Comment by WorldMaker

Direct File was only built in the first place because Turbo Tax and H&R Block dropped out of agreements with the IRS to keep free tax filing options free and unencumbered of upsells and dark patterns.

The number of people their "free" products actually serve dropped drastically a couple years ago. They will upsell or dark pattern you to paying for it as best and as deeply as they can.

This was an interesting read on the subject: https://chrisgiven.com/2025/07/the-things-that-cannot-be-cha...