IR-2019-40, March 13, 2019
WASHINGTON — More people are using the improved IRS Free ob体育 option to prepare and electronically file their returns for free, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
As of March 8, about 1.4 million taxpayers had already used Free ob体育 to file their 2018 return, a 5 percent increase over last year at this time. Now in its 17th year, more than 55 million returns have been filed this way since the program began.
Available only through IRS.gov and the IRS2Go mobile app, a dozen private-sector partners offer brand-name software designed to help taxpayers successfully navigate the new tax reform landscape and file their federal returns quickly, accurately and at no charge. Some Free ob体育 providers also offer free state return assistance.
Brand-name software is available to anyone whose 2018 adjusted gross income is $66,000 or less. Seven out of 10 taxpayers qualify. This means that most people will qualify for a Free ob体育 offer from at least one Free ob体育 partner. Many will qualify for multiple offers. Workers, families with children, first-time filers, seniors and members of the military who meet the income requirement are eligible.
This year’s edition of Free ob体育 offers taxpayers some important new features:
- People can now easily return to the IRS Free ob体育 page from a partner page if they don’t qualify for that partner’s offer. This gives people an easy way to explore offers from other Free ob体育 partners.
- Returning taxpayers’ first option must be Free ob体育. This means that if a taxpayer returns to a Free ob体育 member’s website this year, after using the free program last year, the first option after logging into their account will be the Free ob体育 option
- Follow-up emails to taxpayers who used Free ob体育 last year will welcome them back to the Free ob体育 service. This serves as a great reminder to past users and is also designed to boost participation in the Free ob体育 program.
For any interested taxpayer, the speed and convenience of Free ob体育 is just one click away. To get started, simply go to IRS.gov and look for ob体育 Your Taxes for Free. Use the “Lookup” tool to enter information such as age, income and state residency. The tool will match the user with the available software products.
Those who choose not to use this tool can still use IRS Free ob体育 to review all the offers made by each of the 12 partners. Once a product is selected, the user will be redirected to the partner’s Free ob体育 web page.
Those whose incomes are more than $66,000 can choose Free ob体育 Fillable Forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms.
Free ob体育 will be available through the mid-October extension deadline. This means that taxpayers who get tax-filing extensions can still use Free ob体育 to file their returns. In addition, anyone, regardless of income, can use Free ob体育 to request a tax-filing extension. That means there’s no reason for anyone to use a paper form to get more time.