According to North Jersey, New Jersey is set to join the Direct File tax program, an initiative by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), beginning with the 2025 tax season. This announcement was made by Governor Phil Murphy and Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, during a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon.
Governor Murphy expressed his support for the program, stating, “Government is supposed to make life easier, not harder. For too long, our outdated processes for filing taxes have created unnecessary difficulties for too many families.” He highlighted that this new initiative aims to simplify the tax filing process and alleviate the burdens faced by taxpayers.
Under the Direct File program, more than 1 million New Jersey residents—potentially up to 1.3 million—will be eligible to utilize this free service. The program is designed for individuals filing simple tax forms for both federal and state taxes online. It will also assist users in claiming credits, deductions, and refunds they are entitled to.
The Direct File program was initially rolled out as a pilot in 12 states for the 2024 tax season, with New Jersey not participating at that time. During the pilot phase, over 140,000 individuals across the participating states utilized the program. The IRS reported that the pilot program helped users claim more than $90 million in refunds and saved an estimated $5.6 million in filing costs.
Adeyemo explained that the primary goals of Direct File are to “make life as easy for the American people as possible and to lower their costs so they have more money to put in the pockets of their children.” Given the positive feedback from the pilot program, the IRS plans to expand Direct File to accommodate a broader range of tax situations and to include all states.
The expansion of the program aims to address not only simple tax situations but also more complex cases, particularly those affecting working families. It is designed to be an alternative to, rather than a replacement for, existing free tax filing options.
