As Prepared for Delivery
I am very glad to be in Philadelphia today with Governor Shapiro, Congressman Boyle, and Congresswoman Scanlon. We are here to make the exciting announcement that Pennsylvania will offer Direct File to its residents, starting next filing season.
The U.S. economy today is strong; unemployment is near historic lows; and inflation has significantly declined. But many Americans are concerned with the high cost of living and are struggling to make ends meet. So, bringing down costs for American families is the Biden-Harris Administration’s top economic priority. This means doing everything we can to address the costs of health care, housing, and energy and tackling challenges that have been building for decades. It also means making it simpler and cheaper for Americans to pay their taxes and get back what they are owed.
It should be easy to meet your tax obligations and claim the credits, deductions, and refunds for which you are eligible. Instead, the Internal Revenue Service has been underfunded, which means that taxpayers have not gotten the support they deserve. Taxpayers across the country have had to pay for-profit companies hundreds of dollars a year to file their taxes. And too many eligible taxpayers have missed out on tax credits that would give them crucial breathing room in their household budgets.
The Inflation Reduction Act has enabled us to change this. In less than two years since it was passed, we have driven significant transformation at the IRS to drastically improve the taxpayer experience. We massively improved customer service, including through modernizing our call centers, dramatically reducing call wait times from 28 minutes to around just 3 minutes, and adding a new call-back option that saved taxpayers an estimated 1.4 million hours of waiting on hold. We have also been able to expand operations at Taxpayer Assistance Centers, serving almost 500,000 more taxpayers last year than in the year prior. We redesigned more than 100 notices and made them available online so that it is easy for taxpayers to understand what actions they need to take. And we enhanced popular tools such as Where’s My Refund?, enabling taxpayers to better anticipate their refunds and plan their budgets.
We also piloted the program we are focused on today. Direct File allows eligible taxpayers to file their taxes online, for free, directly with the IRS. It saves taxpayers money upfront because they do not have to pay to prepare or file their returns and it saves them money on the backend by helping them get their refunds and claim the tax credits they deserve. It makes the whole process easier and more efficient.
I am proud that the Direct File pilot during this past filing season was a significant success. To make sure the pilot went smoothly, we focused on taxpayers in 12 states with simple returns. Over just five weeks interest grew as we got word out and taxpayers started using the product By final week Direct File was processing more than 5k accepted returns each day By end of filing season more than 140k across all 12 pilot states filed through Direct File far exceeding goal set These saved $5 point6M federal fees received $90M refunds
Taxpayers also liked product found easy use Ninety percent survey respondents rated experience excellent above average appreciated saved time allowed quickly fix mistakes provided support no fees upsells Using increased public trust IRS
This success fueled demand from across country heard over two hundred organizations representing communities throughout US heard over one hundred members Congress June IRS Commissioner Werfel announced making permanent offering invited fifty states participate starting soon next Today thanks Governor joins growing list committed plans bring one point five M residents starting January deserve see how system work IRA finally able make happen Let thank Boyle Scanlon investments making let congratulate additional step forward look working state local leadership advance agenda lower costs families
