Filing Your Taxes for Free With IRS Is Changing Again, Explained

Lawmakers and the IRS have long grappled with how to offer free, online tax filing—and what the role of tax preparation software companies should be.

Giving some Americans the option to file for free generally has been a bipartisan goal, but it’s more complicated in practice.

The IRS created an agency-run free filing tool called Direct File during the Biden administration, which was widely cheered by Democrats. But Republican lawmakers in their new tax law are seeking to undo that tool, instead preferring a role for tax prep software companies that historically have been large donors.

Here’s where free tax ...