The IRS plans to invite select taxpayers across 13 states, Massachusetts among them, to try out the agency’s pilot electronic free file tax return system beginning in January.
The agency estimates that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers will participate in the limited rollout of the program for the 2024 filing season.
The IRS faces intense blowback from private tax preparation companies that have made billions by charging people to use their software. The introduction of a government-run option could upend the industry and fundamentally change the way taxpayers interact with IRS.
“The plan is to roll it out in increments that get larger and larger, consistent with how products like this are rolled out in the private sector,” IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said on a call with reporters previewing the latest details of the program.
Retail sales rise in September
Americans showed their steadfast resilience and kept spending online, at restaurants and other outlets in September even as they grappled with higher prices, rising interest rates and a host of other headwinds piling up.
Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, more than twice what economists had expected, and close to a revised 0.8% bump in August, the Commerce Department reported.
A closely watched category of retail sales that excludes auto dealers, gas stations and building materials and feeds into the gross domestic product jumped 0.6% last month compared to the prior month.
The retail sales report, which reflects the sixth consecutive monthly gain, reinforces the fact that American consumers, as a whole, are showing no signs of pulling back on their spending, which powers most of the economy.
