The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued IR-2025-08 on 10 January 2025, announcing that the nation’s 2025 tax season will start on 27 January 2025.
The IRS expects more than 140 million individual tax returns for tax year 2024 to be filed ahead of the Tuesday, 15 April 2025 federal deadline. More than half of all tax returns are expected to be filed this year with the help of a tax professional, and the IRS urges people to use a trusted tax pro to avoid potential scams and schemes.
The 2025 tax filing season will reflect continued IRS progress to modernise and add new tools and features to help taxpayers. Since last tax season, the improvements include more access to tax account information from text and voice virtual assistants, expanded features on the IRS Individual Online Account, more access to dozens of tax forms through cell phones and tablets and expanded alerts for scams and schemes that threaten taxpayers.
The IRS has also expanded the features and availability of last year’s Direct File programme. This year, Direct File will be available starting Jan. 27 to taxpayers in 25 states.
The IRS is also working to continue the success of the 2023 and 2024 tax filing seasons, made possible with additional resources. The past two filing seasons saw levels of service at roughly 85% and wait times averaging less than five minutes on the main phone lines, as well as significant increases in the number of taxpayers served at Taxpayer Assistance Centers across the country. Based on the IRS’ current plan and funding levels, the agency will work to provide similar levels of performance on these key service metrics in the upcoming filing season.
“This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS, and people will see additional tools and features to help them file their taxes this tax season,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “These taxpayer-focused improvements we’ve done so far are important, but they are just the beginning of what the IRS needs to do. More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.”
Direct File opens Jan. 27 for taxpayers in 25 states
On the first day of the filing season, Direct File will open to eligible taxpayers in 25 states to file their taxes directly with the IRS for free: 12 states that were part of the pilot last year, plus 13 new states where Direct File will be available in 2025.
During last year’s pilot, Direct File was available in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State and Wyoming. For the 2025 tax filing season, Direct File will also be available in Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
