Free File

The IRS Free File Program is a public-private partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and private-sector tax software companies that enables U.S. taxpayers to prepare and electronically file their federal income tax returns at no cost using the companies' tax software. The program is operated in partnership with commercial tax software companies that are members of the Free File Alliance, who provide free tax preparation software to eligible taxpayers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) below $89,000 for Tax Year 2025. This income threshold is adjusted annually, and is designed to cover the lowest 70 percent of American income earners. The Free File Program is accessible via the IRS website at www.irs.gov/freefile. In addition, free fillable tax forms are available to all taxpayers as part of the program, regardless of income.

More than 77 million American taxpayers have used the Free File service to file their federal income tax returns (and often state income tax returns) since the program's inception in 2003. Using a conservative savings estimate of $30 per return, the IRS Free File Program has saved taxpayers more than $2.3 billion that they otherwise would have spent for tax preparation during this period.

Through the program, 70 percent of U.S. taxpayers are eligible to use commercial software for free to file their tax returns and almost all taxpayers can use free fillable electronic versions of paper forms to electronically file their tax returns. Over the life of the program, about 3 million taxpayers have used the free tax software each year. The private-sector tax preparation companies and some Members of Congress have encouraged the IRS to promote the Free File Program more actively to increase its annual usage. The program costs the federal government nothing to operate, other than the time of three agency staffers who administer it for IRS. In 2019, investigations by ProPublica asserted that companies such as Intuit (makers of TurboTax) and H&R Block misled taxpayers into paying for tax preparation services despite qualifying under the Free File Program.

As of the 2021 tax filing season, two of the most used tax-filing software programs (TurboTax and H&R Block) no longer participate in the Free File Program, although usage of Free File continued to increase despite their departure. With the two largest members of the Free File Alliance ending their participation in the Free File Program, there were renewed calls for the IRS to develop and offer their own free tax-filing software to taxpayers which led to the creation of IRS Direct File.

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