Senators seek GAO probe of IRS’s Free File program
After the White House’s move last year to kill Direct File, three senators are asking the congressional watchdog to examine the alternative program the Trump administration is pushing: the IRS’s beleaguered Free File system.
In a letter sent Sunday to acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Angus King, I-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., requested a Government Accountability Office investigation into Free File, an IRS partnership with private tax prep companies.
The partnership has been heavily scrutinized over the course of Free File’s 20-plus-year existence, with critics pointing to scant consumer use, hidden industry costs and data privacy issues.
“Due to this history of misconduct, we have serious concerns that Free File cannot efficiently,
effectively, and securely serve the taxpayers who are statutorily entitled to free tax filing services,” the lawmakers wrote.
Direct File, the IRS’s consumer-praised free electronic filing tool, was launched in the aftermath of an April 2022 GAO report that recommended the tax agency develop new no-cost filing options. Under the Biden administration, the IRS launched a pilot program of Direct File in a dozen states in 2023, and doubled the number of participants the following year.
The Trump administration quickly terminated the program, however, pointing to high costs and low user uptake during the purposefully limited pilot seasons. The lucrative tax preparation industry lobbied heavily against Direct File, and congressional Republicans long had the tool in their crosshairs. The Treasury Department put out a subsequent report touting Free File’s supposed benefits.
Warren, King and Wyden posed a litany of questions in their letter that they’d like the GAO to attempt to answer, starting with the costs associated with Free File. The lawmakers are specifically curious about what reforms the IRS and its partners have made to clearly show users what potential costs may pop up, and what progress the tax agency has made on state filing — a key win for the Direct File team in its second year.
On user experience concerns, the senators are seeking data from the IRS on Free File usage in 2026, feedback from consumers and changes made in response to it, details on oversight of program partners, and whether the program has incorporated any UX lessons from Direct File, which had a net promoter score of +80 on a scale of -100 to +100. The Economic Security Project this month published a report by Direct File alums that laid out a roadmap for building a more accessible public tax filing system.
The lawmakers also want the GAO to look into accessibility pluses and minuses of Free File and provide details on accuracy issues involving returns submitted through the system.
Warren and Wyden have used their pulpits on the Senate Finance Committee to question Trump officials about the death of Direct File, and both are among the Democratic co-sponsors of a bicameral bill to revive the tool.
The IRS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
