The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR) released the following statement highlighting the unnecessary and wasteful spending behind the IRS’s Direct File program, which could cost taxpayers an estimated $250 million despite existing free tax preparation options: “The federal government continues to waste taxpayer dollars on Direct File, an unnecessary, duplicative, and costly program that…
The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR) – the national trade association for America’s largest tax software and tax preparation companies, which assist in the preparation and filing of more than 100 million individual federal and state income tax returns each year – released the following statement regarding bipartisan draft legislation to improve the tax…
Nineteen senators criticized the IRS Direct File Program in a letter sent to the agency’s commissioner, Daniel Werfel, on July 31. The letter raises serious concerns about the legal authorization for Direct File, as well flaws with the implementation of the program. They wrote: “Serious legal questions exist about the IRS Direct File launch. Many…
Washington, July 24, 2024 — The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR) today released the following statement on legislation introduced by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, to prohibit the IRS from continuing, or developing a successor to, its misguided and unnecessary Direct File pilot program: “Rep….
Just 140,800 filed their taxes with the IRS’s Direct File program this year, while private companies provided 8.5 million free returns in the 12 states where Direct File was available alone. Despite rhetoric claiming otherwise, Americans are not interested in having the government complete their taxes. Direct File remains an expensive and unnecessary program.
Guest column submitted by U.S. Senator Mike Crapo In May, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made the mistake of converting the Direct File pilot program into a permanent, unauthorized, multibillion-dollar government detour into the tax preparation business. What is advertised by the Biden Administration and its allies as…
A new report from the American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights on the 2024 tax filing season shows the IRS Direct File program is costly, confusing and unnecessary. Read the full report: The IRS Direct File Program Misses the Mark
In contrast, private-sector tax preparers provided more than 25 million free federal tax returns to taxpayers last year. Direct File is confusing and unwieldly. Wall Street Journal – “It can be a winding road through all the questions and screens, partly because the government needs legalese to cover all possible situations, such as whether you…
Although millions of Americans already have access to — and use — free tax filing programs, the IRS is piloting its own platform, Direct File. The new program is only open to a small percentage of Americans and will leave people confused about their eligibility while creating a clear conflict of interest for the IRS….
The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights today released the following statement about IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel’s Testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee: “Today’s hearing underscored that IRS’s Direct File “pilot” is a costly solution to a non-existent problem. Millions of Americans already can — and do — file their taxes for free through…
The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR) was formed in 2011 by the nation’s leading retail tax preparation and tax software companies and financial institutions, which collectively prepare and file more than 120 million of the 155 million federal tax returns annually. ACTR advocates for taxpayer rights and strengthens America’s voluntary tax compliance system.
