Federal systems and what they cost

Customer service

IRS Online Account platform (Web Applications: Individual Online Account, Business Tax Account, Tax Pro Account)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

IRS Web Applications program, governed by an IRS board and owned and operated by the IRS (Tax Pro Account privacy assessment), with contractor task orders: Deloitte Consulting (the largest Individual Online Account, Business Online Account and Tax Pro orders, 2017 to 2025), Booz Allen Hamilton, Maximus Federal, Cherokee Nation Solutions Link (Tax Pro and integrated Online Account support, 2024 to 2026), Command Cyber Solutions (Business Tax Account modernization, from 2025) and Accenture Federal Services (Business Tax Account data store)

Product

Custom web applications (Individual Online Account, Business Tax Account, Tax Pro Account) on the IRS Web Applications platform

How it was bought

Many task orders, no single contract: three competitive Agile Technology/Web Application Support Services BPAs (May 2017, 13 offers), 2023 bridge BPAs, orders on GSA schedules and NIH CIO-SP3, then 8(a) sole-source contracts (2025)

Note

No single contract total. TIGTA reports Inflation Reduction Act spending through March 4, 2025 of $182.2M on Individual Online Account, $112.7M on Business Tax Account and $3.8M on Tax Pro Online Accounts. In the FY 2027 plan, the Digital Services investment (e-Services, IRS.gov, Individual Online Account, Business Tax Account, Tax Pro and ICCE together) shows $255.79M actual obligations in FY 2025 and $462.96M estimated for FY 2026.

Replaced

Its first release (December 2016) was an online balance tool behind Secure Access; the IRS said other capabilities would be added to that platform.

What the record shows

• TIGTA lists IRA technology spending from passage through March 4, 2025 by project: Individual Online Account $182.2M, Business Tax Account $112.7M, Tax Pro Online Accounts $3.8M, together $298.7M. The IRS spent about $4.9 billion of IRA funds on contractor support through March 31, 2025. source Public record
• Treasury announced a strategic pause of IRS modernization in March 2025, and work under the IRA Strategic Operating Plan was put on hold, according to TIGTA. source Public record
• The Web Applications investment obligated $53.89M in FY 2022 (actual) and estimated $185.96M for FY 2023 and $141.47M for the FY 2024 budget request. source Public record
• The Digital Services investment, which covers e-Services, IRS.gov, Individual Online Account, Business Tax Account, Tax Pro and ICCE, obligated $255.79M in FY 2025 and estimates $462.96M for FY 2026 and $349.27M for FY 2027. source Public record
• The IRS FY 2027 budget justification lists Online Accounts as a key modernization initiative with $159M of planned development, modernization and enhancement spending ($128M from Inflation Reduction Act BSM funds and $30M from IRA Operations Support funds); the IRS calls the estimates pre-decisional and says they exclude labor. source Public record
• Tax Pro Account is recorded as "IRS Owned and Operated", reporting to the Web Applications Governance Board, with contractor users, managers and system administrators also given access. source Public record
• Online Accounts reached 64.4 million as of February 28, 2026, up 25 percent from a year earlier (51.5M). source Public record
• The Agile Technology/Web Application Support Services BPAs were awarded in May 2017 to Deloitte, Maximus Federal and Booz Allen after 13 offers. USAspending links 30 Deloitte orders ($175.0M obligated), 23 Booz Allen orders ($43.7M) and 5 Maximus orders ($4.4M) to them, read on USAspending 2026-10-29. Later Online Account orders are recorded against the vendors' GSA schedules instead. source Public record
• From July 18, 2021 to September 30, 2022, 22,421 authorizations were started through Tax Pro Account, and fewer than half were approved by the client; TIGTA found 1.7 million authorizations sent through fax storage or the online upload in the same period that could have gone through Tax Pro Account. source Public record
• Five months after Tax Pro Account launched, fewer than 2,700 authorizations had been completed through it, while over 1.6 million needed manual processing; authorizations made through Tax Pro Account post to the CAF within 48 hours of the taxpayer's acknowledgement. source Public record
• The WebApps Enterprise Services (WAES) privacy assessment (approved 06/05/2025) covers Individual Online Account, WAES IVES, Business Tax Account and Tax Pro Account. It names the Transformation and Strategy Office as the business unit (agency initiative: Taxpayer Experience), reporting to the Web Applications Governance Board and the Strategic Development Executive Steering Committee, and records the platform as operated by a contractor that uses subcontractors; the contractor is not named. source Public record
• IRM 1.1.29, Office of Online Services (OLS) (July 29, 2025): the Individual Taxpayer Products Branch keeps the Individual Online Account current, and the Business and Tax Professional Products Branch (Business Solutions Section) owns the strategy, development and maintenance of Business Tax Account and Tax Pro Account; both sit in the Digital Products Division, and the Director of Online Services reports to the Deputy Commissioner. source Public record
• IRM 1.1.12 (August 17, 2026): IT's Taxpayer Services and Online Accounts organization, under a Coordinating Director reporting to the Chief Information Officer, runs online account capabilities through Individual Online Account Services, Business Online Account Services and Partner Online Account Services. source Public record
• Get Transcript privacy assessment (approved February 1, 2023): Get Transcript Online and Get Transcript by Mail are recorded as IRS Owned and Operated, reporting to the Sustaining Operation ESC, with contractors kept out of production. Transcript data comes from the Individual Return Transaction File, the Information Returns Master File, the Standard CFOL Access Protocol and the Individual Master File, and the full SSN shows only in the PDF generated by the Transcript Delivery System. The responsible parties are marked official use only, so no business unit is named. source Public record
• Get Transcript Online was retired on July 26, 2024; the same masked transcripts are now in the Individual Online Account. A modernized Get Transcript by Mail launched May 26, 2024 (IRM 21.2.3). source Public record
• Order A Transcript (by mail) privacy assessment (approved 06/12/2024): business unit Information Technology, recorded as IRS Owned, reporting to the Sustaining Operation ESC. Its 2022 assessment, as an Integrated Customer Communications Environment (ICCE) application, reported to the Small Business Self Employed Governance Board. source Public record
• TIGTA (May 16, 2016, report 2016-40-037, addressed to the Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division): the IRS removed Get Transcript from IRS.gov on May 21, 2015 after unauthorized accesses; TIGTA's audit-log analysis found 620,931 more taxpayers with potentially unauthorized access the IRS had not identified, with successful access to 355,262 of those accounts. source Public record
• IRS statement of May 26, 2015: criminals used data from non-IRS sources to reach information on about 100,000 tax accounts through Get Transcript. source Public record
• Fact Sheet FS-2016-20 (June 2016): Get Transcript Online returned with a stricter e-authentication process (emailed confirmation code, financial account verification and a mobile-phone activation code). source Public record
• Business transcripts: the IRS lists three ways to get one: the Business Tax Account, Form 4506-T by mail, or the business and specialty tax line (800-829-4933); most business transcripts mask TINs except business entity transcripts (page reviewed July 27, 2026). source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Dec 1, 2016 IRS launches the online balance tool that became the Individual Online Account, behind Secure Access. source Public record
2. May 15, 2017 IRS awards three Agile Technology/Web Application Support Services BPAs (Deloitte, Booz Allen, Maximus). source Public record
3. Jul 2021 IRS launches Tax Pro Account. source Public record
4. Oct 2023 IRS launches Business Tax Accounts with access to select notices (TIGTA). source Public record
5. Aug 11, 2025 TIGTA reports IRA technology spending, including $182.2M on Individual Online Account. source Public record
6. Apr 6, 2026 Business Tax Account opens to partnerships, governments and tax-exempt organizations. source Public record
7. May 21, 2015 IRS removes Get Transcript from IRS.gov after discovering unauthorized accesses (TIGTA). source Public record
8. May 26, 2015 IRS announces that criminals reached about 100,000 tax accounts through Get Transcript. source Public record
9. May 16, 2016 TIGTA finds 620,931 more taxpayers with potentially unauthorized Get Transcript access not identified by the IRS. source Public record
10. Jun 2016 Get Transcript Online returns with a new e-authentication process (FS-2016-20). source Public record
11. May 26, 2024 Modernized Get Transcript by Mail launches; legacy code retired. source Public record
12. Jul 26, 2024 Get Transcript Online retired; transcripts move to the Individual Online Account. source Public record

Customer service

IRS e-Services (Transcript Delivery System, e-file application, TIN Matching, Secure Object Repository)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

IRS owned; Leidos, Inc. holds the e-Services/ICCE operations, maintenance and development task orders (since 2012)

Product

IRS-built e-Services applications

How it was bought

Competitive task orders: TIPSS-4 (TIRNO11D00024) in 2012 and 2017, then a GSA Alliant order (47QTCK18D0008) in 2020, 3 offers; a 2025 bridge order to Leidos as the only source

Awarded

Jan 17, 2020

Note

Obligations on four Leidos orders that cover e-Services together with the Integrated Customer Communications Environment (ICCE), not e-Services alone, read on USAspending 2026-10-29. The last one found is a bridge order running to October 2025 (potential end April 2026); no successor award was found.

Replaced

What the record shows

• TIGTA found in 2018 that e-Services still used single-factor authentication although IRS risk assessments in 2011 and 2015 rated it as needing multifactor authentication; 1,507 Transcript Delivery System users kept requesting 96,639 transcripts without re-authenticating. source Public record
• Four Leidos task orders for e-Services and ICCE (2012, 2017, 2020 and a 2025 bridge) carry $167.3M in obligations together: $73.7M, $14.7M, $73.6M and $5.3M, read on USAspending 2026-10-29. source Public record
• e-Services was the one major IRS IT investment more than 10 percent behind schedule at the close of FY 2023. source Public record
• The e-Services investment obligated $9.93M in FY 2022 (actual) and estimated $8.18M for FY 2023 and $8.63M for FY 2024. source Public record
• As of January 2025, every e-Services application (Transcript Delivery System, TIN Matching, Secure Object Repository and others) used ID.me only for sign-in, according to GAO. source Public record
• The IRS e-Services page now offers sign-in with Login.gov or ID.me (page reviewed 2026-10-29). source Public record
• The Secure Object Repository is recorded as "IRS Owned and Contractor Operated". source Public record
• The e-Services privacy assessment (approved 12/16/2024) names Taxpayer Services as the business unit for e-Services (External Systems Authentication Management, the Transcript Delivery System and TIN Matching), reporting to the W&I Division Executive Resources Board. It is recorded as IRS Owned and Operated, with no subcontractors, and runs in Amazon Web Services (FedRAMP package F1603047866). source Public record
• TDS takes the requester's input and requests the taxpayer data from the master file; request data is kept 18 months in an active database and 7 years in an archive database (e-Services privacy assessment, 12/16/2024). source Public record
• IRM 21.2.3, Transcripts (transmittal September 16, 2026): the Director of Accounts Management is the policy owner of TDS; Electronic Products and Services Support (EPSS) manages the programming and systemic component of the TDS application; Policy and Procedures BMF (PPB) Specialty Accounts is the TDS policy program owner for Accounts Management. The heaviest TDS users named are Accounts Management, Submission Processing and Field Assistance. source Public record
• IRM 3.42.8, the e-Services help desk manual (transmittal August 31, 2026): policy owner Director, EPSS; program owner EPSS, Operations Support, Program Management; signed by the Director, Electronic Products and Services Support, Taxpayer Services Division. EPSS phone assistors work in Andover, Atlanta, Austin, Cincinnati, Martinsburg and Ogden. source Public record
• IRM 1.1.13 (August 29, 2025) places EPSS in Customer Account Services (CAS) within Taxpayer Services: the Director, EPSS reports to the Director, Customer Account Services, who reports to the Chief, Taxpayer Services. EPSS "provides program management of e-Services". The same revision renamed Wage and Investment (W&I) to Taxpayer Services (TS) throughout. source Public record
• The IT organization chart in IRM 1.1.12 (August 17, 2026) puts online services for individuals, businesses and tax professionals in IT's Taxpayer Services and Online Accounts organization, whose Coordinating Director reports to the Chief Information Officer; its units include Partner Online Account Services. The IRM does not name e-Services or TDS, so which IT unit runs TDS is not stated. source Public record
• TDS was reprogrammed in September 2018 to mask personal information on all individual (IMF) transcripts, and in December 2020 on business (BMF) transcripts; financial amounts stay fully visible, and a Customer File Number field was added for third parties. Internal IDRS transcripts were not changed (IRM 21.2.3). source Public record
• TIGTA's March 2018 TDS audit, addressed to the Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, counted more than 168 million transcripts requested in 2014 through 2016 and recommended multifactor authentication, taxpayer authorization controls and redaction of sensitive information from transcripts. source Public record
• IR-2019-101 (June 4, 2019): the IRS stopped faxing tax transcripts to taxpayers and third parties, including tax professionals, on June 28, 2019, and from July 1, 2019 stopped mailing Form 4506, 4506-T and 4506-T-EZ transcripts to third parties; tax professionals were pointed to TDS and to the e-Services secure mailbox. source Public record
• The National Taxpayer Advocate (October 6, 2021) wrote that for security reasons the IRS no longer faxes most transcript types and has stopped third-party mailing on the Form 4506 series. source Public record
• Practitioner Priority Service (PPS) transcript requests: IRM 21.3.10 (transmittal September 21, 2026) has the Director of Taxpayer Services as policy owner and Taxpayer Services, Accounts Management, Policy and Procedures, BMF as program owner. Since April 8, 2024, callers asking for a TDS transcript in their Secure Object Repository mailbox must pass SOR mailbox authentication; TDS transcripts cannot be faxed, only mailed or deposited in the SOR mailbox. source Public record
• The TDS fax delivery option runs through Enterprise e-Fax (EEFax) (IRM 21.2.3); the EEFax privacy assessment (approved 06/05/2025) names Information Technology as its business unit and says contractors maintain the system. source Public record
• The automated phone line (View Transcript, an ICCE application) sends successful transcript requests to the e-Services Transcript Delivery System for generation and mailing; its privacy assessment (approved 04/10/2025) names Information Technology as business unit, the SB/SE Governance Board as governance, and no contractor operation. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Mar 20, 2018 TIGTA reports Transcript Delivery System authentication does not meet federal standards. source Public record
2. May 4, 2022 IRS says e-Services (e-file, TDS, TIN Matching, IVES) will move behind ID.me in summer 2022. source Public record
3. Nov 2016 IRS requires existing e-Services TDS users to re-authenticate under an interim process (TIGTA). source Public record
4. Dec 10, 2017 Secure Access multifactor sign-in implemented for e-Services (TIGTA). source Public record
5. Aug 22, 2018 IRS announces a new transcript format that redacts personal information (TIGTA). source Public record
6. Sep 2018 TDS starts masking personal information on all individual (IMF) transcripts. source Public record
7. Jun 28, 2019 IRS stops faxing tax transcripts to taxpayers and third parties, including tax professionals. source Public record
8. Jul 1, 2019 IRS stops mailing Form 4506, 4506-T and 4506-T-EZ transcripts to third parties. source Public record
9. Dec 2020 TDS starts masking personal information on business (BMF) transcripts. source Public record
10. Apr 8, 2024 PPS callers asking for TDS transcripts in their SOR mailbox must pass SOR mailbox authentication. source Public record

Sign-in and identity

Secure Access Digital Identity (SADI) with ID.me identity proofing

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

ID.me, LLC (credential service provider). Bought through the reseller V3Gate, LLC on a Treasury BPA from 2020 to 2025, and directly from ID.me on a new BPA since December 2025. SADI itself is an IRS system operated with contractors.

Product

ID.me identity verification and authentication (IAL2), connected to the IRS SADI cloud platform

How it was bought

GSA schedule BPAs limited to one source: BPA 2032H520A00009 (V3Gate, August 2020), then BPA 2032L226A00006 (ID.me, December 2025)

Awarded

Dec 29, 2025

Note

The December 2025 BPA has a ceiling (base and all options) of $1,027,709,739.11 as USAspending reports it: a limit, not money paid, so it is not counted as a contract total here. Orders on that BPA so far total $93.0M across Treasury and SSA, of which the IRS order is $65M; the earlier V3Gate BPA carried $293.9M in 39 orders, read on USAspending 2026-10-29.

Whole project

GAO: the IRS obligated $234.7M for ID.me licenses and support on the Treasury BPA from June 2021 to April 2025, plus $8.2M through NASA SEWP for ID.me fraud analytics (August 2020 to August 2024).

Replaced

The IRS in-house, knowledge-based Secure Access process (stopped taking new users June 2021, decommissioned June 2023).

What the record shows

• GAO found ID.me is the IRS's sole provider of level 2 identity proofing, and the IRS could not show measurable goals for the program or documented procedures to evaluate the vendor. Users reached IAL2 applications more than 150 million times from 2021 to 2024. GAO made four recommendations. source Public record
• According to IRS officials quoted by GAO, the IRS obligated $234.7M for ID.me licenses and support services on the Treasury BPA between June 2021 and April 2025, and $8.2M to V3Gate for additional ID.me fraud analytics through a NASA government-wide contract. source Public record
• Treasury officials told GAO that ID.me was the only vendor with IAL2 certification when the IRS bought it in June 2021, partly to launch the Advance Child Tax Credit portal; because it was a delivery order the IRS did not write a performance assessment plan. source Public record
• February 7, 2022: the IRS said it would transition away from a third-party service that uses facial recognition. February 21, 2022: it added a live virtual interview with no biometric data required, as a short-term step while working to bring Login.gov online. Congress opened an investigation of the provider on April 14, 2022. source Public record
• ID.me is recorded as "Contractor Owned and Operated"; it compares still or video selfies against the photo identity evidence the user uploads. source Public record
• SADI is a cloud platform that is owned or operated by a contractor, uses subcontractors, and relies on Login.gov and ID.me credentials; its cloud entry reads "Accenture FR #1704369518", FedRAMP certified 07/27/2021, on AWS GovCloud (privacy assessment approved 11/21/2025). source Public record
• The December 2025 BPA with ID.me, LLC has a reported ceiling of $1,027,709,739.11 and runs to December 2030; fair opportunity was limited to one source. The first IRS order under it is $65,000,000 for calendar 2026. source Public record
• The e-A3 investment (Authentication, Authorization and Access, which includes SADI) obligated $100.54M in FY 2022 (actual), with $43.24M estimated for FY 2023 and $39.57M for FY 2024. source Public record
• TIGTA used a 2024 average cost of $3.64 for a new credential service provider account and $1.35 for a returning user. source Public record
• On 10/27/2026 Senator Ron Wyden (Ranking Member, Finance) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (Ranking Member, Banking) wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano about Treasury's and the IRS's continued and, in some cases, increasing reliance on ID.me. They asked Treasury to delay requiring ID.me for TreasuryDirect, set for 10/28/2026, until after the 2027 filing deadline, and asked what Treasury and the IRS each paid ID.me in each of the last four years, with answers by 11/9/2026. source Public record
• The IRS said taxpayers can use Login.gov or ID.me ahead of the 2027 filing season. source Press / secondary
• The IRS justified the December 2025 BPA as a sole source: only one source could meet the requirement. Its justification (posted redacted on SAM.gov, with the estimated value blacked out) says Treasury's market research from August to December 2024 compared 1Kosmos, CLEAR, Exostar, ID.me and Jakobsen ID, and that only ID.me met every minimum requirement, including FedRAMP certification and a live proofing agent, without modification or added third-party tools. The BPA runs five years (a base year and four option years). source Public record
• The online PTIN system (TPPS) was integrated into SADI for the 2025 PTIN season: SADI sign-in opened in July 2025 and became mandatory in April 2026 for users with an SSN; users without an SSN keep the older TPPS verification. source Public record
• IRS eGain secure messaging, used for the online upload of Forms 2848 and 8821, authenticates users through SADI. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Aug 11, 2020 Treasury establishes the ID.me BPA with reseller V3Gate. source Public record
2. Jun 21, 2021 IRS implements SADI and launches the Child Tax Credit Update Portal with ID.me identity verification. source Public record
3. Nov 17, 2021 IRS moves Online Account, Get Transcript, IP PIN and Online Payment Agreement to the new ID.me sign-in. source Public record
4. Feb 7, 2022 IRS says it will transition away from third-party facial recognition. source Public record
5. Feb 21, 2022 IRS adds a live virtual interview option with no biometric data required. source Public record
6. Jun 11, 2025 GAO reports the IRS should strengthen oversight of its ID.me identity-proofing program. source Public record
7. Dec 29, 2025 IRS signs a BPA directly with ID.me, reported ceiling $1.03B, to December 2030. source Public record
8. Jul 2025 SADI sign-in becomes available for online PTIN accounts. source Public record
9. Apr 2026 SADI sign-in becomes mandatory for PTIN users with an SSN. source Public record

Sign-in and identity

Login.gov at the IRS

Agency

General Services Administration (Login.gov), used by the Internal Revenue Service under an interagency agreement

Vendor

General Services Administration, Technology Transformation Services (a federal shared service)

Product

Login.gov

How it was bought

Interagency agreement between Treasury and GSA, used by the IRS from August 18, 2022

Awarded

Aug 18, 2022

Note

No current agreement amount was found. TIGTA reports that the Treasury and GSA agreement reached nearly $22.6M in March 2023 and was cut to approximately $240 thousand in May 2023, citing revised usage estimates.

Replaced

What the record shows

• The IRS found in January 2020 that Login.gov did not meet NIST IAL2; an independent assessor could not certify it in April 2022; IRS executives wrote in November 2022 that using its IAL2 feature "would result in IRS sensitive taxpayer data being exploited". source Public record
• The IRS deployed Login.gov in December 2022 for lower-risk (IAL1) applications. TIGTA found continuous monitoring reviews were late or not reported, so the IRS did not know that personal data for 57,417 IRS user authentications may have gone to unauthorized locations outside the United States. source Public record
• GSA's Inspector General found in March 2023 that GSA misled customer agencies about Login.gov's compliance; GSA announced IAL2 certification in October 2024. As of January 2025 the IRS used Login.gov only for IAL1 applications. source Public record
• IRS.gov now lists Login.gov and ID.me as sign-in options for the Individual Account, Business Tax Account, Tax Pro Account and e-Services (page reviewed 2026-10-29). source Public record
• Eight months earlier, a Taxpayer Advocate Service tax tip published 2/25/2026 still said the IRS "now requires individuals to have an account with ID.me to access their online account", with no mention of Login.gov. source Public record
• TIGTA: on March 16, 2023 Treasury and GSA modified the Login.gov agreement to add about $18 million for anticipated identity verification usage, bringing it to nearly $22.6 million; on May 12, 2023 they returned about $22.4 million, citing revised usage estimates, which brought the total down to approximately $240 thousand. source Public record

Timeline

1. Aug 18, 2022 IRS starts using Login.gov under a Treasury and GSA interagency agreement that states Login.gov does not meet IAL2. source Public record
2. Dec 2022 IRS deploys Login.gov for lower-risk (IAL1) applications. source Public record
3. Mar 16, 2023 Treasury and GSA add about $18 million to the Login.gov agreement for anticipated identity verification usage, bringing it to nearly $22.6 million (TIGTA). source Public record
4. May 12, 2023 Treasury and GSA return about $22.4 million of the Login.gov agreement, citing revised usage estimates; the total falls to approximately $240 thousand (TIGTA). source Public record
5. Sep 27, 2023 TIGTA memorandum on the IRS planning to use Login.gov. source Public record
6. Jul 23, 2024 TIGTA reports Login.gov security improvements still needed at the IRS. source Public record

Sign-in and identity

Secure Access eAuthentication (legacy IRS identity proofing)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

IRS in-house, knowledge-based process; CA SiteMinder software; credit bureau data checks bought from Equifax and later Experian

Product

Secure Access (eAuthentication)

How it was bought

Built in-house; supporting software and data bought by task orders on GSA schedules

Note

Replaced

Single-factor sign-in for Get Transcript, IP PIN and e-Services.

What the record shows

• GAO describes the legacy program as an in-house, knowledge-based identity-proofing approach; the IRS stopped admitting new users in June 2021 and decommissioned it in June 2023. source Public record
• e-Services moved behind Secure Access on December 10, 2017; the IRS said the new process was not optional. source Public record
• In October 2017 the IRS said moving e-Services to Secure Access was on hold while it reviewed vendor options; press tied the delay to a suspended $7.25 million no-bid identity verification contract with Equifax. source Press / secondary
• TIGTA (4/19/2019): the IRS had a contract with Equifax to provide identity authentication services for IRS online systems; after the September 2017 Equifax breach, the IRS suspended the Equifax contract in October 2017 and replaced Equifax with Experian. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Oct 2017 IRS suspends its Equifax identity authentication contract and replaces Equifax with Experian (TIGTA). source Public record
2. Dec 10, 2017 e-Services moves behind Secure Access identity proofing. source Public record
3. Jun 2023 IRS decommissions the legacy in-house identity proofing. source Public record

Tax

Modernized e-File (MeF)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

IBM (development, release and operations task orders since 2006); earlier Computer Sciences Corporation as the IRS PRIME systems integration contractor (its MeF orders are now listed under General Dynamics Information Technology)

Product

IRS custom e-file platform (XML schemas and business rules) that stores accepted returns in the Modernized Tax Return Database; IRS owned and operated with contractor support for development and maintenance

How it was bought

Task order 2032H524F00199 under IBM's GSA governmentwide contract 47QTCK18D0014 (fair opportunity, 2 offers, firm fixed price). Earlier orders ran under the IRS TIPSS-3 (TIRNO06D00019) and TIPSS-4 (TIRNO11D00022) contracts with IBM and the PRIME contract (TIRNO99D00001).

Awarded

May 22, 2024

Current contract

$147,911,639

Note

IBM order 2032H524F00199: $90,288,083.50 obligated; $147,911,639.17 with all options through 3/29/2029. Option year 2 (3/30/2026 to 3/29/2027) was exercised and incrementally funded with $16,397,791.40. Obligations as read on USAspending 10/29/2026.

Whole project

No life-cycle cost found (the IT Dashboard was unavailable). IRS reported MeF obligations of $53.25M in FY 2022 (actual) and $71.75M estimated for FY 2023. USAspending lists $502.4M obligated across 12 IBM orders whose descriptions name MeF since FY 2006.

Replaced

The Legacy e-File system; MeF processed every e-filed individual return from the 2013 filing season on.

What the record shows

• IBM's current MeF order 2032H524F00199: $90,288,083.50 obligated; value with all options $147,911,639.17 (read 10/29/2026). source Public record
• IBM's 2020 order 2032H520F00469 ("Modernize E-File", $110,179,835.44 obligated) was terminated for convenience on 3/22/2025 citing the executive order "Radical Transparency on Wasteful Spending"; a later modification says the work had been completed before the termination. source Public record
• TIGTA (9/19/2018): on Tax Day, 4/17/2018, a storage firmware bug took 59 tax systems including MeF offline for about 11 hours. IBM had found the bug in June 2017 and released a fix in November 2017; in December 2017 the IRS agreed with a contractor recommendation to stay on the older microcode for the filing season. source Public record
• TIGTA (5/6/2026): an incident ticket resolved late delayed MeF's acknowledgments to taxpayers for more than two weeks at the start of the 2024 filing season. source Public record
• IRS MeF obligations: $53.25M in FY 2022 (actual), $71.75M estimated for FY 2023, $62.23M estimated for FY 2024. The IRS lists MeF as one of Treasury's high value assets. source Public record
• USAspending lists 12 IBM orders whose descriptions name MeF, FY 2006 to now, with $502.4M obligated in total (the sum of the 12 award pages in this file's contract rows, read 10/29/2026). source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Feb 12, 2004 GAO testifies that MeF Release 1 is $17.1M over and 4.5 months behind its estimate, with a revised estimated cost of $46.3M and a revised completion date (initial operation) of 3/31/2004. source Public record
2. Feb 2010 IRS first accepts individual (Form 1040) returns through MeF. source Public record
3. Feb 2012 Programming problems lead the IRS to let transmitters use either MeF or the Legacy e-File system; MeF processing was suspended at least twice in the 2012 season. source Public record
4. Apr 22, 2013 TIGTA reports the IRS invested about $43.07M developing MeF Release 8 for the 2013 filing season. source Public record
5. Sep 27, 2013 TIGTA: every e-filed individual return in the 2013 filing season went through MeF, about 129 million Forms 1040 by 5/4/2013; Legacy e-File was kept only as a contingency. source Public record
6. Feb 3, 2016 A hardware failure takes MeF and related systems offline; the IRS resumes processing returns about 5 p.m. on 2/4/2016. source Public record
7. Apr 17, 2018 Tax Day outage: a storage firmware bug makes 59 systems including MeF unavailable for about 11 hours. source Public record
8. Jan 2024 A late-resolved incident delays MeF acknowledgments for more than two weeks at the start of the 2024 filing season (TIGTA, 5/6/2026). source Public record
9. May 22, 2024 IBM awarded the current MeF order 2032H524F00199, $147,911,639.17 with all options. source Public record
10. Mar 22, 2025 IBM's 2020 MeF order is terminated for convenience under an executive order; the work had already been completed. source Public record
11. Mar 25, 2026 Option year 2 of IBM's MeF order exercised and incrementally funded with $16,397,791.40 (3/30/2026 to 3/29/2027). source Public record

Information returns

IRIS (Information Returns Intake System)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

Not named by the IRS as a single builder. Current contractor orders that name IRIS: Peraton (IRIS technical support, 2022 to 2027) and Accenture Federal Services (information returns intake and user interface development, 2025 to 2027). Program support orders went to Deloitte, Etelligent Group, Vision Cove Solutions and MITRE. An earlier order naming IRIS went to Northrop Grumman (2017 to 2021).

Product

Custom cloud-native web application (MongoDB, Amazon S3) hosted on the IRS Integrated Enterprise Portal in AWS GovCloud; IRS owned, contractor operated

How it was bought

Task and call orders under existing vehicles, not one build contract: Peraton order 2032H522F00733 under GSA governmentwide contract 47QTCK18D0011 (fair opportunity, 4 offers); Accenture call order 205AE925F00173 under IRS blanket purchase agreement 2032H523A00001 (fair opportunity, 3 offers)

Awarded

Sep 30, 2022

Note

Peraton order 2032H522F00733: $19,940,070.37 obligated, equal to its value with all options, period of performance to 1/31/2027. The newer Accenture call order has $14,394,949.76 obligated of an $18,569,328.07 value. Obligations as read on USAspending 10/29/2026.

Whole project

IRIS is part of Information Returns Modernization (IR Mod): $71.90M obligated in FY 2022, $89.60M estimated for FY 2023 and $110.64M estimated for FY 2024 (IRS FY 2024 Capital Investment Plan, in millions). IR Mod sits under Business Systems Modernization, which the Inflation Reduction Act funded with $4.8B. TIGTA counts $187.8M of IRA spending on IR Mod through March 4, 2025. In the FY 2027 plan IR Mod sits inside the Filing and Intake investment ($448.14M obligated in FY 2025).

Replaced

Meant to replace FIRE for e-filing information returns. IRIS becomes the only information returns e-filing system after 1/1/2027.

What the record shows

• TIGTA (2/28/2025): users saw delays, including pages not loading, before the 1/31/2024 Form 1099 deadline; the IRS fixed capacity and a schema error within 48 hours. IRS had sized IRIS for about 1.3 billion forms in processing year 2024 and had received 12.4 million by May 2024. source Public record
• TIGTA: the IRS stopped processing paper Forms 1099 in April 2024 because data scanned in SCRIPS could not pass to IRIS; patches ran May to August 2024 and processing resumed in August 2024. 17 legacy paper error rules were missing from IRIS (9) or different (8). source Public record
• Cloud native web app on AWS GovCloud (FedRAMP package F1603047866, Integrated Enterprise Portal); the IRS answers yes to whether the system is owned and/or operated by a contractor. source Public record
• Information Returns Modernization obligations: $71.90M in FY 2022 (actual), $89.60M estimated for FY 2023, $110.64M estimated for FY 2024. source Public record
• Peraton IRIS technical support order 2032H522F00733: $19,940,070.37 obligated (read 10/29/2026). source Public record
• TIGTA lists $187.8M of Inflation Reduction Act spending on Information Returns Modernization (Table 1, IRS financial system data, through March 4, 2025). Modernized e-File is not one of the 30 projects in the table. source Public record
• In the FY 2027 plan, IR Mod is part of the Filing and Intake investment (with ISRP, SCRIPS, FATCA and Digitalization), which obligated $448.14M in FY 2025 (actual), with $353.03M estimated for FY 2026 and $354.05M for FY 2027. source Public record
• USAspending shows Northrop Grumman's order for Application Development, Submission Processing work on the Information Return Intake System (IRIS) running 3/8/2017 to 9/7/2021, and a Peraton "IRIS bridge" order, limited to one source, starting the next day (9/8/2021) and running to 3/7/2023, before Peraton's competed IRIS technical support order. source Public record
• IRS IRIS Working Group slides (2/14/2024): IRIS began accepting information returns on 1/10/2024 through the Taxpayer Portal and the Application to Application (A2A) channel. Tax year 2023 volume to date was 8,410,637 records through A2A and 1,533,544 through the Taxpayer Portal. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Jul 1, 2019 Taxpayer First Act requires the IRS to offer a website to prepare and e-file Forms 1099. source Public record
2. Dec 19, 2022 IRS completes development of the IR Mod web portal and modernized processing systems. source Public record
3. Jan 3, 2023 IR Mod system made available to taxpayers (IRS Capital Investment Plan). TIGTA lists forms accepted from 1/23/2023. source Public record
4. Jan 25, 2023 IRS announces IRIS, a free portal to e-file Forms 1099 (IR-2023-14). source Public record
5. Jan 10, 2024 IRIS begins accepting information returns for tax year 2023 through the Taxpayer Portal and the Application to Application (A2A) filing channels. source Public record
6. Jan 31, 2024 Slow pages and stuck bulk transmissions near the Form 1099 deadline; the IRS adds capacity within 48 hours. source Public record
7. Apr 2024 IRS stops processing paper Forms 1099 because scanned data cannot pass to IRIS; processing resumes in August 2024. source Public record
8. Feb 28, 2025 TIGTA reports on IRIS; the IRS agrees with one recommendation and partly agrees with the other. source Public record
9. Aug 7, 2025 Accenture Federal Services awarded the IR Mod intake and user interface development call order, valued at $18,569,328.07. source Public record

Information returns

FIRE (Filing Information Returns Electronically)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

Internal Revenue Service (owned and operated by IRS Taxpayer Services; the IRS states no contractors are involved in its operation)

Product

IRS web application on Microsoft Windows Server 2022, IIS and SQL Server 2022 at the IRS Enterprise Computing Center; passes files to the AMMPS mainframe for processing

How it was bought

No build contract found. Small support orders: Purisolve (2017, GSA schedule) and Makpar (2021, sole source).

Note

Being retired. The last day to file through FIRE is 11/19/2026 at 3 p.m. Eastern; IRIS is the only information returns e-filing system after 1/1/2027. The IRS stopped taking new FIRE TCC applications.

Replaced

What the record shows

• Owned and operated by IRS Taxpayer Services with no contractors involved in its operation; runs 24/7 and processes about 3.5 billion records a year (privacy assessment approved 3/12/2026). source Public record
• Last day to file through FIRE: 11/19/2026 at 3 p.m. Eastern. IRIS is the only information returns e-filing system, including prior year and corrections, after 1/1/2027. source Public record
• IRS capital investment summary: FIRE operations and maintenance obligations of $1.337M in FY 2022 (actual), $1.197M estimated for FY 2023 and $1.258M for FY 2024. source Public record
• TIGTA (9/26/2019): authentication for FIRE users did not comply with federal information security standards; the IRS did no identity proofing before giving users access. source Public record
• TIGTA: as of May 2024 the IRS had received about 463.5 million Forms 1099 through FIRE, against 12.4 million through IRIS. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Sep 26, 2019 TIGTA finds FIRE user authentication does not meet federal standards and recommends identity proofing. source Public record
2. 2022 IRS moves all FIRE users to External Services Authorization Management (ESAM). source Public record
3. Feb 28, 2025 TIGTA: the IRS has no retirement date for FIRE; six FIRE forms still need to be built in IRIS. source Public record
4. Jul 11, 2025 IRS sets tax year 2026 (filing season 2027) as the target for retiring FIRE. source Public record
5. Oct 14, 2026 IRS working group: no grace period for FIRE; corrections of FIRE-filed returns go through IRIS. source Public record
6. Nov 19, 2026 Scheduled last day to file information returns through FIRE (3 p.m. Eastern). source Public record

Payments

IRS Direct Pay

Agency

Internal Revenue Service (owner); operated for the Bureau of the Fiscal Service by a Treasury Financial Agent

Vendor

Treasury Financial Agent contractors PNC and Fiserv (operate and maintain the application); IRS owns it

Product

IRS Direct Pay web application

How it was bought

Not a contract: run under the Bureau of the Fiscal Service financial agent arrangement

Note

No cost figure for Direct Pay alone was found. Fiscal Service reports it inside its Tax Collection Services investment, and the FY2025 financial agent compensation report has no Direct Pay line. Financial agents are paid by the Fiscal Service, not through IRS contracts.

Replaced

What the record shows

• The IRS privacy assessment (approved 05/16/2025) says Direct Pay is owned by IRS Submission Processing and "operated and maintained by the Treasury Financial Agent (TFA) contractor PNC and Fiserv"; the IRS has no direct access to the application data. It has been in production since 2013. source Public record
• The IRS announced Direct Pay in May 2014: more than 150,000 taxpayers had paid more than $340 million through it. source Public record
• Direct Pay added business forms (720, 940, 941, 943) in October 2024. After the April 2025 deadline, 28,929 taxpayers were sent balance-due notices in error during a payment-correction backlog; the IRS planned real-time name and TIN validation in Direct Pay by August 2026. source Public record
• Fiscal Service's FY 2023 Capital Investment Plan lists IRS Direct Pay, with eftps.gov, as an internet payment channel of its Tax Collection Services investment (EFTPS and the planned T2C), which is managed by a designated Treasury Financial Agent. source Public record

Timeline

1. May 22, 2014 IRS announces the start of IRS Direct Pay. source Public record
2. Sep 16, 2026 TIGTA reports on IRS payment options, including Direct Pay changes. source Public record

Payments

EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System)

Agency

Bureau of the Fiscal Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury (a partnership program with the IRS)

Vendor

PNC, the Treasury Financial Agent since 10/25/2024, with primary subcontractor Fiserv. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch was the financial agent from 11/14/2004 to 10/24/2024.

Product

Bank-operated tax collection service run under a Treasury financial agency agreement (not a procurement contract)

How it was bought

Designation of a financial agent by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service under 12 U.S.C. 90 and 265, paid from Fiscal Service's permanent, indefinite appropriation for financial agent services. The PNC agreement itself is not published.

Note

Annual compensation, not a contract ceiling. Fiscal Service paid EFTPS financial agents $204,934,600 in FY2025 (PNC $195,390,849; Bank of America $9,543,751), up from $153,760,425 in FY2020.

Whole project

No whole-program figure for EFTPS alone. Fiscal Service's Tax Collection Services investment (EFTPS plus the planned T2C replacement) obligated $289.16M in FY2021 (actual) and estimated $347.57M for FY2022. T2C was discontinued in September 2022; what it cost was not found.

Replaced

What the record shows

• IRS manual: "Effective October 25, 2024, Pittsburgh National Corporation (PNC) and primary subcontractor Fiserv Corporation are authorized to operate EFTPS as the Treasury Financial Agent (TFA). From November 14, 2004 to October 24, 2024, the TFA was Bank of America/Merrill Lynch." (IRM 3.17.277.2.1, transmittal of December 11, 2025) source Public record
• Fiscal Service paid $204,934,600 ($204.9M) to EFTPS financial agents in FY2025: $195,390,849 to PNC and $9,543,751 to Bank of America. source Public record
• EFTPS financial agent compensation was $153,760,425 in FY2020 (all Bank of America) and $187,989,524 in FY2024, of which $2,187,684 went to PNC before it took over. source Public record
• In 2019 Fiscal Service gave the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland the role of developing, implementing and operating Transforming Tax Collections (T2C), the planned replacement for EFTPS. The IRS said core payment functions would arrive in 2022, enabling EFTPS's retirement in 2023, with completion in late 2024. source Public record
• "On September 9, 2022, Fiscal Service notified the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland of their decision to discontinue the T2C program." (Federal Reserve Board, 2023 Reserve Bank budgets) source Public record
• The Federal Reserve Board's 2021 Reserve Bank budget designated $9.3 million of expenses for investments in T2C for conditional approval, requiring further approval before funds were committed. No total of what T2C cost was found. source Public record
• Fiscal Service's FY2025 budget justification instead describes efforts "to incrementally modernize" EFTPS, which it calls Treasury's largest collection system, collecting nearly $3 trillion a year. source Public record
• Fiscal Service's Tax Collection Services investment, which covers EFTPS and T2C, reported total obligations of $289.16M in FY2021 (actual), $347.57M estimated for FY2022 and $326.67M requested for FY2023. source Public record
• Fiscal Service's FY 2027 capital investment plan: the Tax Collection Services investment (EFTPS) obligated $202.25M in FY 2025 (actual), with $235.40M estimated for FY 2026 and $235.35M for FY 2027. In FY 2025 EFTPS continued migrating from its existing platform to a cloud environment; in FY 2026 and beyond it will continue the cloud migration and decommission legacy infrastructure after the transition. source Public record
• Treasury's Inspector General rated EFTPS a medium-risk IT project in October 2019 and said select projects within it were behind schedule and over budget. source Public record
• Individuals have not been able to create new EFTPS enrollments since 10/17/2025 and are told all individuals must transition from EFTPS.gov later in 2026 (to IRS Online Account or Direct Pay); eftps.gov, read 10/29/2026, still gives the date as anticipated September 2026. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Nov 14, 2004 Bank of America becomes the Treasury Financial Agent operating EFTPS. source Public record
2. 2019 Fiscal Service gives the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland the role of building and operating T2C, the planned EFTPS replacement. source Public record
3. Oct 15, 2019 Treasury's Inspector General rates EFTPS a medium-risk IT project, with select projects behind schedule and over budget. source Public record
4. Jul 28, 2022 IRS webinar: EFTPS is supported by a financial agent and T2C is moving to a fiscal agent, so "it is not feasible to incrementally replace the current system." source Public record
5. Sep 9, 2022 Fiscal Service tells the Cleveland Fed it is discontinuing T2C. source Public record
6. Oct 25, 2024 PNC, with subcontractor Fiserv, takes over as EFTPS financial agent from Bank of America. source Public record
7. Oct 17, 2025 EFTPS stops accepting new enrollments from individuals. source Public record
8. Sep 16, 2026 TIGTA reports all individuals will be required to move from EFTPS to IRS Online Accounts in calendar year 2026. source Public record

Information returns

Business Services Online (W-2 wage reporting and Social Security Number Verification Service)

Agency

Social Security Administration

Vendor

Social Security Administration (agency-operated; no development contractor identified)

Product

Custom SSA applications (Integrated Registration Services, electronic wage reporting, W-2/W-2c Online, SSNVS) on the Earnings Record Maintenance System, now partly in a cloud environment (ERMS-C)

How it was bought

No contract for the system found. SSA's 2006 business case for electronic wage reporting lists the earnings system as government-operated and "not a contractor system", with one $705,000 time-and-materials contract.

Note

No current cost found. SSA's budget pages and W-2 news pages could not be read (ssa.gov returned Access Denied to automated requests).

Whole project

Electronic Wage Reporting investment, 2006 business case: $42.609M through FY2005 and $1.804M in FY2006, plus $20.741M of government staff costs; investment completed 9/30/2006 and rolled into SSA's infrastructure investment.

Replaced

Paper and magnetic media W-2 filing (electronic wage reporting was piloted from 1999).

What the record shows

• SSA's 2006 business case for Electronic Wage Reporting shows $42.609M of budget authority through FY2005 and $1.804M in FY2006 (about $44.4M), plus $20.741M in government staff costs. It lists the Earnings Record Maintenance System as "Government Only" operated and states "THIS IS NOT A CONTRACTOR SYSTEM"; the only contract listed is a $705,000 time-and-materials order. source Public record
• SSA's Inspector General found in 2014 that SSA erroneously authenticated and authorized 689 of 1,673 sampled BSO users, including 579 children; 6 users outside the sample used BSO to submit 119 W-2s totaling $188 million in fictitious wages. source Public record
• An August 2024 security audit (performed by Ernst & Young for SSA's Inspector General) concluded BSO's controls needed to be improved: SSA had no policy for the use and security of all BSO services, had not defined all roles, and had not applied all leading security configurations. 14 recommendations; SSA agreed. source Public record
• SSA added activation codes to BSO registration on 9/19/2022 and from 3/25/2023 required a Login.gov, ID.me or SSA online account for certain services. source Public record
• Recommendations 5 and 7 of the 2024 BSO security audit were still listed as not implemented as of January 29, 2026. source Public record
• SSA decommissioned its previous W-2/W-2c Online application on 9/19/2026 and replaced it with a new one, which at first supports only U.S. domestic wage reporting; territory wage reporting is to follow in early December 2026. SSA does not name the developer. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. 1999 SSA begins piloting electronic wage reporting, integrated with the Annual Wage Reporting System. source Public record
2. Sep 30, 2006 Electronic Wage Reporting investment completed and rolled into SSA's infrastructure investment. source Public record
3. Jun 5, 2014 Inspector General finds BSO access controls let 6 users file 119 W-2s with $188 million in fictitious wages. source Public record
4. Mar 25, 2023 BSO registration for certain services moves to Login.gov, ID.me or an SSA online account. source Public record
5. Aug 7, 2024 Inspector General security audit of BSO: 14 recommendations. source Public record
6. Sep 19, 2026 SSA retires its previous W-2/W-2c Online application; the new application handles U.S. domestic wage reports, with territory reporting planned for early December 2026. source Public record

Other

BSA E-Filing System

Agency

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), U.S. Department of the Treasury

Vendor

Peraton (development and operations since 2022, taking over Northrop Grumman's contract). Built under the BSA IT Modernization program, with Deloitte Consulting as prime contractor (2010 to 2014) and MITRE.

Product

Custom FinCEN system (BSA E-Filing and its data collection tools)

How it was bought

Sole-source IDIQ 20341220D00001 (only one source, FAR 6.302-1; one offer), awarded by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for FinCEN to Northrop Grumman on 7/28/2020; reissued to Peraton as IDIQ 20341222D00001 on 3/10/2022 (the contract record says Northrop Grumman "was acquired by Peraton").

Awarded

Jul 28, 2020

Note

Obligations to date on the nine task orders under the two E-Filing IDIQs, read on USAspending 10/29/2026; not a ceiling. The latest task order (20341224F00066) ran to 3/31/2026; no successor found yet.

Whole project

BSA IT Modernization (2010 to 2014, all BSA systems including E-Filing): $120M development budget; $111.3M spent at completion in March 2014, plus $11.2M of planning and an estimated $6.6M of staff costs (Treasury Inspector General).

Replaced

What the record shows

• FinCEN officially launched the Patriot Act Communications System (PACS), its system for filing BSA reports over the Internet, on 10/1/2002 after a pilot with 26 financial institutions. FinCEN said it was working with a competitively selected team of contractors, TRW Inc., Deloitte Consulting and Deloitte & Touche, to develop its e-filing system. source Public record
• Treasury's Inspector General reported FinCEN completed the BSA IT Modernization program in March 2014, spending $111.3 million of its $120 million, 4-year budget. Deloitte was the prime contractor and MITRE advised on program management. source Public record
• BSA IT Mod work ran on a March 2008 IDIQ awarded to BearingPoint (ceiling $144 million, all FinCEN IT services), transferred to Deloitte on 10/1/2009. E-Filing Release 1 was completed 7/1/2011 and Release 2 on 7/31/2012. source Public record
• Operations and maintenance passed to Northrop Grumman in November 2013 under a contract with a total value of $22,823,940. source Public record
• The 2020 E-Filing development and operations IDIQ was not competed (only one source, one offer). Task orders under it and its Peraton successor total $14,531,656 in obligations as of 10/29/2026. source Public record
• FinCEN's BSA Mission Systems Support investment, which replaced BSA IT Mod and covers all BSA systems, obligated $33.54M in FY2022, with $35.73M estimated for FY2023 and $36.36M requested for FY2024. source Public record
• In FinCEN's FY 2027 capital investment plan, BSA Mission Systems Support, which the plan says streamlines BSA information capture through FinCEN's electronic filing systems, obligated $38.31M in FY 2025 (actual), with $52.11M estimated for FY 2026 and $40.89M for FY 2027. FinCEN completed moving its mission-essential applications to a FedRAMP High government cloud in FY 2025. source Public record
• Beneficial ownership (BOI) reports are handled under the same Peraton E-Filing contract: task orders since 2023 are titled "BSA/BOI E-Filing development and operation services". source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. May 28, 2002 FinCEN begins pilot testing the Patriot Act Communications System (PACS) for filing BSA reports over the Internet, with about 30 financial institutions. source Public record
2. Oct 1, 2002 FinCEN officially launches PACS, its electronic filing system for BSA reports (bank SARs and CTRs in phase one). source Public record
3. Feb 2005 PACS is renamed BSA Direct E-Filing. source Public record
4. Jul 2006 FinCEN terminates BSA Direct R&S, an earlier BSA data system, after spending $17.4 million against a contract of nearly $9 million with EDS. source Public record
5. May 2010 FinCEN begins BSA IT Modernization. source Public record
6. Jul 1, 2011 BSA IT Mod E-Filing Release 1 completed. source Public record
7. Jul 31, 2012 BSA IT Mod E-Filing Release 2 completed. source Public record
8. Mar 2014 BSA IT Mod development completed within budget ($111.3 million of $120 million) and moves to operations and maintenance. source Public record
9. Jul 28, 2020 Sole-source E-Filing development and operations IDIQ awarded to Northrop Grumman. source Public record
10. Mar 10, 2022 E-Filing IDIQ reissued to Peraton; the contract record says Northrop Grumman "was acquired by Peraton". source Public record

Other

Tax Professional PTIN System (TPPS): PTIN registration and renewal

Agency

Internal Revenue Service (Return Preparer Office; since June 2026 the Tax Professional Management Office)

Vendor

Accenture (Accenture Federal Services LLC; the 2015 and 2016 orders are recorded to Accenture LLP), hired to develop, maintain and operate the system, under contract since 2010; Lancer Information Solutions, LLC holds a PTIN system modernization support order from September 2026

Product

Contractor owned and operated web application with a contractor call center; the IRS's 2022 privacy assessment records a move from a commercial product hosted on Amazon Web Services to ServiceNow FedRAMP High software as a service

How it was bought

Competitive: a 2010 contract (TIRNO10C00022, full and open, 15 offers), a 2016 task order on the IRS TIPSS-4 contract (2 offers) and a 2021 order on Accenture's GSA governmentwide acquisition contract 47QTCK18D0036 (fair opportunity, 2 offers). Preparers also pay Accenture a per-application vendor fee set by the contract.

Awarded

Nov 1, 2021

Note

No single contract total. Seven Accenture awards for the PTIN system carry $63.6M in obligations from 2010 to 2026, read on USAspending 2026-11-03; this leaves out the vendor fee ($8.75 per application or renewal since 2023) that preparers pay to the contractor directly. The current Accenture order (2032H522F00071, $5.56M obligated) has its option year 4 running to 11/18/2026; no successor award was found.

Whole project

The IRS projects $28,792,946 in its own PTIN program costs for FY 2026 to 2028 (salary, overhead, travel and supplies), recovered through the $10 user fee; contractor costs are recovered separately through the $8.75 vendor fee.

Replaced

The optional PTIN program created by a 1999 IRS regulation; the 2010 regulations made PTINs mandatory and began charging a fee to obtain and renew one.

What the record shows

• The IRS required preparers to pay a vendor fee to Accenture, "a third-party contractor that the agency hired to develop, maintain, and operate the computer system responsible for PTIN registrations." The contract set the fee at $14.25 for a new PTIN and $13 for a renewal in FY 2011 to 2015, $17 under a second Accenture contract by FY 2017, and $14.95 from FY 2018. source Public record
• The IRS's 2022 privacy assessment records TPPS as "Contractor Owned and Operated" and says the project will move TPPS from a commercial off-the-shelf product hosted on Amazon Web Services to a ServiceNow FedRAMP High software-as-a-service product. source Public record
• The PTIN fee is now $10 to the IRS plus $8.75 paid directly to the third-party contractor (interim final rule effective September 30, 2025). In 2010 it was $50 plus $14.25. The IRS projects $28,792,946 in PTIN program costs for FY 2026 to 2028 over 2,829,524 applications. source Public record
• The IRS says the third-party contractor was chosen through a competitive bidding process, and that the contractor's portion of the fee "may change in 2026 when the contract expires and will be re-computed." source Public record
• After the 2023 court ruling, the IRS "entered into a modified contract" so that the government, rather than preparers, pays certain contractor costs the court addressed. source Public record
• The IRS estimated the court-ordered refund of FY 2011 to 2017 PTIN and vendor fees at $167,766,068: the government's earlier concession of $110,322,017 plus $57,444,051, of which $6,411,972 was Accenture vendor fees. In September 2024 the court found the IRS's method reasonable overall but remanded the calculation again to correct apparent mistakes. source Public record
• While the 2017 injunction barred PTIN fees, the IRS itself paid Accenture the contract vendor fee for each registration or renewal. source Public record
• Seven Accenture awards for the PTIN system (2010 to 2026, listed under contracts) carry $63.6M in federal obligations, read on USAspending 2026-11-03. The vendor fees preparers pay Accenture directly are not federal obligations and are not included. source Public record
• On Accenture's 2016 PTIN order, $9.43M (October 2017), $10.0M (July 2018 option), $3.7M (December 2018) and $13.88M (July 2019 option) were obligated, after the June 2017 injunction barred PTIN fees and before the fee was reinstated in 2020; read on USAspending 2026-11-03. source Public record
• The Steele class action is on appeal again: the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal on March 26, 2025 and the government a cross-appeal on May 22, 2025, still pending when the IRS published the September 2025 fee rule. source Public record
• TIGTA found in 2015 that the Return Preparer Office did not revoke PTINs of preparers who were not compliant with their own tax obligations: 19,496 PTIN holders with potential noncompliance owed over $367 million. source Public record
• In processing year 2025 more than 38,000 preparers used noncompliant PTINs (such as expired ones) on more than 2 million returns, and TIGTA found 691 IRS employees with active PTINs. Sign-in to TPPS through SADI (ID.me) opened in July 2025 and became mandatory in April 2026 for users with an SSN. source Public record
• In June 2026 the IRS formed the Tax Professional Management Office by realigning the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Return Preparer Office. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. May 7, 2010 IRS awards Accenture the Return Preparer Registration System contract after 15 offers. source Public record
2. Sep 30, 2010 Final regulations set a $50 user fee to apply for or renew a PTIN, on top of a $14.25 vendor fee. source Public record
3. Aug 27, 2015 TIGTA reports that PTINs are not revoked for unsuitable tax return preparers. source Public record
4. Oct 30, 2015 Temporary regulations cut the PTIN fee to $33; the vendor fee rises to $17. source Public record
5. Jul 21, 2016 IRS awards Accenture a new PTIN task order on TIPSS-4. source Public record
6. Jun 1, 2017 District court holds the IRS may require PTINs but lacks authority to charge fees for them. source Public record
7. Mar 1, 2019 D.C. Circuit reverses in Montrois v. United States: the IRS may charge a PTIN fee; the amount is remanded. source Public record
8. Jul 17, 2020 Final regulations reinstate the fee at $21 plus $14.95 to the contractor. source Public record
9. Nov 1, 2021 IRS awards Accenture Federal Services the current PTIN support order. source Public record
10. Mar 24, 2022 IRS privacy assessment records the planned move of TPPS to ServiceNow software as a service. source Public record
11. Feb 21, 2023 District court finds FY 2011 to 2017 PTIN and vendor fees excessive in part and remands the refund to the IRS. source Public record
12. Oct 4, 2023 Interim final rule cuts the fee to $11 plus $8.75 to the contractor (adopted as final May 15, 2024). source Public record
13. May 15, 2024 Final regulations adopt the $11 fee. source Public record
14. Sep 3, 2024 District court remands the IRS's $167.8M refund estimate for correction. source Public record
15. Jul 2025 SADI (ID.me) sign-in for online PTIN accounts becomes available. source Public record
16. Sep 30, 2025 Interim final rule cuts the fee to $10, plus $8.75 to the contractor. source Public record
17. Apr 2026 SADI sign-in becomes mandatory for PTIN users with an SSN. source Public record
18. Apr 14, 2026 IRS cancels the public hearing on the $10 fee rule. source Public record
19. Jun 2026 IRS forms the Tax Professional Management Office from the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Return Preparer Office. source Public record
20. Sep 1, 2026 IRS orders PTIN program management system modernization support from Lancer Information Solutions. source Public record
21. Oct 21, 2026 TIGTA reports noncompliant PTINs on more than 2 million returns and 691 IRS employees with active PTINs. source Public record

Customer service

Centralized Authorization File (CAF) and Submit Forms 2848 and 8821 Online

Agency

Internal Revenue Service (Taxpayer Services, CAF units at the Memphis, Ogden and Philadelphia Accounts Management campuses)

Vendor

IRS: CAF unit staff record each authorization in the CAF. The online upload runs on the IRS Taxpayer Digital Communication (TDC) platform, eGain Solve secure messaging, a contractor-operated managed service whose licenses the IRS buys through NASA SEWP reseller V3Gate, LLC

Product

CAF database; eGain Solve secure messaging (TDC) for online uploads; Enterprise File Storage (PEGA since November 2024) for faxes; a robotic process automation bot

How it was bought

No CAF contract found. eGain software-as-a-service licenses ordered through NASA SEWP V (V3Gate, 2021 with 1 offer and 2026 with 3 offers)

Note

No contract, budget line or IT investment for the CAF itself was found. The two V3Gate eGain license orders ($45.4M for 2021 to 2026 and $7.0M from May 2026, read on USAspending 2026-11-03) cover the IRS's whole eGain platform (secure messaging, chat and virtual assistant), not the 2848 and 8821 upload alone.

Replaced

Mail and fax only, until the online upload opened on January 25, 2021.

What the record shows

• The IRS manual says forms uploaded through the TDC platform are processed in "the eGain system in CAF" under the same procedures as paper forms, in received date order (first in, first out). source Public record
• In fiscal year 2025 the IRS received nearly seven million authorization forms and spent 972,073 hours processing them, about 11 days per form on average; 34,856 forms were still unprocessed at year end. source Public record
• The share of Forms 2848 and 8821 received through the Taxpayer Digital Communication platform rose from 28% in FY 2023 to 60% in FY 2025, but uploaded forms still go through manual verification. source Public record
• The National Taxpayer Advocate reported that during the pandemic backlog the average time to process a power of attorney ranged from 22 days to over 70 days and that up to 98 percent of unprocessed inventory was over age; the CAF units processed 4.19 million forms in FY 2021. source Public record
• The CAF units received 3.7 million Forms 2848 and 8821 in FY 2022, closed 4.3 million and ended the year with 57,000 in inventory. TIGTA also found 8,764 deceased authorized individuals in the CAF, and the IRS found 15,713 with multiple CAF numbers. source Public record
• TIGTA found in 2020 that the IRS missed the Taxpayer First Act deadline (January 1, 2020) for electronic signature guidance on Forms 2848 and 8821, that tax examiners assigned 290 CAF numbers to 188 representatives with the same name and address, and that 136,264 representatives may have reported a credential they do not have. source Public record
• Since March 2025 the IRS manual routes online submissions to a robotic process automation bot that tries to post them to the CAF through the eGain application, returning failures to tax examiners. source Public record
• The National Taxpayer Advocate's 2025 report says robotic process automation "is currently not used with eGain in the TDC process" and that the eGain system queues forms but the work is still done by hand. source Public record
• The IRS's two eGain license orders through reseller V3Gate carry $52.4M in obligations ($45.4M for May 2021 to May 2026 and $7.0M from May 2026), read on USAspending 2026-11-03; they cover the IRS's whole eGain platform, not the 2848 and 8821 upload alone. source Public record
• The eGain Solve secure messaging service is hosted in a FedRAMP environment (AWS GovCloud) and is owned or operated by a contractor; its October 2025 privacy assessment lists an open finding that the eGain system security plan does not accurately describe its controls, due 12/31/2026. source Public record
• On 2026-11-03 the IRS listed Forms 2848 and 8821 as processed 2 business days after receipt. source Public record
• Faxed authorizations go through Enterprise File Storage, implemented October 1, 2020, which moved to EFS PEGA on November 8, 2024. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Sep 2, 2020 TIGTA reports continued deficiencies in the accuracy of the CAF. source Public record
2. Oct 1, 2020 Enterprise File Storage starts routing faxed authorizations to CAF employees. source Public record
3. Jan 25, 2021 IRS launches Submit Forms 2848 and 8821 Online, accepting electronic signatures. source Public record
4. May 24, 2023 TIGTA reports CAF accuracy problems and low Tax Pro Account use. source Public record
5. Nov 8, 2024 CAF fax processing moves from EFS Legacy to EFS PEGA. source Public record
6. Nov 20, 2024 IRS approves the privacy assessment for CAF power of attorney authorization automation (eGain, ECLAS and the CAF). source Public record
7. Mar 17, 2025 IRS manual adds robotic process automation for online Form 2848 and 8821 submissions. source Public record
8. Jan 2026 National Taxpayer Advocate names the CAF a Most Serious Problem in the 2025 annual report. source Public record

Business registration

Online EIN application (Modernized Internet Employer Identification Number, Mod IEIN)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

IRS owned and operated (Mod IEIN privacy assessment, 2022). Mod IEIN is part of the Integrated Customer Communications Environment Web Applications (ICCE Web Apps); the e-Services and ICCE operations, maintenance and development task orders are held by Leidos (see e-Services), but no award found names Mod IEIN itself

Product

Custom interview-style web application for Form SS-4, part of ICCE Web Apps; validates the responsible party against IDRS and issues the EIN immediately

How it was bought

No contract of its own was found; it runs inside ICCE Web Apps, supported under the e-Services/ICCE task orders

Note

Free to applicants: the IRS says you never have to pay a fee for an EIN. No system cost of its own was found; the system sits inside ICCE Web Apps, whose contract support is shown under e-Services. In fiscal year 2024 about 7.2 million of the 8.2 million EINs the IRS issued (87 percent) came through Mod IEIN (TIGTA).

Replaced

The IRS first offered an online EIN form in April 2003 (a Business Systems Modernization product); in September 2007 it announced a new and improved interactive Internet EIN application.

What the record shows

• Hours as the IRS states them (page last reviewed 10/16/2026, Eastern time): Monday to Friday 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day, Saturday 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Sunday 6:00 p.m. to midnight. Limit of 1 EIN per responsible party per day; the session must be finished at once and expires after 15 minutes of inactivity. Applicants need a U.S. principal place of business and the responsible party's SSN or ITIN. source Public record
• The IRS says there is no fee for an EIN: "Beware of websites that charge for an EIN." source Public record
• The 2022 privacy assessment (approved 10/27/2022) records Mod IEIN as "IRS Owned and Operated", reporting to the SB/SE Governance Board, in operations and maintenance, not using cloud computing, and part of ICCE Web Apps. It checks the responsible party's TIN and name control against IDRS and posts the EIN to IDRS immediately. source Public record
• The IRS first offered online EIN applications in April 2003 and had issued more than 498,081 EINs online by December 2003, when 37.5 percent of all EIN applications came over the Internet; the IRS listed it among its Business Systems Modernization products. source Public record
• In September 2007 the IRS announced a new interactive Internet EIN system that validates entries and issues a permanent EIN in real time. source Public record
• TIGTA (July 2025): the IRS rated Mod IEIN at identity assurance Level 1 in its December 2024 reassessment, unchanged since January 2020. TIGTA found applicants circumventing controls: more than 8,000 EINs issued to the same responsible party on the same day (TIGTA redacted part of that phrase), and 9 Social Security numbers used to apply for more than 10,000 EINs. It made 12 recommendations, including raising Mod IEIN to Level 2. source Public record
• TIGTA (July 2025) notes its Office of Investigations helped prevent $3.5 billion from potentially being paid on a scheme in which individuals obtained EINs only to claim pandemic-related credits, and that EIN issuances rose 31 percent from fiscal year 2020 to 2021. source Public record
• TIGTA (February 2018): programming errors led to more than 227,000 EINs wrongly assigned to sole proprietors who already had an EIN or were deceased. Database failure and timeout errors rose from 5,844 in fiscal year 2016 to 97,917 in fiscal year 2017 through March 31 when some of the eight Mod IEIN servers were not working, leaving applicants unable to finish; one error went unaddressed for about 63 days. The online application then ran Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. source Public record
• The IRS plans to modernize Mod IEIN (new look and feel, Section 508 compliance, outstanding programming changes); in November 2024 it moved faxed EIN applications to a paperless workflow (TIGTA, July 2025). source Public record

Timeline

1. Jun 13, 2003 IRS announces that businesses can get an EIN directly from its website, usable immediately (IR-2003-77); the online form had been available since April 2003 (IR-2003-136). source Public record
2. Sep 25, 2007 IRS announces the new interactive Internet EIN application, which issues permanent EINs in real time (IR-2007-161). source Public record
3. Feb 7, 2018 TIGTA reports more than 227,000 EINs wrongly assigned through programming errors and unaddressed database errors in Mod IEIN; 18 recommendations. source Public record
4. Oct 27, 2022 IRS approves the current Mod IEIN privacy assessment: IRS owned and operated, part of ICCE Web Apps, in operations and maintenance. source Public record
5. Jul 25, 2025 TIGTA finds applicants still circumventing Mod IEIN controls and recommends raising its identity assurance to Level 2; 12 recommendations. source Public record

Tax

IRS Direct File (free IRS-built individual filing tool; suspended)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

Built by IRS staff with the U.S. Digital Service, GSA 18F (interagency agreement) and two SBA 8(a) small businesses (IRS pilot report); USAspending shows Coforma (research and design) and TrussWorks (prototype engineering) in 2023, then ATI Government Solutions as prime from December 2024 with TrussWorks and Coforma as subcontractors

Product

Custom web application deployed on the IRS Integrated Enterprise Portal cloud infrastructure

How it was bought

8(a) sole-source contracts (Coforma 2023, ATI 2024 and 2025) and an 8(a) set-aside order on TrussWorks' GSA schedule (2023); an interagency agreement with GSA 18F; USDS staff at no cost to the IRS

Note

Suspended. Treasury told Congress on 10/2/2025 that the IRS will suspend Direct File; it was not offered for the 2026 filing season (CRS, 10/19/2026), and the two ATI contracts were terminated for convenience on 10/30/2025. No government source found as of 11/3/2026 says whether it returns for 2027. IRS-reported costs: at least $31.8M for the tax year 2023 pilot and $41M for tax year 2024 (Treasury), both excluding support functions. The four Direct File contracts on USAspending total $21.5M obligated, read 11/3/2026.

Whole project

The May 2023 report to Congress projected $64.3M to $248.9M a year depending on users and scope (as quoted by Treasury, 2025)

Replaced

What the record shows

• The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 gave the IRS $15 million to set up a task force to design an IRS-run free direct e-file system; the IRS sent its report to Congress in May 2023, and the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury asked the IRS the same day to pilot Direct File for the 2024 filing season. source Public record
• The IRS Direct File Task Force was a cross-functional group of IRS employees supported by the U.S. Digital Service, and the IRS built a working internal prototype with USDS help. New America and a law professor served as the independent third party the Act required. source Public record
• To make Direct File production ready the IRS expanded its partnership with USDS, hired four new software engineers, signed an interagency agreement with GSA's 18F and contracted with two SBA-certified 8(a) small businesses, on blended teams of federal staff and contractors. Direct File runs on the IRS Integrated Enterprise Portal cloud infrastructure. source Public record
• IRS pilot costs through 4/20/2024: $24.6M, including $11.6M for the report to Congress and $13.0M for pilot development and implementation. The totals include vendor support and the 18F interagency agreement; the 29 USDS employees, about $7.2M a year, are not included. source Public record
• TIGTA (March 2025): the $24.6M left out an estimated $8.8M of government costs, including Office of Management and Budget employees detailed to the IRS and Credential Service Provider account costs. The pilot ran 2/1/2024 to 4/20/2024; 423,450 taxpayers created or signed in to an account and 140,803 filed an accepted return. source Public record
• Treasury (10/2/2025): Direct File cost at least $31.8M for the tax year 2023 pilot ($225.85 per accepted return) and $41M for tax year 2024 ($138.27 per return), figures that leave out support functions. 296,531 tax year 2024 returns were filed through Direct File, under 0.5 percent of about 146 million returns. source Public record
• TIGTA (March 2026): the IRS estimated $61.2M for fiscal year 2025 but spent $16.2M as of May 2025, partly because Direct File was told to halt development in mid-March 2025 and $30M of engineering and design contracts went unused. 751,000 taxpayers registered for the 2025 season, and 59 percent of them did not submit a return through it. source Public record
• Participating states: 12 for the tax year 2023 pilot (Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming) and 25 for tax year 2024 (adding Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). source Public record
• Treasury's Report on the Replacement of Direct File, required by section 70607 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21), announced that the IRS will suspend Direct File because of high costs, limited participation and the need to focus resources elsewhere, and recommended strengthening Free File instead. source Public record
• CRS (10/19/2026): Direct File was offered in the 2024 and 2025 filing seasons but suspended for the 2026 filing season. In the 119th Congress, bills to restore it (S. 3948/H.R. 7806) and bills to bar the IRS from preparing returns through it (S. 96/H.R. 451) have been introduced. source Public record
• Both 2024 and 2025 ATI Government Solutions contracts were terminated for convenience on 10/30/2025; the engineering contract modification says it was terminated per direction of Treasury Department leadership, and $11.9M and $4.3M were de-obligated on 11/6/2025. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. May 16, 2023 IRS sends its Inflation Reduction Act report to Congress on an IRS-run direct e-file system (Publication 5788); Treasury asks the IRS to pilot Direct File. source Public record
2. May 26, 2023 IRS awards Coforma an 8(a) sole-source contract for Direct File research and design support. source Public record
3. Jun 27, 2023 IRS signs a TrussWorks order to develop a Direct File prototype. source Public record
4. Feb 1, 2024 Direct File pilot opens, at first to a limited group, in 12 states. source Public record
5. Mar 8, 2024 Direct File pilot fully launches, according to the IRS after action report. source Public record
6. May 30, 2024 Treasury and the IRS announce Direct File as a permanent option and invite all states to join for filing season 2025. source Public record
7. Dec 31, 2024 IRS awards ATI Government Solutions an 8(a) sole-source Direct File engineering contract ($19.8M base value). source Public record
8. Jan 27, 2025 Direct File opens for the 2025 filing season in 25 states. source Public record
9. Mar 15, 2025 Direct File told to halt development in mid-March 2025, according to Direct File management as reported by TIGTA. source Public record
10. Oct 2, 2025 Treasury reports to Congress under section 70607 of Public Law 119-21 that the IRS will suspend Direct File. source Public record
11. Oct 30, 2025 IRS terminates both ATI Direct File contracts for convenience. source Public record
12. Mar 19, 2026 TIGTA reports on the 2025 season: $16.2M spent against a $61.2M estimate, and notes Direct File will not be operational for 2025 returns. source Public record
13. Oct 19, 2026 CRS reports Direct File was suspended for the 2026 filing season, with bills both to restore it and to bar it pending. source Public record

Tax

IRS Free File (guided software from Free File Inc. members, and Free File Fillable Forms)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

Free File Inc. (formerly Free File Alliance), a 501(c)(4) group of tax software companies; eight members for 2026: 1040Now, Drake (1040.com), ezTaxReturn.com, FileYourTaxes.com, On-Line Taxes, TaxAct, TaxHawk (FreeTaxUSA) and TaxSlayer

Product

Members' commercial guided tax software, reached through IRS.gov, plus Free File Fillable Forms (an unbranded fillable form utility a member provides)

How it was bought

Not bought: a memorandum of understanding with Free File Inc. (Ninth MOU, December 2023, extended to 10/31/2029), not a contract; no IRS payment to Free File Inc. was found

Awarded

Dec 18, 2023

Note

No contract dollars: the MOU states the program runs at no cost to the user or to the public treasury, and Treasury (2025) says neither taxpayers nor the federal government pay for the software. IRS spending found on USAspending is for its own oversight and promotion, such as MITRE's 2019 independent review and Ogilvy advertising orders (2010 to 2016). The IRS Free File page (last reviewed 10/21/2026) says Free File has closed and to check back in January 2027.

Replaced

What the record shows

• The IRS and Free File Alliance LLC executed the original 3-year agreement on 10/30/2002. It was extended in 2005, 2009 and 2014, followed by the Seventh MOU (to 10/31/2020) and the Eighth MOU, which three addenda extended to 10/31/2025. Free File Inc. received 501(c)(4) status in 2012. source Public record
• The Ninth MOU, signed by the IRS on 12/18/2023, states the objective of extending online federal tax preparation and e-filing to economically disadvantaged and underserved people at no cost to the user or to the public treasury, with coverage of the lowest 70 percent of taxpayers by AGI. The IRS may end it without cause on 12 months' notice, and Free File Inc. may end it if the IRS commits funding to offer free filing itself. source Public record
• A 2024 amendment signed 4/30/2024 extends the Ninth MOU to 10/31/2029. source Public record
• CRS (10/19/2026): the current MOU, signed in 2023 and extended to 10/31/2029, has no commitment from the IRS not to build its own direct e-file system. Members fell from 17 in 2002 to 8 in 2026; according to GAO, H&R Block and Intuit left after the 2020 and 2021 seasons, and together they had served about 70 percent of users. About 3.2 million taxpayers, roughly 3 percent of those eligible, used it in fiscal year 2025. source Public record
• For 2026 the eight partners were 1040Now, Drake (1040.com), ezTaxReturn.com, FileYourTaxes.com, On-Line Taxes, TaxAct, TaxHawk (FreeTaxUSA) and TaxSlayer, for taxpayers with AGI of $89,000 or less in 2025; Free File opened 1/9/2026, with Fillable Forms from 1/26/2026. source Public record
• Treasury (10/2/2025): Free File operates at little cost to the government; neither taxpayers nor the federal government pay for the software. About 2.7 million tax year 2024 returns were filed through Free File and about 400,000 through Fillable Forms, as of 8/1/2025. source Public record
• TIGTA (February 2020): only 2.5 million (2.4 percent) of 104 million eligible taxpayers got a free return through the program in processing year 2019, while more than 34.5 million eligible taxpayers used members' commercial software; TIGTA estimated more than 14 million may have paid a fee. source Public record
• TIGTA (September 2024): the IRS does not have sufficient oversight of Free File partners to ensure they protect tax return data; several companies were sanctioned by the Federal Trade Commission over unauthorized disclosure while in the program, and the IRS has never removed a partner. Use averaged 3 percent of eligible taxpayers in processing years 2020 to 2024. Seven recommendations. source Public record
• The IRS Free File page, last reviewed 10/21/2026, says Free File has closed until January 2027 and shows guided software for AGI of $95,000 or less. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. Oct 30, 2002 IRS and the Free File Alliance execute the original Free File agreement. source Public record
2. May 21, 2014 IRS and the Free File Alliance sign a one-year extension while renegotiating the five-year agreement (IR-2014-64). source Public record
3. Feb 3, 2020 TIGTA reports low participation and insufficient oversight of the Free File program. source Public record
4. Dec 18, 2023 IRS signs the Ninth Free File MOU with Free File Inc. source Public record
5. Apr 30, 2024 IRS and Free File Inc. extend the Ninth MOU to 10/31/2029. source Public record
6. Sep 30, 2024 TIGTA reports insufficient IRS oversight of Free File partners' protection of tax return data; seven recommendations. source Public record
7. Jan 9, 2026 IRS Free File opens for 2026 with eight partners and an AGI limit of $89,000 (IR-2026-05). source Public record

Customer service

IRS Income Verification Express Service (IVES), with paper transcript requests (RAIVS)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service

Vendor

IRS program run by Submission Processing (Customer Account Services, Taxpayer Services); requests are filled through the Transcript Delivery System and the IRS-owned Form Based Processing system. Contractor task orders: Deloitte Consulting (IVES and income verification support, 2021 to 2023) and eTelligent Group (Taxpayer First Act IVES program management support, 2020 to 2023)

Product

IVES transcript ordering on Form 4506-C (fax or online), delivered through e-Services TDS; Taxpayer First Act online system (Form Based Processing) with taxpayer consent in the Online Account

How it was bought

Task orders: Deloitte 2032H521F00534 and 2032H523F00046 under the Agile Technology/Web Application Support Services BPA (TIRNO17Z00003), fair opportunity, 3 and 1 offers; eTelligent 2032H520F00408 under the IT-EPMSS BPA (2032H519A00023), 6 offers

Note

Obligations on three task orders whose USAspending descriptions name IVES or income verification, read 2026-11-03; not a contract ceiling and not the full program cost. The program is funded by participant user fees ($4.00 per transcript since October 1, 2024).

Whole project

$75.3M preliminary IRS estimate to develop and deploy the new IVES system (TIGTA, February 2021)

Replaced

The Taxpayer First Act online system (from January 2023) runs alongside the legacy fax process, which participants may still use.

What the record shows

• IRM 3.5.20, IVES Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information (transmittal November 7, 2025, effective January 1, 2026): policy owner Director, Submission Processing; program owner the Technical Support Section, a unit of the Specialty Programs Branch; signed by the Director, Submission Processing, Taxpayer Services Division. IVES clerks use TDS and IDRS to fill Form 4506-C requests at Austin, Kansas City, Memphis and Ogden. source Public record
• Since October 1, 2024, IVES participants pay $4.00 per transcript requested (IRM 3.5.20). source Public record
• IRM 1.1.13 (August 29, 2025): the Technical Support Section develops policy for Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) and IVES and oversees RAIVS/IVES at the three Submission Processing centers; it reports to the Chief, Specialty Programs Branch, who reports to the Director, Submission Processing. Submission Processing reports to the Director, Customer Account Services, in Taxpayer Services. source Public record
• TIGTA (March 8, 2023): IVES, created in 2006, "is operated by the IRS's Submission Processing organization" with staff in Kansas City, Austin and Ogden; the IRS processed 8.3 million IVES request forms in FY 2022. The IRS missed the Taxpayer First Act requirement to handle business transcript requests by January 2023, which TIGTA attributed to a lack of planning by the IT organization, and did not require participants to use the new system. source Public record
• TIGTA (March 8, 2023): outages of the new Enterprise File Storage (EFS) inventory system (72 IVES incidents, 292 hours) and no single owner for fixing them pushed processing to a peak of 502 hours against a 72-hour goal; 7,619 transcripts were improperly issued for 6,012 taxpayers with identity theft markers in Processing Year 2021. source Public record
• TIGTA (February 16, 2021): the IRS's preliminary estimate to develop and deploy the new IVES system was $75.3 million; the fee rose from $2 to $5 on March 1, 2020 to fund it, but by July 31, 2020 the IRS had spent more than $9.3 million and collected about $6 million, after IVES was shut down from March 27 to May 18, 2020. IVES had 748 participants as of August 14, 2020. source Public record
• IVES user fees were $50.1 million in FY 2017, $38.1 million in FY 2018 and $29.0 million in FY 2019 (TIGTA, February 2021). source Public record
• The WAES-IVES privacy assessment (approved December 3, 2021) adds an Online Account screen where taxpayers authorize or reject a participant's Form 4506-C, working with the IVES Form Based Processing system and the electronic signature repository (ESSAR), set to go live in January 2023; recorded as IRS Owned and Operated under the Web Applications Governance Board. source Public record
• The Form Based Processing (FBP) privacy assessment (approved 04/15/2026) names Information Technology as the business unit and the Taxpayer Services and Online Accounts (TSOA) Governance Board; it runs in AWS GovCloud, is not contractor-operated, and exchanges data with TDS (asynchronous and API), Online Accounts and SADI. It describes FBP as serving authorized federal program partners and does not use the name IVES. source Public record
• An IVES robotic process automation (privacy assessment July 14, 2021) automates intake of faxed request PDFs, validation through an IDRS research tool and entry into TDS; IRS Owned and Operated, under the Internal Management Domain Governance Board. source Public record
• The first release of the Business Tax Account (Web Apps Business Portal, privacy assessment December 12, 2022) let business taxpayers view, accept and reject IVES requests. source Public record
• TIGTA (March 2018) recommended that the Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, suspend IVES until the IRS could confirm the legitimate taxpayer signed the request; the IRS disagreed, citing the program's support of the loan and mortgage industry. source Public record
• IVES participants submit transcript requests online or by fax on Form 4506-C, and taxpayers can authorize a lender's request in their online account (IRS IVES page, reviewed September 11, 2026). source Public record
• On March 6, 2024 the IRS suspended an IVES policy change it had announced January 2, 2024, to seek stakeholder input; the statement does not describe the change. source Public record
• Paper requests (RAIVS): IRM 3.5.21, RAIVS Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information (transmittal November 4, 2025), gives the same owners as IVES: policy owner Director, Submission Processing, and program owner the Technical Support Section of the Specialty Programs Branch. RAIVS clerks use TDS and IDRS to fill Forms 4506, 4506-T and 4506-T-EZ. source Public record
• Form 4506 copies of returns: RAIVS is located in three campuses, charges a fee, and mails return copies within 75 calendar days of receiving Form 4506 (IRM 21.3.6, transmittal September 21, 2026). source Public record
• TIGTA (March 30, 2023): RAIVS inventory was 857,938 cases at the end of 2021 and more than 1 million by September 30, 2022, with RAIVS staff focused on a growing IVES backlog. source Public record
• Three IRS task orders on USAspending name IVES or income verification: Deloitte Consulting for IVES support (2032H521F00534, $8.96M obligated) and income verification support services (2032H523F00046, $5.85M obligated), both under the Agile WebApps BPA, and eTelligent Group for Taxpayer First Act section 2201 IVES program management support (2032H520F00408, $5.14M obligated): $19.95M together, read on USAspending 2026-11-03. All were awarded by the IRS IT Strategy and Modernization office and funded by the Chief Information Officer. source Public record

Contract actions

Timeline

1. 2006 IRS creates the IVES program (TIGTA). source Public record
2. Mar 20, 2018 TIGTA recommends suspending IVES until taxpayer signatures can be confirmed; the IRS disagrees. source Public record
3. Jul 1, 2019 Third-party mailing on the Form 4506 series ends; the IRS points lenders and colleges to IVES. source Public record
4. Mar 1, 2020 IVES fee rises from $2 to $5 per request to fund the new system. source Public record
5. Mar 27, 2020 IVES shut down for the pandemic until May 18, 2020. source Public record
6. Dec 2021 IVES sites begin moving to the Enterprise File Storage inventory system (Ogden first; Austin last, April 2022). source Public record
7. Jan 2023 Taxpayer First Act IVES system starts for individual transcripts; the legacy system stays available and business transcripts are not yet supported (TIGTA). source Public record
8. Mar 8, 2023 TIGTA reports IVES processing peaked at 502 hours against a 72-hour goal. source Public record
9. Mar 6, 2024 IRS suspends an IVES policy change announced January 2, 2024. source Public record
10. Oct 1, 2024 IVES fee set at $4.00 per transcript. source Public record

Tax

Master Files, CADE 2 and IDRS (the account data behind transcripts)

Agency

Internal Revenue Service, Information Technology (Tax Processing)

Vendor

IRS (Information Technology); SAIC for IDRS Modernization

Product

Individual and Business Master Files, Customer Account Data Engine 2, Account Management Services, Integrated Data Retrieval System

How it was bought

Built and run by IRS Information Technology; IDRS Modernization order to SAIC (December 2025, sole source)

Note

Transcripts are generated from these account records. The privacy assessments name Taxpayer Services as business owner of the Individual Master File, CADE 2 and Account Management Services, and Small Business/Self-Employed for the Business Master File.

Replaced

What the record shows

• Individual Master File privacy assessment (approved 05/07/2026): "IMF is a Taxpayer Services owned application", a core z/OS mainframe batch system; its data is stored in IDRS; reports to Modernization and Sustaining Operations (MSO); not contractor-operated. source Public record
• Business Master File privacy assessment (approved 09/12/2024): business unit Small Business and Self Employed, reporting to the SB/SE IT Governance Board; IRS Owned and Operated. source Public record
• Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) Modernization privacy assessment (approved 12/12/2025): business unit Information Technology; IDRS is being converted from COBOL to Java with AI-driven code transformation; not contractor-operated; steering committees and governance boards were placed on indefinite hold by the CIO. source Public record
• Customer Account Data Engine 2 privacy assessment (approved 08/28/2024): business unit Taxpayer Services; IRS Owned and Operated; holds the individual account database kept in sync with IMF daily processing. source Public record
• Account Management Services privacy assessment (approved 08/14/2025): business unit Taxpayer Services; not contractor-operated; reports to the Compliance Domain Governance Board. source Public record
• IRM 1.1.12 (August 17, 2026): IT's Tax Processing organization, under a Coordinating Director reporting to the CIO, covers master file processing, data access and integrated data retrieval, with units for Master File Processing, Integrated Data Retrieval and Notices, and Data Access Services. source Public record
• Internal transcripts from IDRS (for example TXMOD, RTVUE and IRPTR prints) are not available to the public and must be sanitized before release; PPS gives at most 10 internal transcripts per taxpayer (IRM 21.3.10). source Public record

Contract actions