Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Economic Security Project
By
Natalie Alms,
Senior Correspondent, Nextgov/FCW
By
Natalie Alms
|
November 4, 2025
The free service that allowed taxpayers to file online directly with the IRS was used by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in 2024 and 2025, who gave it high marks — although tax prep companies and Republicans have sought its end.
IRS
The IRS has notified states that offered the free, government tax filing service known as Direct File in 2025 that the program won’t be available next filing season.
In an email sent from the IRS to 25 states, the tax agency thanked them for collaborating and noted that “no launch date has been set for the future.”
“IRS Direct File will not be available in Filing Season 2026,” says the Monday email, obtained by Nextgov/FCW and confirmed by multiple sources. It follows reports that the program was ending and Trump’s former tax chief, Billy Long, remarking over the summer that the service was “gone.”
The program, which debuted in 2024, was a big shift from the decades-long IRS policy of not competing with the tax prep industry in offering its own free, online tax filing service for Americans. Many Republicans had opposed Direct File, and tax prep companies also lobbied against it.
Still, most of the taxpayers that used Direct File earlier this year — over 296,500 — gave it high marks.
Those users won’t be able to log on to the Direct File website to get their returns anymore, according to the new email, which directs anyone needing a transcript to their IRS online accounts.
The Trump administration’s massive tax and spending policy bill signed into law over the summer directed the IRS to set up a task force to examine how the tax agency can use public-private partnerships to replace Direct File.
The IRS has relied on a public-private partnership called Free File for decades to give most Americans a free way to file their taxes, although it’s been extremely underutilized. Only 3% of eligible taxpayers used it in recent years. Some of the member companies were found to have pushed people toward products they’d have to pay for, even when they could’ve used free options.
“It’s not surprising since the Trump administration sabotaged Direct File all through this year’s filing season, at the urging of tax prep monopolies like TurboTax,” Adam Ruben, the vice president of the Economic Security Project, told Nextgov/FCW. “Trump’s billionaire friends get favors while honest hardworking Americans will pay more to file their taxes.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told Nextgov/FCW that “the fight isn’t over,” saying that “giant tax prep companies are popping champagne, while Americans are forced to spend more time and more money to file their taxes.”
The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
