By james art 
The Wisconsinites started the 2025 tax season on Monday with a new tool – free access to software that sends their return directly to IRS.
Wisconsin is one of 25 states involved in the new direct file system of the Internal Revenue Service.
“This makes what is often a complicated or scary process for many Wisconsinitis easy,” says David Casey, Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue from Wisconsin. “Easy, safe, free.”
The Casey Department manages the state -owned Wistax submission software that connects to the IRS Direct File website.
“There is a prompted one who will ask you, would you like to file your state taxes?” Said Jennifer Bacon, a director of communications for the department. “And just click the button, and since you have already entered Wisconsin information, this will automatically take you to Wistax.”
The website also tells you which tax loans you are right and allows you to choose between them, Casey explained.
“This is really important, because too often when people submit a return, they do not know what they are eligible for, so they can miss something,” he said.
In 2021, 20 percent of eligible Wisconsinitis did not request the earned loan for income tax, tax relief for people with low to moderate income.
Not all taxpayers are eligible for a direct file. Those who do not meet the requirements include people who earn over $ 200,000 a year and those who claim detailed deductions. Filmers can check their eligibility on directfile.irs.gov.
An opponent of the program is a supplier of software for making Turbotax profit and her parent company Intuit. Investigative newsletter Propublica announced in 2019 that the company spent years lobbying congress against the creation of a free, direct tax filing service.
Intuit shares were immersed in June after IRS announced that it was making a direct file – an earlier pilot program – permanent in several participating states. He fell again in November after The Washington Post announced the interest of Elon Musk to make an app for tax filing as part of his Federal Department of Government Efficiency, also known as Doge.
Bacon said the direct file has been running smoothly since it opened on Monday.
“We received a lot of return to Wistax via a direct file and they were hassle -free,” she said. “And we hear from people that it is really easy to use. Really convenient for the user. “
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