Income tax, state; free tax filing program for individuals.
An Act to amend and reenact § 58.1-202.3 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal Chapter 535 of the Acts of Assembly of 2010, relating to Department of Taxation; free tax filing program for individuals.
Taxes
Enacted
This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.
Sponsor
McPike
Last action
2026-03-31
Official status
Acts of Assembly Chapter
Effective date
Not listed
Plain English Breakdown
The bill summary does not provide specific details on funding or exact eligibility criteria for the new program.
Free Tax Filing Program for Individuals
This act requires the Virginia Department of Taxation to create a free online state income tax filing program similar to the IRS Direct File Program, starting in 2028.
What This Bill Does
Requires the Tax Commissioner to develop and offer a free individual state income tax filing program for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2028.
The new program must be similar to the IRS Direct File Program as it existed during the 2025 tax season.
The commissioner should consider compatibility, security, and integration with the IRS Direct File Program's source code from 2025.
The commissioner should consult other states that have free electronic filing services for individual taxpayers in the past five years.
Who It Names or Affects
Individual Virginia taxpayers who file state income taxes.
Terms To Know
Tax Commissioner
The person responsible for managing and overseeing tax collection and administration within a state, in this case, Virginia.
IRS Direct File Program
A program by the Internal Revenue Service that allows taxpayers to file their federal income taxes electronically without paying any fees.
Limits and Unknowns
The bill does not specify how much it will cost or where funding for the new free filing program will come from.
It is unclear what specific eligibility criteria will be used for the new program, only that they should be less restrictive than those of the IRS Direct File Program.
Amendments
These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.
Reported from Finance and Appropriations with amendment (14-Y 0-N)
2026-01-26Senate
Fiscal Impact statement From TAX (1/26/2026 10:05 pm)
2026-01-14Senate
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100872D
2026-01-14Finance and Appropriations
Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations
Official Summary Text
Department of Taxation; free tax filing program for individuals.
Directs the Tax Commissioner to develop and offer a free individual state income tax filing program, effective beginning in taxable year 2028, that is similar to the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Direct File Program as it existed during the 2025 tax filing season. The bill contains technical amendments that remove obsolete language regarding fillable forms. This bill is identical to HB 1180.
Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
An Act to amend and reenact §
58.1-202.3
of the Code of Virginia and to repeal Chapter 535 of the Acts of Assembly of 2010, relating to Department of Taxation; free tax filing program for individuals.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §
58.1-202.3
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§
58.1-202.3
. Fillable tax forms.
The Tax Commissioner shall ensure that all required state tax forms are fillable forms in a portable document format
for taxable periods beginning on and after January 1, 2012,
and are available on the Department of Taxation's website.
The Tax Commissioner shall begin making fillable forms available no later than January 1, 2012, and shall make all fillable forms available no later than March 1, 2013.
The Tax Commissioner shall develop guidelines for using such forms and publish them on the Department's website.
Nothing in this section shall replace, supersede, modify, duplicate, or compete with the Virginia Free File program in its provision of online interactive tax software and filing products and services for Virginia taxpayers.
2. That Chapter 535 of the Acts of Assembly of 2010 is repealed.
3. That, having established the Virginia Free File program based on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File program pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 535 of the Acts of Assembly of 2010, the Tax Commissioner shall develop and offer a modern electronic tax return filing services program directly to Virginia individual taxpayers without monetary charge. Such program shall be made available to Virginia individual taxpayers in taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2028. In implementing such new program, the Tax Commissioner shall (a) consider the compatibility, security, and integration of such program with the publicly available source code of the IRS Direct File Program as it existed during the 2025 tax filing season; (b) consult with other states that have developed free electronic filing services for individual taxpayers in the past five years as necessary; and (c) develop eligibility criteria for such new program that are less restrictive than the eligibility criteria established for participation in the IRS Direct File Program as it existed during the 2025 tax filing season. The Tax Commissioner shall develop eligibility criteria for such program, establish and offer such new program for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2028, and ensure that such new program is updated as needed for compatibility with any free direct tax e-file system offered by the federal government.