What it means for you
A 2026 law requires Virginia's tax department to offer its own free online filing for state income tax returns, starting with tax year 2028. The rules for who can use it must be looser than the IRS Direct File program's were.
Who benefits: Virginia individual taxpayers eligible under rules that have not yet been set; the rules must be less restrictive than the IRS Direct File program's 2025 criteria.
Virginia is building its own online service where you can file your state income tax return for free, directly with the state. The new law tells the state’s Tax Commissioner to offer filing “without monetary charge” for tax year 2028, so eligible taxpayers can first use it when they file in 2029.
The rules for who can use it must be looser than those of the IRS Direct File program in 2025. The IRS has since ended Direct File. The state has to consider Direct File’s public code when it designs the system, learn from other states that have built free filing, and keep the system compatible with any free federal filing tool that comes later. The law removes the old rule that kept the state from competing with Virginia’s vendor-run Free File program and repeals the 2010 law behind that arrangement; it does not guarantee that the vendor-run option will continue.
Del. Kimberly Pope Adams carried the House bill, and Sen. Jeremy McPike carried the identical Senate bill. Both passed the General Assembly without a single no vote. Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed them on March 31, 2026, and the law took effect that July.
Lower costsWork and wages
Where it stands, and how we know
Source for this status, checked November 12, 2026.
Sources
- 2026 Acts of Assembly, Chapter 31 (HB 1180)Code of Virginia, Virginia Legislative Information System, March 31, 2026
- 2026 Acts of Assembly, Chapter 32 (SB 591)Code of Virginia, Virginia Legislative Information System, March 31, 2026
- Governor Spanberger Signs Bills to Make Healthcare, Housing, & Energy More Affordable for VirginiansOffice of the Governor of Virginia, March 31, 2026
- 2026 fiscal impact statement for HB 1180Virginia Department of Taxation, February 16, 2026
- State efforts to fill the 'void' left by the federal Direct File are underwayRoute Fifty, September 25, 2026
How we checked this
Drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) on November 11, 2026. Checked against its sources by GPT-5.6-sol (OpenAI) on November 12, 2026, which corrected it. Confirmed the enacted text, sponsors, signing date, unanimous passage, implementation schedule, and current status. Narrowed the still-undetermined eligibility claim and corrected the description of Virginia’s existing Free File program.
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