IRS will launch free online tax-filing pilot in 13 states next year

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to launch a pilot program that would allow taxpayers in 13 states to electronically file their taxes directly with the agency for free during the 2024 tax season.

Four states — Arizona, California, Massachusetts and New York — have agreed to work with the IRS to integrate their state taxes with the program, while taxpayers in nine other states without income tax — Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming — will also be able to take part, the agency said Tuesday.

“This is a critical step forward for this innovative effort that will test the feasibility of providing taxpayers a new option to file their returns for free directly with the IRS,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.

“In this limited pilot for 2024, we’ll be working closely with the states that have agreed to participate in an important test run of the state integration,” he added. “This will help us gather important information about the future direction of the Direct File program.”

The pilot program will be limited to taxpayers in the 13 participating states who have “relatively simple returns,” the IRS noted.

The agency said it anticipates that the direct tax-filing program will be able to cover several key sources of income and tax credits, including W-2 wage income, Social Security income, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, standard deductions and student loan interest deductions, among others.

The IRS initially announced its plans to launch a test run of the direct tax-filing program in May, after issuing a report on its feasibility in response to a requirement in the Inflation Reduction Act.