State holidays mean Maine and Massachusetts residents have until Wednesday to file their taxes.
Anyone who needs an extension beyond those deadlines can fill out Form 4868, which will extend the 2023 tax filing deadline to Oct. 15. Americans living abroad may be able to extend further.
An $80 billion funding boost helped the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) improve multiple metrics during the 2024 filing season, including the agency’s digital capabilities and customer service.
“Continuing a trend seen last year following the addition of 5,000 new telephone assistors, the IRS level of service on its main phone lines reached more than 88 percent,” the IRS said in a Monday statement, noting a “a five-fold increase from the phone service levels seen during the pandemic era period.”
But the most lauded advancement was the rollout of free IRS Direct File program, a new online tax filing tool that rivals similar private sector products.
More than 100,000 people have filed returns using the new system, the Treasury Department said Monday, noting interest in the program “surged” over the past few days.
“More than 50,000 taxpayers have successfully filed their returns using Direct File over the past week, and the goal of 100,000 returns accepted was met mid-day on Sunday, April 14,” the official said in a statement provided to The Hill.
Direct file is one of the few free tax preparation options out there, and some tax prep companies have been criticized for pushing participants toward costlier options.
State attorneys general targeted Intuit, which makes the popular tax filing software Turbo Tax, in 2023 for misleading marketing practices, leading to a multimillion-dollar class action settlement. The Federal Trade Commission has also censured the company or deception.
The Hill’s Tobias Burns has more here.
