By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN(CNN) — When it comes to their federal income tax returns, tens of millions of US households pay for tax preparation and filing. The IRS Free File ProgramThis is the longstanding public-private partnership between the IRS and its “trusted partners” in the private tax-prep software industry. IRS Free Fillable FormsThe Free File Fillable Forms (FFFF) program gives taxpayers the option to fill out many (but not all) federal tax return forms on the IRS site. VITA and TCE programsThe Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program primarily helps tax filers with incomes below $69,000, those who are disabled and those who are not proficient in English. And through TCE, only 1.2 million returns were filed out of an eligible 22 million.

Source: CNN February 12, 2026 12:45 UTC