Pennsylvania will become the 15th state to join the IRS Direct File free tax program next tax season, the Treasury Department and the IRS said Tuesday.
At least 1.5 million Pennsylvanians are expected to be eligible to use the free online filing tool next filing season. The announcement comes a week after New Jersey joined the program.
The free online filing system was pilot tested last tax season in 12 states, and the IRS announced plans in May to make the program permanent. It invited all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, to join the program. The dozen states where it was available include Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Last month, Oregon became the first new state to join the program for next year, New Jersey became the fourteenth state, and now Pennsylvania will be 15th.
“Filing your taxes should be free and easy — that’s why we’re improving our digital services and adopting IRS Direct File here in Pennsylvania,” said Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in a statement. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Direct File initiative, Pennsylvanians will be able to save money by filing both their state and federal taxes at no cost on an easy-to-use platform. There should be no wrong door to access government services, and the Shapiro Administration will continue to bring human-centered, user-friendly, reliable and accessible digital services to every Pennsylvanian to help lower costs and break down barriers.”
Shapiro is reportedly on the short list of contenders to become Kamala Harris’s running mate as vice president in the November election. However, the outcome of the election could also result in budget cuts at the IRS, and Republicans in Congress and 12 state attorneys general have expressed opposition to the Direct File program.
The IRS Direct File program was sparked by a provision in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act requiring the Treasury and the IRS to study the feasibility of a free tax-filing system. After the study was released last May, a team at the IRS, led by acting transformation and strategy officer Bridget Roberts, quickly developed the system in time for tax season this year.
“Today, and thanks to Governor Shapiro, Pennsylvania joins the growing list of states that have committed to join Direct File, with plans to bring Direct File to more than 1.5 million Pennsylvania residents starting next January,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during an event in Philadelphia. “Taxpayers deserve to see how our tax system should work. Thanks to the IRA, we are finally able to make that happen.”
Janet Yellen
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Last tax season, over 140,000 taxpayers claimed more than $90 million in refunds and saved an estimated $5.6 million in filing fees using the free tool.
“The numbers don’t lie: Direct File is a game-changing, commonsense program that enables Americans to do their taxes easily, securely, and affordably,” said Senator Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, in a statement. “Thanks to this program, Americans can confidently file their taxes and keep more of their hard-earned dollars. I fought to expand Direct File to our state to put more dollars back in Pennsylvanians’ pockets and to lower costs for Pennsylvania families.”
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CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. said U.S. officials have asked for information related to the accounting of deals it’s made with some customers and said the cybersecurity firm is cooperating with the inquiry.
The Austin, Texas-based company said in a filing Wednesday that it has gotten “requests for information” from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission “relating to the company’s recognition of revenue and reporting of ARR for transactions with certain customers.” ARR refers to annual recurring revenue, a measure of earnings from subscriptions.
The company said the federal officials have also sought information related to a CrowdStrike update last year that crashed Windows operating systems around the world.
“The company is cooperating and providing information in response to these requests,” the filing states.
U.S. prosecutors and regulators have been investigating a $32 million deal between CrowdStrike and a technology distributor, Carahsoft Technology Corp., to provide cybersecurity tools to the Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg News first reported in February. The IRS never purchased or received the products, Bloomberg News earlier reported.
The investigators are probing what senior CrowdStrike executives may have known about the $32 million deal and are examining other transactions made by the cybersecurity firm, Bloomberg News reported in May.
Asked for comment about the filing, CrowdStrike spokesperson Brian Merrill said, “As we have told Bloomberg repeatedly, this is old news and we stand by the accounting of the transaction.”
A lawyer for Carahsoft previously declined to comment on the federal investigations, and representatives didn’t respond to subsequent requests for comment about them.
Tech titan Elon Musk ratcheted up his offensive against Donald Trump’s signature tax bill on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to “KILL” the legislation.
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman,” Musk wrote in a social media post. “Bankrupting America is NOT ok!”
The post came one day after Musk lashed out at the tax bill, describing it as a budget-busting “disgusting abomination” as Republican fiscal hawks stepped up criticism of the massive fiscal package.
Trump hasn’t publicly responded to Musk’s comments, but the White House put out a statement Wednesday saying the legislation “unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.”
And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Musk is “dead wrong” about the bill and that the tax cuts will pay for themselves through economic growth.
Musk’s public condemnation pits him against the president at a critical time as Trump is personally lobbying holdouts on the bill. His campaign against the legislation threatens to stiffen resistance and delay enactment of the tax cuts and debt ceiling increase.
Musk has attacked the legislation days after leaving a temporary assignment leading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut federal spending. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer’s high-profile role in the Trump administration eroded his business brand and sales of his company’s electric vehicles plunged.
The House-passed version of the tax and spending bill would add $2.4 trillion to U.S. budget deficits over the next decade, according to an estimate released Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO’s calculation reflects a $3.67 trillion decrease in expected revenues and a $1.25 trillion decline in spending over the decade through 2034, relative to baseline projections. The score doesn’t account for any potential boost to the economy from the bill, which Johnson and Trump argue would offset the revenue losses.
Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of about $377 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has become a crucial financial backer of the Republican party. After making modest donations most years, Musk became the biggest U.S. political donor in 2024, giving more than $290 million.
Johnson said Musk had promised to help reelect Republicans just a day before savaging Trump’s bill. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Most of Musk’s giving was aimed at electing Trump but he also supported congressional candidates. America PAC, the super political action committee that Musk largely funded, spent $18.5 million in 17 separate House races. Though that total pales in comparison to the roughly $255 million he spent backing Trump, the spending means a lot in a congressional election, where challengers on average raise less than $1 million.
Control of the House will likely be decided by the outcome of fewer than two dozen close races in the 2026 midterm elections. The GOP’s chances of holding their majority would suffer a major blow if Musk were to withdraw his financial support.