Next year, Washington taxpayers will get a chance to try a free tax filing program from the Internal Revenue Service.
It’s called Direct File, and Washington is one of 13 states selected for the online pilot program.
The IRS anticipates at least several hundred thousand taxpayers will participate. Eventually, the filing system could serve as an alternative to private tax preparation companies like H&R Block and TurboTax.
Also participating in the program will be Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New York, Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
Washington will join the effort by integrating Direct File into its application of the Working Families Tax Credit.
“This is a critical step forward for this innovative effort that will test the feasibility of providing taxpayers a new option to file their returns for free directly with the IRS,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in a news release. “In this limited pilot for 2024, we’ll be working closely with the states that have agreed to participate in an important test run of the state integration. This will help us gather important information about the future direction of the Direct File program.”
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