Blog de Dunlap: Did you hear the good news?

Danielle, did you see the exciting news? The IRS's free and easy tax filing pilot program officially launched yesterday. 18 million taxpayers in California and 11 other states now have access to this direct filing tool. Woo-hoo!

Learn more about the IRS's free direct filing program and see if you qualify here — and forward this email to anyone you know who also might be eligible.

Remember, every year, when your W2s and 1099s come in the mail, your employer has already sent a copy to the government. Yep, they already know how much you make and owe before you file your taxes.

Now, you may be used to filing your taxes with Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block. They're the ones who have lobbied against a free filing option.

These giant tax prep companies have spent decades and tens of millions of dollars lobbying to make the tax-filing process as time-consuming and wallet-emptying as possible for taxpayers. All to pad their profits and prevent a free filing option.

And it's paid off for them. Americans spend an average of 9 hours and $150 a year filing their taxes.

But when deciding to side with taxpayers or side with tax companies, Republicans have gone with — this one's tough, are you on the edge of your seat? — that's right, the companies. They've demanded that the IRS stop competing with private companies by offering a free option. (Please…)

These companies have also purposefully undermined their own free filing options that they do have — hiding them from search engine results and using slick designs and upsell tactics to trick taxpayers into paying more. And because they just can't get enough, some companies have raked in even more by monetizing the private financial information taxpayers have been forced to share with them.

So for years, I called on the IRS to establish a free tax filing tool — in legislation, in hearings, in letters, you name it. And in 2022, Democrats were able to pass funding to make it happen! Republicans responded by protecting big tax prep companies and introducing a plan that would block this program, but we fought back and got this done.

I'm so happy to be sharing this news with you today, Danielle. Visit directfile.irs.gov to see if you're eligible to use this free and easy filing option this year.

This is just one way we can use the tools of government to work for working families. I'm keeping up the fight to get even more done (tax the rich, anybody…?).

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

P.S. Were you able to successfully use the IRS's direct file program this year? I'd love to hear from you! Please share your experience with me here.