The agency noted that, “No decision has been made about the future of Direct File at this time.”

The IRS said 140,803 taxpayers used Direct File to file federal tax returns. In the 12 participating states, taxpayers filed $90 million in tax refunds and reported $35 million in tax balances due. The IRS gave the states with the most returns as follows: California (33,328), Texas (29,099), Florida (20,840), New York (14,144) and Washington (13,954).

The IRS will meet with the appropriate parties to learn how taxpayers interacted with the system.  It said that during the pilot, more than 3.3 million taxpayers started the eligibility checker, 423,450 taxpayers logged into Direct File and 140,803 taxpayers submitted accepted returns. 

A General Services Administration Touchpoints survey of more than 11,000 Direct File users found that 90 percent of respondents said their experience was “Excellent” or “Above Average.” 

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind