Residents of Wisconsin can file their taxes directly to IRS FREE in 2025

Wisconsinites started the tax season 2025 Monday with a new tool – free access to software that sends their returns directly to the IRS.

Wisconsin is one of 25 states participating in the Internal Revenue Service’s new Direct file system.

“It does what is often a complex or scary process for many wisconsinites,” said David Casey, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. “Easy, safe, free.”

Casey’s department operates the State Archiving Software Wistax, which links to the IRS Direct File website.

“There is a request that will ask you will you file your state taxes?” said Jennifer Bacon, communications director for the department. “And you just click on a button and because you’ve already entered Wisconsin information, it automatically leads to Wistax.”

The website also tells you what tax credits you are eligible for and allow you to choose between them, Casey explained.

“It’s really important, because too often when people archive return, they don’t know what they are justified for so they can miss something,” he said.

In 2021, 20 percent Of eligible Wisconsinites did not claim the earned income tax credit, a tax break for people with low to moderate incomes.

Not all taxpayers are eligible for direct file. Those who are not eligible include people who earn over $ 200,000 a year and those who claim specified deductions. Filers can check their eligibility at Directfile.irs.gov.

An opponent of the program has been pre-profit tax provider Software Provider Turbotax and its parent company Intuit. Investigative output Propublica In 2019, reported that the company spent years on lobbying of Congress against creating a free, direct tax archiving service.

Intuit’s stock threw itself in June after the IRS advertised It made direct file – previously a pilot program – permanently in several participating states. It fell again in November after Washington Post Reported about Elon Musk’s interest in producing a tax archive app as part of his federal department of government efficiency, also known as DOGE.

“We have received a lot of Wistax returns through direct file and they have been trouble -free,” she said. “And we hear from people that it’s really easy to use. Really user -friendly. “