The Internal Revenue Service announced that the tax season will kick off Jan. 27, 2025 — not only that, but this tax season will also feature more tools to help taxpayers. The IRS expects more than 140 million individual tax returns for tax year 2024 to be filed ahead of the April 15 federal deadline. This season, taxpayers in 13 new states will be able to file using Direct File, the IRS’s online filing tool which was piloted last year. During last year’s pilot, Direct File was available in New York and 11 other states: Arizona California Florida Massachusetts Nevada New Hampshire New York South Dakota Tennessee Texas Washington State Wyoming Meanwhile, For the 2025 tax filing season, it will expand to the rest of the tri-state area and additional states: Alaska Connecticut Idaho Illinois Kansas Maine Maryland New Jersey New Mexico North Carolina Oregon Pennsylvania  Wisconsin Not only will Direct File be available in more states, but there will be new features to make filing easier: a data import tool, similar to tax software, that will allow taxpayers to automatically import data from their IRS account. Additionally, Direct File will also provide a new chat bot to help taxpayers through the process. Live chat will also be available in English and Spanish. During its pilot year, Direct File supported taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependents. However, his tax season, Direct File will also cover more tax situations: Child and Dependent Care Credit Premium Tax Credit Credit for the Elderly and Disabled Retirement Savings Contribution Credits Deduction claims for Health Savings Accounts The IRS estimates that more than 30 million taxpayers will be eligible to use Direct File across the 25 states. While the tax season won’t start officially until Jan. 27, there are ways to get a head start like the IRS Free File software, which allows taxpayers to prepare and file returns now and hold them until they can be electronically filed on Jan. 27. Free File, found on IRS.gov, offers tax filing software for free from eight companies. To access these free tools, taxpayers must start from the IRS Free File page on IRS.gov.