ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s tax season and as many of you are looking to file this year, there is a new way for some people to do it for free.
The Internal Revenue Service is offering a pilot electronic filing system for people in select states, including here in Florida.
The pilot program, known as Direct File, is open to people who lived in one of 12 states last year and it’s only to help people prepare their federal tax returns. It’s the IRS pilot program that offers a new choice to file your 2023 federal tax return online.
“Your eligibly for Direct File does not depend on your income, it just depends on the complexity of your tax return,” said IRS commissioner Danny Werfel.
The IRS website lays out who’s eligible for this program. Access the website by clicking here.
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It shows you the types of income, tax credits and deductions to report to see if you are eligible.
The IRS says it plans to use the pilot program with hundreds of thousands of people to test how the program should move forward in the future.
“For this first year, the more simple your tax return, the more likely you are to be eligible,” Werfel said.
The IRS website makes it pretty easy to sign up. Under the “Direct File” tab, go to “Check my eligibility,” then go to “Sign in” and create a new account to get started.
Direct File is not to be mistaken with the agency’s existing Free File program.
Free File gives taxpayers a few options to file their federal tax returns, including guided tax software that provides free prep on sites that partner with the IRS. Taxpayers whose annual gross income is $79,000 or less may qualify.
The Direct File idea, though, is not viewed favorably by the commercial tax prep software firms that have made billions of dollars from charging people to use their software.
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