A new government watchdog report finds that while most Americans are eligible to file their taxes for free, only a fraction use the services provided through the government.
Instead, many taxpayers utilized other methods, “which they may have paid to use,” according to a new U.S. Government Accountability Office study on the 2020 tax filing season.
The GAO report, issued Thursday, found that while 70% of taxpayers were eligible for the Internal Revenue Service’s free-filing program, only 3%b of taxpayers actually use the service.
IRS’ free file program consists of a public-private partnership of tax software companies that offers free services to tax payers outside of the IRS website.
Taxpayers whose incomes are below a certain threshold can use the free file program — which this season accounts for any person or family with an adjusted gross income of $73,000 or less in 2021.
