteers trained to IRS standards at VITA sites prepare returns free, mainly for filers within the Earned Income Tax Credit’s income limits.
Save the IRS link with your tax records, so next year starts on the right page.
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