WASHINGTON — More than 1 million Washington state taxpayers are eligible to file their federal taxes for free through a new pilot program launching Tuesday, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced.
The Direct File program is available to a total of 19 million taxpayers in 12 states, the agencies announced Tuesday, including an estimated 1.1 million people in Washington. It represents a tentative but significant step toward the Biden administration’s goal of eventually offering most Americans a free alternative to the for-profit tax preparation companies that have lobbied for years against such a federal program.
“After weeks of successful testing with thousands of Americans, we’re prepared now to launch this for people in the states that are eligible to use the pilot,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters Monday, explaining that the administration launched the pilot program because “filing taxes is expensive and time-consuming for American taxpayers.”
U.S. taxpayers spend an average of 13 hours and $270 to prepare and file their tax returns, Adeyemo said, adding that just a small fraction of Americans have used the previous free tax filing program.