RICHMOND, Va. -- Many Virginians have a free option when it comes to filing their taxes. On Friday, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe touted the state's free tax prep program called the IRS and Virginia Free File Program. The free program is available to people whose annual income is $60,000 or less. About 70 percent of the Virginia's population falls into that category.
Free File is a public-private partnership in between the IRS and tax prep software companies. Virginia has joined 19 other states in the program that let you file both federal and state tax returns online.
"What they do is they help folks not only complete their own individual return, but it's very important that it allows them to find every credit and deduction which they are entitled to," Governor McAuliffe said.
The Free File program provides value to Virginia's government by lower processing costs and producing fewer errors than manual paper returns. Carolyn Spohrer, from the Virginia Community Action Partnership, paraphrased Albert Einstein who said one of the most difficult things in the universe to understand is filing your taxes.
