7 min read · Last updated September 22, 2026
- A Treasury Department report dated October 2, 2025 directed the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) to suspend Direct File, with no relaunch date announced – its own web address no longer resolves, and current IRS.gov filing pages don’t mention it at all.
- IRS Free File offers guided software at no cost to filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $89,000 or less; Free File Fillable Forms are available to any income level, unguided.
- A Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site generally serves filers making $69,000 or less, with no income limit at all for people with disabilities, limited English proficiency, or age 60 and older.
- The deciding factor for most filers isn’t income – it’s which tax form your return needs. VITA flatly excludes rental income for civilian filers, and both free paths cap out around $50,000 in self-employment expenses.
Free File and a VITA site are the two free federal filing paths still standing after a Treasury Department report directed the IRS to suspend Direct File, with no relaunch date announced, and the real difference between them isn’t your income level – it’s whether your return needs a form like rental income or complex self-employment expenses that either option, or both, simply won’t handle.
In this article
- What happened to IRS Direct File
- Free File and VITA, side by side
- Where each option actually breaks
- Frequently asked questions
If you filed with IRS Direct File in a prior year, or read that it existed, it’s worth knowing upfront: it’s gone, at least for now. That leaves two real free options for the current filing season – IRS Free File, guided software from a handful of private partners, and a local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site, where an IRS-certified volunteer prepares your return in person. Both are genuinely free. Neither covers every kind of return.
What happened to IRS Direct File
A Treasury Department report to Congress, dated October 2, 2025, directed the IRS to suspend the Direct File program, citing “high costs, limited participation, and the agency’s need to focus resources on other priorities.” The program’s own web address, directfile.irs.gov, no longer resolves at all, and the IRS’s old Direct File landing page now returns a 404 error. Current IRS.gov pages describing free filing options for this season don’t mention Direct File once – not an oversight, since the free options IRS.gov names today are guided software, Free File Fillable Forms, VITA, and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program, with Direct File conspicuously absent.
The same Treasury report puts the actual numbers behind that decision: about 296,531 tax year 2024 returns were filed through Direct File, under 0.5% of the roughly 146 million returns filed that season. Section 70607 of Congress’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act then directed the Treasury Department to study expanding public-private partnerships, like Free File, as a replacement – a study and a suspension, not a commitment to relaunch Direct File itself. If you’re waiting to see if it comes back, there’s no confirmed timeline to wait for.
Free File and VITA, side by side
| Factor | IRS Free File | VITA Site |
|---|---|---|
| Income limit | $89,000 adjusted gross income (AGI) or less for guided software; any income for unguided Free File Fillable Forms | $69,000 or less generally; no income limit for people with disabilities, limited English proficiency, or age 60+ (served by the related TCE program) |
| Who prepares it | You, using one of several branded software partners | An IRS-certified volunteer, in person or by appointment |
| Self-employment income (Schedule C) | Supported by some partners for simple situations – varies by which of the participating providers you choose | In scope only if cash-method, no employees, no inventory, and under $50,000 in total expenses |
| Rental income (Schedule E) | Support varies by partner, often limited | Out of scope entirely for nonmilitary filers, regardless of income |
| If your return doesn’t fit | The software may let you continue and then charge you once you’re past its free-eligibility criteria | The volunteer tells you upfront it’s out of scope and refers you elsewhere |
| Best for | Filers under $89,000 AGI who are comfortable self-serving with software | Filers under $69,000 (or qualifying by age, disability, or language) who want a person to prepare a simple-to-moderate return |
Where each option actually breaks
Income is the obvious variable, but it’s rarely what actually disqualifies a return. A W-2 filer with no complications clears both thresholds without thinking about it – the only real question is whether they’d rather use software themselves or sit down with a volunteer.
The pivot case is a gig worker with self-employment income. IRS Publication 4012 puts a hard ceiling on what a VITA volunteer can prepare: cash-method accounting, no employees, no inventory, and total business expenses under $50,000. A gig worker who clears that bar and is under the $69,000 income limit is in scope for VITA. A gig worker with $60,000 in expenses is turned away regardless of how low their total income is – income was never the obstacle. Depreciation, a home-office deduction, and a net loss carried from a prior year are each their own separate disqualifier under the same IRS scope rules, regardless of the dollar amount involved: any one of those pushes a return out of scope for a VITA volunteer, no matter how simple the rest of the return looks or how small the expense total is. Free File software has a similar ceiling, but it’s set individually by each of the participating partners rather than published as one program-wide rule, which means the software itself may simply let you keep entering data and charge you a fee once you’ve tripped a limit it never told you about upfront.
Rental income is the cleanest example. VITA’s scope explicitly excludes rental income and expenses for nonmilitary taxpayers – a retiree with a modest income and one rental property gets turned away at a VITA site no matter how low their income is, because the form itself is out of scope, not their eligibility.
A senior filer with a simple return and no computer is the clearest fit for VITA and its companion Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program, which specifically targets filers 60 and older and specializes in pension and Social Security income – no software, no self-service required.
Choose the option that matches your return, not just your income
Choose Free File if you’re under $89,000 AGI, comfortable using tax software yourself, and your return doesn’t hinge on rental income or a complex Schedule C.
Choose a VITA site if you’re under $69,000 (or qualify by age, disability, or limited English proficiency regardless of income), want a person to prepare it, and can get an appointment – and your return is simple to moderately complex.
Budget for a paid preparer if you have rental income as a civilian filer, self-employment expenses over $50,000, or any other situation both free options exclude by design – forcing a free option to handle a return it’s not built for usually costs more time than it saves.
What could change the calculus
The $89,000 and $69,000 figures are current for this filing season – the IRS typically updates both each December before the new season opens, so confirm the current number at irs.gov/freefile or the VITA program page before relying on last year’s cap. And don’t build a filing plan around Direct File returning – Congress directed a study of a different, public-private model, not a relaunch of the program as it existed.
Frequently asked questions
Is IRS Direct File coming back? There’s no confirmed date. A Treasury Department report dated October 2, 2025 directed the IRS to suspend it, and Congress’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act directed the Treasury Department to study a public-private partnership as a possible replacement, not to relaunch Direct File itself. Don’t plan around it returning for this filing season.
Can I use Free File if my income is above $89,000? You can still use Free File Fillable Forms, the unguided electronic version of paper tax forms, at any income level. The $89,000 limit applies specifically to the guided, branded software partners.
Does VITA have an age requirement? No age minimum applies to the general $69,000 income-based eligibility. Filers 60 and older are also served by the related Tax Counseling for the Elderly program, which specializes in pension and retirement-income questions.
Can a VITA volunteer prepare a return with rental income? No. Rental income and expenses are out of scope for VITA volunteers preparing returns for nonmilitary taxpayers, regardless of the filer’s income level or how simple the rental situation seems.
What happens if Free File software says I don’t qualify partway through? IRS.gov confirms a Free File Guided Tax provider may charge a fee once your return doesn’t meet its eligibility criteria – for example, if your income exceeds its threshold or your situation falls outside what that specific partner supports. Check a provider’s stated limits before you start entering data.
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