It’s tax day in the U.S., and Americans are clawing their way through tedious tax filing systems and paying unnecessary fees (from sea to shining sea). We may be the “land of the free,” but we aren’t necessarily land of the free file. In 2003, the IRS introduced the Free File program along with a group of private tax prep companies. The reason the IRS didn’t just provide tax prep services directly is likely the result of heavy lobbying from companies like Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax (as well as QuickBooks, Mint, Credit Karma and Mailchimp).
The Free File system is supposed cover 70 percent of American taxpayers, but as of 2018, it’s used by just 3 percent of taxpayers each year. In 2021 filers with an adjusted gross income of $73,000 or less are eligible for the Free Filing services, which are listed on irs.gov, but many end up using costly services like TurboTax.
