Tax season feels far away on the first weekend of October, yet the IRS keeps a free federal filing route running all year for returns that are still outstanding. The agency’s guided software option is limited to filers with an adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less, and the window for the 2025 tax year is not the one most people assume. Here is what the IRS pages say today, October 4, 2026, about who qualifies, what is open and what the word free covers.
The $89,000 line is adjusted gross income, and the IRS dated it to 2025 returns
The IRS Free File program page sets guided tax software eligibility at “$89,000 adjusted gross income (AGI) or less”. That page, last reviewed June 12, 2026, does not print a tax year beside the figure, so the year comes from a separate IRS release. In IR-2026-38, dated March 20, 2026, the agency tied the same $89,000 threshold to 2025 federal returns, the ones filed in the 2026 season. That is the figure in force now; it is not a leftover from an earlier year.
The page states a single AGI number and lists no separate amounts by filing status. It does not spell out in so many words that the test is applied per return, so that detail belongs to the provider’s own screening rather than to the IRS headline. The agency says plainly that the participating companies set additional eligibility criteria of their own, which means a filer under $89,000 can still be turned away by one provider and accepted by another.
IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano framed the program in that March release this way: “IRS Free File demonstrates the IRS’s commitment to providing taxpayers an easy and secure way to prepare and file their federal tax return at no cost.”
Free File is open now for 2025 returns, and the extension deadline is October 15
The IRS’s e-file page, also last reviewed June 12, 2026, describes both guided software and Fillable Forms as available and covers only the current year’s return. The Fillable Forms page is more specific. Updated September 24, 2026, it reads “currently open” and gives a closing date of October 15, 2026. That is the extension deadline: the program page explains that Form 4868 extends the deadline to file a federal return to Oct. 15, though a balance due still had to be paid by April 15 to avoid penalties.
So the open window is short. As of today, 11 days remain for a 2025 return filed through the IRS’s free routes. The IRS pages read for this article do not give a date for when the next season’s Free File opens, and no January opening is stated anywhere in them, so no such date appears here. The program page also notes that Free File cannot process a prior-year or past-due return, only the current year’s.
Free File Fillable Forms has no income limit and no hand-holding
Filers above $89,000 are not shut out of the free route. The program page lists Fillable Forms “for any income level”, with limited calculations and no state tax filing. The IRS’s own Fillable Forms page adds that the tool does not ask interview questions or identify tax benefits, cannot prepare state returns, and does not support some forms, statements and attachments. A filer must already know which forms apply and follow the instructions alone.
The technical requirements are specific too. The IRS recommends a desktop or laptop computer with a current browser and says mobile devices are not recommended, and a 10-digit U.S. cell phone number able to receive text messages is required. Acceptance or rejection of the return typically comes back within 24 to 48 hours.
Where the word free stops: state returns and provider rules
The program page defines free narrowly. Federal preparation and e-filing are no cost for qualifying taxpayers, but a guided provider “may charge a fee for (1) state tax return preparation and filing, (2) when the filer does not qualify for a free federal tax return based on the provider’s eligibility criteria.” The page says some providers include a free state return, and the IRS directs filers to its provider-finder tool to see which ones.
The same page lists one Spanish-language option, EzTaxReturn.com, serving qualifying taxpayers in 33 states, with the same $89,000 AGI ceiling or active-duty military status. Two practical items round out the checklist: filers need a prior-year AGI or a self-select PIN to sign the electronic return, and the IRS spells out that the return must be for the current year only.
VITA and TCE sites serve filers the software was not built for
A third free route runs through volunteers. The IRS says its VITA program generally serves taxpayers earning about $70,244 or less, while Tax Counseling for the Elderly targets people 60 and older, and individual sites may set their own limits. Services include basic return preparation for federal and state returns, and some sites offer Individual Taxpayer Identification Number help. Sites can be found through the IRS locator at freetaxassistance.for.irs.gov or by calling 800-906-9887; AARP Tax-Aide, which runs many TCE sites, takes calls at 888-227-7669.
The scale of that network is documented in the IRS’s October 1, 2026 release, number IR-2026-118. According to the agency, more than 84,500 volunteers helped taxpayers file nearly 2.9 million tax returns at no cost at about 9,000 sites last season, and the IRS is recruiting community partners and volunteers now for the coming one.
After the return is filed, the refund still has to arrive
Filing through Free File, Fillable Forms or a VITA site ends the preparation job, but it does not end the refund job. An e-filed return can still draw an IRS notice, a hold or an offset, and a check can go missing in the mail. Those later problems are separate from which free filing route was used.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit is a 13-page kit that includes a notice decoder, a refund status tracker spreadsheet and the refund-trace steps for Form 3911, so the follow-up can be organized in one place.
Line up a notice decoder and refund tracker for after the return goes in →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures were checked against the IRS Free File, Fillable Forms, VITA and newsroom pages named above on October 4, 2026.
