Intuit will no longer participate in the IRS Free File Program that allows Americans to use brand-name products to file their tax returns for free. What does this mean?

[mesquitebean]

@ mestii 

According to the article below, Intuit will leave that IRS Free File Program in October 2021 at the end of 2020 tax season.  It appears that anyone using it now or before the October shutdown will not be affected.

It means that if someone wants to use the IRS Free File Program after this year, they would need to use another tax preparation company that participates.

It sounds like TurboTax plans to continue it's own free filing product, i.e., regular Free Edition, but that product is much more limited than the IRS Free File Program (based on the current 2020 product; no one knows yet what 2021 product will be like.)

"Moving forward, Intuit is committed to continuing to offer free tax preparation while accelerating innovation to address all of consumers’ financial problems."

See the full TurboTax blog article here:

https://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/accelerating-technology-innovation-to-better-help-consumers-...

[fanfare]

Any surprise here?

With IRS Free File, Intuit can't force you to upgrade to Deluxe because your return requires Schedule 1.

Sheesh.

[Critter-3]

The IRS FREE FILE  and the TT FREE edition has been an identity  nightmare for years for Intuit and it is no surprise that they are no longer going to participate in the IRS option.  I wonder how many of the other 9 companies will do the same thing ?   It could be the IRS themselves may eventually offer their own filing option and not rely on commercial for profit companies.