IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel wants to expand agency’s programs that allow taxpayers to file their tax returns with the government for free, following on the agency’s Free File and Direct File pilots.
Werfel discussed those aims during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing on May 7.
“We want Free File to expand,” Werfel said. “We think one of the things about the Free File program is not enough people are taking advantage of it.”
“This past filing season, we saw an 11 percent increase in Free File – some of it [via] Direct File, some of it Free File with the software providers,” he added.
The introduction of the Direct File pilot for the 2024 tax season was conceived to gauge interest among taxpayers for an alternative option to file tax returns directly with the IRS, and to be able to undertake technology work necessary for the pilot via funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, he said.
“I’m pleased to report that we saw a strong 2024 tax season for the nation. One of our best in history,” Werfel told lawmakers.
“Through the April filing deadline, the IRS received more than 139 million individual income tax returns and issued more than 86 million refunds for more than $245 billion. Inflation Reduction Act funding has enabled the IRS to have one it’s one of its best filing seasons,” he touted.
