Look out, TurboTax. A free e-filing system from the IRS is reportedly on the way.

• The IRS is developing a free system to file tax returns online, the Washington Post reports.
• The agency is planning to try out the system with some users filing next year, the report says.

The US government wants to unveil a world where you could ditch that TurboTax coupon and just file your taxes for free with the IRS online.

The agency has been developing a tool to file tax returns, which it will open up for some users to directly file their taxes next year to the agency, the Washington Post reported. The development follows the $15 million award under the Inflation Reduction Act that passed last year, meant to help research into just such an idea.

The move is the latest to follow some of the research around how the US tax-filing system might get simpler for users, like having forms come in already completed with a lot of the important basic information the government has.

The Treasury Department has also made some appeals for updating the current system, which for many users can still mean wrangling a thicket of physical documents and online forms that can take hours to fill out.

The models of European countries, where The Atlantic has reported that taxpayers in places like Sweden can cut past the paperwork, have often come up as comparisons for what could someday be possible stateside.

There are already a number of options available for taxpayers to do their federal taxes, and in many cases, even their state taxes for free, as even the IRS has indicated. The agency, for instance, has a "Free file" program for those who are eligible because their overall income falls below a certain threshold.

A representative for Intuit TurboTax said in a statement on Tuesday that there would be costs associated with a direct online filing system.

"An IRS direct-to-e-file system is redundant and will not be free — not free to build, not free to operate, and not free for taxpayers," the company said in its statement. "A direct-to-IRS e-file system is a solution in search of a problem, and that solution will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars."

Representatives for the IRS, the US Digital Service — an official tech group that the Washington Post reported worked with the IRS on the tool — and the US Department of Treasury, did not respond to Insider's emailed requests for comment.

Meanwhile, a representative for H&R Block told Insider in a statement that the current model gives consumers "great choice and flexibility."

"H&R Block supports the IRS receiving additional funding to improve its existing services for taxpayers, and we remain committed to delivering the digital capabilities and human expertise and care that helps millions of Americans get the best outcome at tax time," the company's statement said.