Not exactly. The IRS has made a deal with an industry group called the Free File Alliance saying that in exchange for offering free tax filing to some subset of

Not exactly. The IRS has made a deal with an industry group called the Free File Alliance saying that in exchange for offering free tax filing to some subset of taxpayers, the IRS won't create competing software. Congress is working on a bill called the Taxpayer First Act that would enshrine that deal in law [1], effectively prohibiting the IRS from creating their own software. It looks like that bill has only passed the House so far [2] so it may still fail. Regardless, it would still be okay for the IRS to automatically file people's taxes and send them a return, which is the true best solution here. [1] https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-the-government-from-offering-free-online-tax-filing-thank-turbotax https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-... [2] https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5444 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5444