Executive Summary

In Filing Season 2024, the IRS piloted a new option for filing an individual income tax return —

Direct File — as part of the IRS’s Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan to transform

the taxpayer experience. Direct File provides taxpayers the option to electronically file their

federal tax return for free, directly with the IRS.

Modern product development best practices recommend starting small and growing over time.

This concept was foundational both to the product’s limited scope and to how it was rolled out

incrementally to taxpayers over the course of the filing season. The results provide an

evidence base for future decisions while also ensuring that the investment provides immediate

value to taxpayers.

Over the course of the pilot, more than 3.3 million taxpayers started the Direct File Eligibility

Checker, 423,450 taxpayers logged in to Direct File, and 140,803 taxpayers submitted

accepted returns.

Figure 1. Number of accepted returns by day

The limited pilot required the IRS to confront three core operational challenges: 1) developing

an accessible, accurate, and secure technology product that would meet taxpayer

expectations; 2) providing robust and integrated customer support; and 3) facilitating the filing

of state and local income taxes.

Direct File was well received by the taxpayers who used it, with 90% rating their experience

“Excellent” or “Above average,” earning a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +74 . Direct File

afforded the IRS the opportunity to explore delivering customer support via live chat, and the

IRS built a new, secure Application Programming Interface (API) to enable taxpayers to

seamlessly complete their state taxes.

There is additional work to be done to evaluate the pilot itself, understand its impact, and

identify enhancements that would improve the user experience for possible future years.

5