Thanks for pointing this out - looking at the responses, folks blaming congress might have a point but I'm also surprised that this thread isn't directing more of the frustration to intuit and others involved in the deliberately confusingly named "free file alliance" - an industry coalition that's nominally providing a free filing option that's hidden / limited / difficult enough to use that very few people actually do despite it being free.
Thanks for pointing this out - looking at the responses, folks blaming congress might have a point but I'm also surprised that this thread isn't directing more of the frustration to intuit and others involved in the deliberately confusingly named "free file alliance" - an industry coalition that's nominally providing a free filing option that's hidden / limited / difficult enough to use that very few people actually do despite it being free.
The answer to your question is that initially yes, it was banned as part of a mutual MOU, but it is not anymore. The rest is in here: https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-pro...
Here's more on the subject: - This one has internal slides from intuit https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... - This is a report prepared by a left think tank (pointing this out as a disclaimer) that has a lot of details from earnings calls and such: https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2023/05/1... - This one details on the influence of the "revolving door" of lobbyists taking governemnt positions on the IRS' policymaking https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/05/turbotax-owner-intu...