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Tax season 2025

Is the IRS Direct File free tax program still active? The states where it is available despite Elon Musk’s warning

Elon Musk created confusion for those planning to use the IRS Direct File free tax program when he posted that he “deleted” the agency behind its creation.

Musk “deletes” agency behind IRS Direct File free tax program
Mike SegarREUTERS

For years politicians and policy advocates have called for the process of filing taxes with the Internal Revenue Service to be simplified for American taxpayers. A study published in 2022 found that at least an estimated 41% of American households, representing some 62 million filings, could have there 1040s “pre-populated,” i.e. filled out by the IRS, sent to them to be signed and returned to the agency with no further effort on the part of the taxpayer. And that was at the low-end of the researchers’ estimates.

Some relief from the annual burden placed on American taxpayers was provided by the IRS in time for last year’s tax season. After receiving new funding through the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in 2022, the IRS made investments into improving a number of services for the average taxpayer as well as hiring more inspectors to go after wealthy tax cheats.

One of those investments was the creation of IRS Direct File, a free tax filing program that provides step-by-step guidance for filing federal tax returns directly with the agency, no middleman needed. While only a fraction of taxpayers tried the pilot version, those that did were overwhelmingly positive about the experience.

Now taxpayers in 25 states, up from 12 in 2024, will be able to use the easy and free system, even after Elon Musk said that he “deleted” the agency behind its creation. The tech billionaire, who donated over $250 million to the Trump campaign buying his own non-governmental position in the new administration, DOGE, caused confusion with his post on X about whether IRS Direct File would still be accepting 2024 tax returns.

Both the service and the staff at 18F, the government agency that worked on Direct File and other technology projects, are still working. It appears that Musk has so far only “deleted” the groups account on X.

Whether the program will be available next year has yet to be seen. Over two dozen Republicans in Congress are pushing to have Trump eliminate the program through executive order. Companies that offer tax-prep services, making billions in the process, have spent millions lobbying against the free service.

States where American tax filers can use the IRS Direct File

While only a fraction of filers used the online tool in the 12 states that participated in the 2024 pilot program, the response was overwhelmingly positive. 90% of those surveyed rated the system “Excellent or Above Average.”

The IRS announced last spring that it was making the program permanent and that it would work with all states that want to partner to make it available to their residents. For the 2025 tax season Americans in 25 states can use IRS Direct File to submit their 2024 tax return. These include:

Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming

If you live in one of those states and want to see if IRS Direct File is a good option for you, check out the agency’s ‘Am I eligible to use Direct File?’ web portal.

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