# IRS-Public/direct-file

Direct File

Repository: https://github.com/IRS-Public/direct-file
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/direct-file
Homepage: https://directfile.irs.gov
Language: JavaScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-06-11T19:58:44+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 58/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 87, release rhythm 35, longevity 33
- inputs: {"age_days": 471, "days_push": 83, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4585, forks 1369 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:54.601796+00:00)

## What it is
Direct File is the IRS's free, interview-based service for taxpayers to electronically file federal tax returns directly with the IRS. The repository contains the service's source code, including a declarative XML-based Fact Graph rules engine (Scala/JVM and Scala.js) and a State API for transferring return data to state filing tools.

## Use cases
- file federal taxes online for free with the IRS
- build a product that interprets US tax law accurately
- implement a business rules engine that reasons over incomplete data
- integrate federal return data with state tax filing tools
- study how a government builds accessible multilingual web services

## When to choose
- you need a reference implementation of US tax code logic or MeF integration
- you want a declarative knowledge-graph rules engine for reasoning with incomplete information
- you are a revenue agency building a tax filing service

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose rules engine unrelated to tax filing
- you want a turnkey commercial tax filing product
- you need a lightweight library without JVM/Scala infrastructure

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: web-framework, api-framework, workflow-automation, form-handling, sdk
- domain: e-government, web-development
- platform: jvm, self-hosted
- tags: tax-filing, irs, government-service, fact-graph, business-rules-engine, knowledge-graph, scala, interview-based, mef, e-file, taxes, automation, web-server, nodejs

## Member repositories
- IRS-Public/direct-file (main) score 58

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:54.601796+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:19:52.454432+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/IRS-Public/direct-file (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:54.601796+00:00, sha 98ea5e95918f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.