The bill, which extends tax cuts and enacts many of the Trump administration's priorities like immigration enforcement, now heads to the president’s desk, as the Senate passed it days ago.
A previous, House version of the bill included language to officially terminate the online, free tax filing program program, something Republicans have attempted to do before.
But the final reconciliation bill simply sets up a task force to report on how the IRS can replace any direct e-file program run by the agency with public-private partnerships. Republicans are appropriating $15 million for the task force and report, which is due in 90 days.
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 tax prep companies that have been part of the Free File program have pressed people toward paying for products even when they could use free ones, resulting in legal settlements for pushing Americans eligible for free products away from that option and for deceptive advertising.
For a long time, the Free File agreement included a provision that the government wouldn't develop its own solution, thus competing with tax prep companies, although that clause was removed in 2019.
The IRS debuted its ..
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