Wisconsin joins new federal online program for filing income tax returns

Wisconsin taxpayers will be able to file state and federal tax returns in 2025 directly online for free. (Getty Images)

Wisconsin taxpayers will be among those able to file their state and federal income tax returns online directly and for free next year, the state Department of Revenue announced Wednesday.

The IRS started the free Direct File program as a pilot in 12 states this year and is rolling it out nationally for the 2025 tax filing season, subject to each state’s voluntary participation.

In the program’s first year, Direct File saved taxpayers who used the system an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees, according to the IRS. Taxpayers who took part received  more than $90 million in income tax refunds.

Wisconsin’s participation next year will enable taxpayers to file both their state and federal returns online, starting at the Direct File portal that the IRS will provide for federal returns, and then going to a new WisTax portal that the Wisconsin Department of Revenue is establishing.

“We are excited about both WisTax and the Direct File program because they provide an improved customer experience for Wisconsin taxpayers that is free, accurate, and user friendly,” Wisconsin DOR Secretary David Casey said in a statement Wednesday.

Gov. Tony Evers cheered the coming of Direct File in a press release.

“This is going to save hardworking folks time and money, and we look forward to seeing how the Direct File and new WisTax programs will work together to better serve Wisconsinites when tax season comes around in 2025,” Evers said.

While taxpayers have been able to submit their returns online for years, a direct portal for filing has until now not been easily available. A portal was proposed and implemented during the administration of former President George W. Bush, but has been criticized as difficult to use .

Direct, free and easy to use online filing was blocked for two decades in a lobbying campaign by the tax preparation industry, ProPublica reported in 2017 . Former University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Don Moynihan has also written an account of how the original free-filing program hobbled.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced a bill in 2022 to allow for free, online direct filing. The proposal was subsequently included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

“Filing your taxes should be easy and free, but right now the system is rigged to line the pockets of giant third-party tax-prep companies and Wisconsinites are left wasting hours and hundreds of dollars each year,” Baldwin said in an announcement Wednesday that Wisconsin was joining the program. “I voted for the Inflation Reduction Act to put money back into the pockets of hard-working families, not pad the profits of these big third-party companies that charge exorbitant junk fees.”

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