Dollars & Sense: If it’s March, it’s time to think about your taxes. Yay.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Before you get too down about tax season, here’s some good news: for many Americans, filing this year will be easier – and cheaper – than ever. Why? Because for a lot of us, we can get self-guided help, fill in the boxes, answer the questions, and send taxes off in as little as 30 minutes.

No software to buy. No Saturday morning visits to a tax preparer. No worries about getting taxes postmarked by 11:59p on April 15th (I’m looking at all of those last minute filers in New York City). Yes, some people still try to do the “postmarked by…” thing despite 90% of individual tax returns now being filed electronically.

A little over a month ago (January 26, 2026), the IRS opened e-file for individuals and/or households filing their taxes. Want to file your taxes online using IRS-approved tools? You can either use IRS Free File or IRS Free File Fillable Forms. According to the IRS, about 70% of taxpayers (somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million people) qualify to use Free File.

The IRS previously tested a system called Direct File, but the pilot program was discontinued last year after a limited trial.

MilTax is also an available option for a free e-filing system, but it is only available to active military members, their families, survivors, and veterans who are within a year of leaving active service. Eligibility for MilTax is verified through DEERS, the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System.

• To recap: Direct File was the IRS’ own free, government‑run filing system, but despite positive ratings, after a limited pilot program (and a lot of political pushback), the Treasury Department shut it down for our current 2026 tax-filing season.
• Free File is a public-private partnership that utilizes commercial software for lower- and middle‑income filers. It’s accessed through IRS.gov. Free File Fillable Forms are spartan, do‑it‑yourself online versions of the 1040 – it’s for people comfortable completing a paper return on their own. There is no income threshold for Free File Fillable Forms.
• MilTax is a Department of Defense sponsored tax filing program strictly for military folks and their families – everyone who uses MilTax must be vetted through the DEERS database.

Let’s dig a little deeper into Free File, the main IRS-backed way to file a federal return online (and at no cost if you qualify).

The first thing to note about Free File is the income limit: as a tax filer, if you have an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $89,000 or less, you are eligible to use IRS Free File Guided Tax Software. Over that threshold, most people who still want to file for free are looking at using Free File Fillable Forms (more on Free File Fillable Forms further down in this story).

How IRS Free File works

Eight different “private-sector partners” are participating in Free File, but each has a different set of eligibility rules:

• 1040Now: Your AGI for 1040Now needs to be $82,000 or less, but if you are in the military, you can use this software as long as your AGI is $89,000 or less.
• 1040.com: As long as your AGI is $89,000 or less, you’re good to go with using 1040.com.
• OnLine Taxes: Like 1040Now, OnLine Taxes has an AGI limit (theirs is  $51,000), but if you’re active military and make $89,000 or less, you can use this software.
• FreeTaxUSA: Exact same parameters as OLT above.
• EzTaxReturn: EzTaxReturn is probably the most restrictive of all of the options available. The company can only process federal tax returns for 36 states and does not offer a free state return in any state. The AGI is $89,000 or less and the age parameters are 17-85. EzTaxReturn also offers free Spanish language guidance in the same 36 states.
• FileYourTaxes: FileYourTaxes has an age parameter set at 64 or younger. They offer free state returns and have an AGI of $89,000.
• Tax Slayer: Tax Slayer has an AGI cap of $89,000 and only allows filers who are 67 or younger to use their free filing software. Tax Slayer is also EITC Eligible (a tax break for low to moderate income households) and offers free state returns in 22 states.
• TaxAct: Tax Act AGI cap is $89,000 but puts guardrails on the ages of filers to be between 20 and 60 years old (if you are active military, there is no age guardrail). Tax Act offers free state returns in 9 states.

If your AGI was more than $89,000 last year, you can file for free directly with the IRS using their Free File Fillable Forms. Note that this site is browser-based – you cannot download forms – instead, fill out the forms and e-file your return. There is no self-guided interview process; in other words, you’re on your own when it comes to filling out the forms and doing your math. For many people, a better choice might be to visit a tax preparer or purchase a tax software program. And one last note: anyone can use Free File Fillable Forms, no matter what your income level.

Where are TurboTax or H&R Block?

You may have noticed something missing from that list: the biggest names in tax software. With the exception of Tax Slayer and TaxAct, you’ve most likely never heard of any of the companies in the Free File program. Where are H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, Liberty Taxes, and the granddaddy of all the online tax filing companies, Intuit TurboTax?

Like all things when we venture down the rabbit hole, there’s a story here.

In November of 2001, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) embarked on a group of initiatives to improve electronic tax services. Out of those actions came IRS Free File, the idea that the IRS would provide free secure electronic filing services for taxpayers. From there, the IRS teamed up with the private sector to form the Free File Alliance.

H&R Block pulled out of the program in the summer of 2020. TurboTax left in the summer of 2021. Neither Jackson Hewitt nor Liberty Taxes were ever part of the free filing program. The reason the top two names in tax filing walked away: tighter regulations from the IRS and scrutiny that some vendors were hiding free filing from search engines in favor of customers paying for full freight for tax prep.

Free File launched in 2003, but it wasn’t until 2018 when an article from ProPublica pulled back the curtain: according to ProPublica, over 16 years, just 3% of eligible tax returns (about 50 million) used the free offerings. Follow up reporting from ProPublica detailed TurboTax’s backroom deal to keep the company relevant for tax filing. Additional articles uncovered emails that showed how much influence tax industry giants had over the IRS and the Free File program.

So where do we stand today?

H&R Block and TurboTax are out – Tax Slayer and TaxAct are the only two big names of the now eight vendors in Free File. H&R Block and TurboTax both found that steering users to their paid rather than free services were more profitable. The aforementioned restrictions by the IRS put the kibosh on both companies advertising their paid products to users.

Both companies were sued by the City of Los Angeles in 2019 for what the city attorney called defrauding “the lowest earning 70 percent of American taxpayers.”

One more option:

Though the majority of what we’ve discussed in this article revolves around free ways to file your taxes online, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention two free “off-line” programs that can also help you with your taxes.

The first is VITA – Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and the second is called TCE – Tax Counseling for the Elderly. Both are in-person assistance programs, but both have some limitations on who can use them.

VITA is designed for basic filings – you qualify if one of these three things pertains to you:

• You make $69,000 or less (AGI)
• You have a disability
• You speak limited English

TCE focuses strictly on filers who are 60 years of age or older and specifically helps with navigating pensions and those close to or in retirement.

You can find both VITA and TCE locations by following this link or going directly to https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/.

Bottom line:

• If your household AGI is $89,000 or less and your situation is fairly straightforward, start at IRS.gov and click on “Free File”. The IRS has a tool that matches you with one of the eight partner programs based on your income, age and state.
• If you’re over the income limit but comfortable doing your own math, Free File Fillable Forms let you complete and e‑file the electronic 1040 for free.
• If you’re active‑duty military, a recently separated veteran or a military family member, check MilTax through Military OneSource before you pay for anything.
• Both VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly) are free in-person programs to help you file your taxes if you meet the qualifications.

And if your return is more complex with things like multiple businesses, rentals, big life changes – that’s when paying for software or sitting down with a professional may be worth the money.