The IRS will make permanent the free electronic tax return filing system that it experimented with this year.

The IRS said Thursday it will make permanent the free electronic tax return filing system that it experimented with this year and is asking all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help taxpayers file their returns through the program in 2025.

The IRS tried the Direct File project for the 2024 tax season on a limited basis in 12 states for people with very simple W-2s, the employee’s wage and tax statement.

The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.

  • Endorkend@kbin.social
    201·
    5 months ago

    This is going to change so much for so many people, avoid lots of headaches too.

    Over here, online and automated tax returns have been a thing for over a decade.

    You can opt to get it on paper or online, but they supply you with a pre-filled return most people can usually directly file without a single alteration. And you don’t even have to actually file the pre-filled return if it’s complete, just ignore it and it is automatically regarded as filed.

    And if you have anything to add, on the website it’s as simple as hitting some checkboxes for the appropriate tax codes (which all have extensive explanations and automated inclusion/exclusion rules so that if you check a specific box that also requires you to add other information, it won’t file without adding the other information) and adding the numbers (if there’s any specific numbers attached) and hit recalculate.

    Even my tech illiterate and phobic dad can work with it.