Success of IRS’s Direct File, Politics Aside, Is Tied to States

The IRS is banking on states for the success of its new, free online tool for filing tax returns.

The more people use it, in as many states as possible, the bigger chance the Direct File program has of surviving opposition from Republican lawmakers and tax preparation companies.

That is, if a GOP sweep in next week’s elections doesn’t kill the program before it gets much further off the ground. House Republicans, hostile to an IRS role as tax return preparer, this summer proposed to block the agency from any more work on the project.

As the program looks to ...