You can check whether you qualify to use the system at directfile.irs.gov. Based on the eligibility restrictions in the IRS program, the Treasury Department said it "estimates that one-third of all federal income tax returns filed could be prepared using Direct File."
In the 12 eligible states combined, the department estimates that 18.7 million taxpayers are eligible for Direct File. That includes a high of 5.2 million taxpayers in California and a low of 80,000 in Wyoming. "Thousands of taxpayers across all 12 states have already successfully filed returns during the pilot's testing phase," the Treasury Department said.
The government is calling this year's version of Direct File a pilot program. It will presumably expand to more states and perhaps have fewer restrictions on who can file in future years.
The 12 states in question are
Arizona
California
Florida
Massachusetts
Nevada
New Hampshire
New York
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Washington
Wyoming
I'll have to look into this. As I mentioned in the Microsoft thread, I've been using TurboTax since my grandparents buy a multi-license pack each year, but that "multi-license" part is...probably close enough to a lie that Intuit's lawyers should be bracing for another false-advertising lawsuit. At this point it's more like a "one person can install this on multiple devices" license, since you need to connect to your Intuit account to authenticate, and a license code can't be used on multiple accounts.
