deal keeps the irs out of the tax software business<\/i><\/p>\n
some 93 million taxpayers could benefit from the deal with the 20 tax prep and software companies, including market leaders intuit inc., h&r block inc. the agreement covers taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of less than $49,600, which amounts to about 70 percent of the taxpaying public. last year, about 5.1 million tax returns were filed for free under the program. the deal came after intuit won a u.s. senate vote to ban the irs from developing its own e-file products. but the threat alone might have been enough leverage for the government to persuade the companies to provide more services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"