Inflation Reduction Act: Results of the Direct File Pilot

The Chief, Direct File, should ensure that the total costs of Direct File include the costs from all support functions.

On March 13, 2024, we alerted the Chief, Direct File, to the large number of Direct File returns being rejected for this reason. We suggested that the IRS update Direct File so that taxpayers obtain their prior year AGI from their Individual Online Account, because the IRS uses the same authentication requirements for both Direct File and the Individual Online Account.

The Chief, Direct File, should determine what caused taxpayers to not receive their prior year AGI from their Individual Online Account and update the computer programming accordingly.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should ensure that errors are corrected on the tax returns for the six taxpayers whose returns were not corrected and had inaccurate Earned Income Tax Credit computations and refund their overpayment.

The Chief, Direct File, should notify the 669 taxpayers we identified of their potential eligibility to claim the education credits. The notice should inform them of their potential eligibility and steps for claiming the credits.