IRS announces start date for 2025 tax-filing season: What you need to know
The 2025 tax-filing season will begin in just a couple of short weeks on Monday, Jan. 27, according to a recent announcement by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
With over 140 million tax returns for tax year 2024 expected to be filed ahead of the Tuesday, April 15, federal deadline, the IRS is urging residents to take advantage of one of the agency’s filing tools.
Although more than half of the tax returns this year are expected to be filed with the aid of a tax professional, the IRS has made advancements in the filing process to assist taxpayers.
Since last year’s tax season, the IRS said it has made improvements, including enhanced access to tax account information through text and voice virtual assistants, expanded features on the agency’s Individual Online Account, additional access to tax forms through cell phones and tablets, and expanded alerts for tax-related scams and schemes.
In addition to these advancements, the IRS touted the expansion of the Direct File program, which will be available in 25 states on Jan. 27. The IRS Free File Guided Tax Software, which provides millions of U.S. taxpayers with free software tools by IRS partners, was made available on Friday.
“This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS, and people will see additional tools and features to help them with filing their taxes this tax season,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said. “These taxpayer-focused improvements we’ve done so far are important, but they are just the beginning of what the IRS needs to do. More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.”
It’s important to note that a new round of stimulus payments totaling $2.4 billion is now being issued to approximately 1 million Americans by the IRS, and taxpayers could be eligible for the automatic payment if they did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax return.
Direct File
Eligible taxpayers in 25 states, including New York and New Jersey, will be able to access Direct File on Jan. 27. The treasury estimated that there are 30 million taxpayers eligible across these states.
Direct File is a web-based service that guides taxpayers through a series of questions to prepare their federal tax return step-by-step. Once completed, Direct File guides these filers to state tools to complete their state tax filings.
In an effort to hasten the tax filing process, Direct File will allow taxpayers to opt-in to automatically import data from their IRS account, including personal information, IP PIN and some information from the filer’s W-2.
During the pilot in 2024, Direct File only supported taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependents. However, this year, Direct File will also support taxpayers claiming the Child and Dependent Care Credit, Premium Tax Credit, Credit for the Elderly and Disabled and Retirement Savings Contribution Credits.
Beyond covering taxpayers claiming the standard deduction and deductions for student loan interest and educator expenses, the Direct File will also support taxpayers claiming deductions for Health Savings Accounts.
Free File
As of Friday, “almost everyone” can file electronically for free using IRS Free File, which offers free tax preparation software from eight companies in the public-private partnership between the IRS and Free File Inc.
For the upcoming 2025 tax season, these partners will provide online guided tax software products for taxpayers with an Adjusted Gross Income of $84,000 or less in 2024.
Although the tax season has not officially begun, IRS Free File providers will allow taxpayers to prepare and file returns ahead of time and hold them until they can be electronically filed once the season kicks off.
The Get Ready page on IRS.gov reveals how taxpayers can get a head start on the filing process in preparation of tax season.
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