Federal Newscast

The Treasury Department is officially suspending Direct File, a free, online tax filing platform the IRS launched last year. The department says it’s exploring alternatives. That includes strengthening its partnership with tax preparation companies through its Free File program. Direct File expanded to 25 states during this year’s filing season and saw higher favorability scores. But Treasury says the program cost too much and didn’t see enough usage to keep scaling it up. It says the IRS spent more than $40 million on Direct File this year. That breaks down to nearly $140 for every return submitted using Direct File. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.