We have the answer to a filing option question I asked here on the ol’ blog a couple of weeks ago.
Direct File is dead.
The Internal Revenue Service-created online tax software that allowed eligible taxpayers to prepare and electronically file their returns for free will not be available next year.
And here’s another 2026 tax season update. It’s going to start later than usual next year.
Word is that it will begin around Presidents Day, which falls on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Since that’s a federal holiday, the IRS won’t begin accepting and processing individual 1040 forms until the next business day, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
There’s been no official word on either Direct File’s demise or the later-than-usual tax filing season. But both were mentioned by new IRS Commissioner Billy Long when he spoke to a recent gathering of tax professionals.
UPDATE, Aug, 5, 2025: Following Long's statement about a later-than-usual 2026 filing season start, the IRS issued a formal, albeit vague, walk-back. “The IRS looks forward to another successful tax filing season next year, and we will announce the timing of its opening in the regular course,” the IRS said in the statement.
Here’s what we know from assorted tax publication reports.
The indirect end of Direct File: Long let the cat out of the bag at this week’s National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) Tax Summit in Salt Lake City.
“You’ve heard of Direct File, that’s gone,” Long told attendees of the NAEA event, one of his first public appearances since taking the agency’s top job. “Big beautiful Billy wiped that out. I don’t care about Direct File. I care about direct audit.”
When asked about Long’s comments, the IRS responded via a statement.
“We look forward to Treasury’s forthcoming report to Congress on the Direct File program and on potential public-private partnership alternatives to Direct File, as required by the One Big Beautiful Bill,” according to the reply sent to via email to CNBC Make It.
Later 2026 filing season: With Direct File gone, taxpayers who had planned to use it will at least have more time to shop around for a replacement. Hey, I’m looking for silver tax lining here!
At the same NAEA meeting, Long said the IRS is planning to begin next year’s tax filing season somewhere around the Presidents Day holiday.
As noted, that means tax returns file before then will be held until Feb. 17, 2026.
The last time a tax season started this late was in 2021. That year, following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the IRS didn’t start processing returns until Feb. 12.
Next year’s slow start to IRS processing will likely will push the issuance of the season’s first refunds into March.
It also will mean even longer wait times for taxpayers who claim the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), the refundable portion of the popular Child Tax Credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Tax law requires the IRS to spend added time reviewing returns with these claims to ensure information is accurate and no fraud is involved.
In normal tax seasons, which typically start the last week of January, that meant that tax refunds associated with ACTC and EITC filings were required by tax law to be held until mid-February.
Remaining no-cost filing options: Direct File is gone, but there still are some no-cost tax preparation and e-filing options.
Free File, the IRS partnership with Free File Alliance, will continue to make versions of participating tax software companies’ commercial products available at no cost for qualifying taxpayers.
This year, Free File is available — I’m using the present tense, since it’s still an option for those who got a filing extension — to all taxpayers, regardless of filing status, whose adjusted gross income is $84,000 or less.
The AGI eligibility amount should be adjusted upward a bit for the coming filing season.
Even if your AGI is more than $84,000, you can use Free File Fillable Forms. These are the most common tax forms in an electronic format, but without any instruction or guidance provided by tax software companies.
You can get more personal no-cost tax filing help at help at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites across the United States.
These programs, which generally operate only through Tax Day, are sponsored by community groups and/or nonprofits, staffed by volunteers who must pass an IRS training program, and generally located at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other convenient locations across the country.
U.S. service personnel and their families can get free tax help the online MilTax service. The program provides free tax preparation, electronic filing, and support from tax consultants.
As the name indicates, it is designed to meet military life tax needs, for example, offering guidance on deployments, combat and training pay, housing and rentals, and multi-state filings.
So, while the loss of Direct File will inconvenience many taxpayers, at least there are remaining free tax options for many of us. And we have time now to examine which will work best for our tax circumstances.
You also might find these items of interest:
- IRS Free File is extended for 5 more years
- Don't overlook the EITC, which could be worth thousands
- Juneteenth marks the midpoint of federal holiday commemorations
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