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Key Takeaways
- The IRS is launching a website that will, for the first time, allow taxpayers to file their federal returns directly to the agency.
- The pilot program is only available for people in 12 states, and won’t cover any but the most basic tax situations.
- A window to use the site will open up at 5 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday.
- People who start after the window closes will be able to complete their returns, but you won’t be able to start a return if you miss the window.
If you want to file your federal taxes online but don’t want to pay up to $169 for TurboTax or another tax prep service, the IRS is offering a new option, but there are a few catches.
Taxpayers in 12 states will be able to log on to the IRS’s new Direct File system for a brief period of time starting at 5 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday by visiting the website at directfile.irs.gov, an IRS official said. Anyone who starts their taxes will be allowed to finish, but the site will stop letting people start new returns after the availability window closes. The IRS did not say in advance how long the window of opportunity would be.
The IRS is launching a pilot program this year to test the idea of letting taxpayers file online directly with the agency for the first time. Until now, taxpayers could only do their taxes online through a service offered by a third-party private company.
For now, only taxpayers in Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming, California, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington can participate. The system only supports people in limited tax situations—for instance, you can’t use it if you earned money from freelancing, or took a retirement account distribution.