A new tool to file New York State taxes online for free goes live on March 12.
Governor Kathy Hochul and civic tech nonprofit Code for America have announced the effort that will allow eligible state residents to file their state taxes for free and provide integration with the Internal Revenue Service’s Direct File pilot, allowing eligible individuals to file federal tax returns online as well.
New York is one of 12 states participating in the Direct File pilot, and one of only three providing seamless, integrated state tax filing. Upon completing the federal return on the IRS website, New Yorkers can export their information from Direct File to FileYourStateTaxes and complete a state return within minutes. Built in partnership with Code for America, FileYourStateTaxes can help low- and middle-income New Yorkers save hundreds of dollars in tax preparation fees and improve access to critical credits like the state and city Earned Income Tax Credit, and the newly expanded Empire State Child Credit.
Consistent with plans laid out by the IRS, Direct File and FileYourStateTaxes will fully open to all eligible taxpayers on March 12. Both products have been undergoing iterative rounds of scaled testing over the last several weeks and are currently available to the public in their final beta testing phase. Interested taxpayers can start their free tax filing process today at directfile.irs.gov.
Eligibility to participate in the Direct File pilot is limited to filers reporting certain common types of income and claiming common credits and deductions.
It is likely you will be eligible to use Direct File if:
– You lived in New York all year, and do not have income from another state.
– Your only income sources are wages, Social Security benefits, unemployment benefits, and/or up to $1,500 of interest.
– You want to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, or Credit for Other Dependents.
– You only plan to claim the standard deduction and/or deductions for student loan interest and educator expenses.
Full information on Direct File and FileYourStateTaxes eligibility is available at https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/efile/direct-file/, directfile.irs.gov, and fileyourstatetaxes.org.
Leave a Reply