This weekend is bookended by holidays. Today’s Valentine’s Day gift and card exchanges and Presidents Day sales on Monday, Feb. 17.
It also marks the peak phone traffic at the Internal Revenue Service, with taxpayers taking advantage of a day off, and finally having their tax statements in hand, to work on their returns.
For many callers, however, it also means time on telephone hold.
Avoid bad tax-hold tunes: Instead of listening to music that’s not really your taste, the IRS suggests taxpayers with questions this weekend — and beyond — look online for the answers.
Among the IRS.gov options are —
- Interactive Tax Assistant (ITA): This online tool provides answers to several tax questions specific to individual circumstances. Based on input, ITA determines a person’s filing status, whether they should file a tax return, if someone is an eligible dependent, if a type of income is taxable, if a filer is eligible to claim a credit, if an expense is deductible, and more.
- Let us help you: This page has dropdown menus for a variety of tax taxes, including filing your return, checking on your refund’s status, how to make a tax payment, and topics of interest to business filers.
- Self-service tax tools: Some of the same topics covered on the help you page are found among these tools. You’ll also find links to other IRS sites for individual taxpayers, including taxpayer accounts, payment agreements, some tax credits, how to find a Taxpayer Assistance Center, and a couple of popular tax calculators. And the tax tools aren’t just for individual filers; there are sections for business taxpayers and tax professionals.
Other tax help options: The IRS also notes the other tax help possibilities available to taxpayers.
The IRS offers free online and in-person tax preparation options for eligible taxpayers through IRS Free File, IRS Direct File and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs.
Free File this year offers eight tax software providers whose products can be used by filers who earned $84,000 or less in 2024. If you used Free File last year, use the guided software page to find that program’s current version, or browse all the 2025 filing season offerings.
If you made too much to use the software, check out Free File’s Fillable Forms. The electronic, downloadable forms also are available at no cost to any filer, regardless of income level. There’s no step-by-step guidance, but if you’re comfortable following the forms’ instructions and filling them out yourself, you then can electronically file them, again for free.
Direct File, the IRS’ own online tax preparation and e-filing software program, is now open in 25 participating states. Direct File also is free, and available in English and Spanish. It works on mobile phones, laptops, tablets, or desktop computers. If you’re a Direct File user in a state that has an income tax, the program will guide you to your state’s tools to complete that tax filing.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) offer free tax return preparation to eligible taxpayers at community locations nationwide. IRS-certified volunteers provide in-person assistance. VITA services are available to people who generally make $67,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers. TCE volunteers provide free tax help to those age 60 and older, specializing in questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors.
MilTax is a Department of Defense program that generally offers free return preparation and electronic filing software for all military members and some veterans, with no income limit. MilTax services cover federal income tax returns, and up to three state income tax returns for eligible service personnel.
You also might find these items of interest:
- Tax Tips for January and February
- Ways to electronically pay your tax bill
- Don't overlook the EITC, which could be worth thousands
- Open a bank account to get your tax refund sooner via direct deposit
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