{"id":1193714,"date":"2023-10-18T12:34:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1193714"},"modified":"2023-10-18T12:34:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:34:18","slug":"irs-to-offer-free-tax-filing-in-competition-against-much-criticized-turbotax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1193714","title":{"rendered":"IRS to offer free tax filing in competition against much-criticized TurboTax"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"rss-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/getty-tax-protest-800x541-1.jpg\" alt=\"Advocates in front of an H&amp;R Block building hold signs that tell TurboTax and H&amp;R Block to \" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\" style=\"font-size:0.8em\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/getty-tax-protest.jpg\" class=\"enlarge-link\" data-height=\"1690\" data-width=\"2500\">Enlarge<\/a> <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> Advocates gather on April 17, 2023, in Washington, DC, to call out tax prep firms like TurboTax-maker Intuit and H&amp;R Block, and to support the Internal Revenue Service&#8217;s exploration of free tax filing. (credit: Getty Images | Tasos Katopodis )<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<div><a name=\"page-1\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Internal Revenue Service yesterday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/irs-advances-innovative-direct-file-project-for-2024-tax-season-free-irs-run-pilot-option-projected-to-be-available-for-eligible-taxpayers-in-13-states\">announced details<\/a> for a pilot of its free filing program for the 2024 tax season. People in 13 states &#8220;may be eligible to participate in the 2024 Direct File pilot, a new service that will provide taxpayers with the choice to electronically file their federal tax return directly with the IRS for free,&#8221; the IRS said.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot &#8220;will allow the IRS to identify issues and make changes prior to any potential large-scale launch in the future,&#8221; the agency said. It will assess customer support and technology needs, and help &#8220;evaluate the costs, benefits and operational challenges associated with providing a voluntary Direct File option to taxpayers.&#8221; That includes testing fraud detection and integration with state systems.<\/p>\n<p>Pilot eligibility is for those with &#8220;relatively simple returns&#8221; because it &#8220;is limited by the types of income, tax credits and deductions that the product can initially support.&#8221; The IRS said it invited all 50 states, but only some are participating at first:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1976855#p3\">Read 15 remaining paragraphs<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1976855&amp;comments=1\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource: Ars Technica &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1976855\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IRS to offer free tax filing in competition against much-criticized TurboTax<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enlarge \/ Advocates gather on April 17, 2023, in Washington, DC, to call out tax prep firms like TurboTax-maker Intuit and H&amp;R Block, and to support the Internal Revenue Service&#8217;s exploration of free tax filing. (credit: Getty Images | Tasos &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1193714\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1193715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,110],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-1193714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-technica","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-ars-technica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1193714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1193715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1193714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1193714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1193714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}