Washington– The Trump administration has confirmed that IRS Direct File, the electronic system for filing free tax returns, will not be offered next year.
“IRS Direct File will not be available in the 2026 filing season. No launch date has been set for the future,” said an email sent Monday from IRS Administrator Cynthia Noe to state compilers who participate in the Direct File program.
The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was Approved by users While making filing taxes easy, fast and economical. However, it has faced criticism from Republican lawmakers, who have called it a waste of taxpayer money because free filing software already exists (although it is difficult to use), and from commercial tax preparation companies, which have made billions from charging people to use their software.
Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, who is also the current IRS commissioner, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that there are “better alternatives” to direct filing. “It hasn’t been used much,” he said. “And we think the private sector can do a better job.”
The Center for Taxpayer Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the IRS’s latest evaluation of the program and the report says 296,531 taxpayers filed acceptable returns for the 2025 tax season through Direct File. This is up from the 140,803 accepted returns filed in 2024.
Direct File was rolled out as a pilot program in 2024 after the IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “Direct File” system as part of money it received from the inflation-reducing bill Biden signed into law in 2022. The Democratic administration has spent tens of millions of dollars developing the program.
Last May, Biden’s agency announced that the program would become permanent.
But the IRS has faced severe backlash against Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have spent millions Pressure on Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing returns each year.
The program has been in limbo since the beginning of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and Government Efficiency Department They worked their way through the federal government. But the Associated Press Reported in April The administration planned to cancel the program, as its future became clear after IRS employees assigned to it were asked to stop working on developing it for the 2026 tax filing season.
As of Wednesday, the Direct File website states, “Direct File is closed. More information will be available at a later date.”
The Washington Post and NextGov first reported the email to state comptrollers confirming the program would not be offered next year.
Adam Rubin, vice president of the liberal-leaning Project on Economic Security, said it was “not surprising” that the program was canceled.
“Trump’s billionaire friends get favors while honest, hardworking Americans will pay more to file their taxes,” he said.