Taxes can be—well—taxing. We want to change that, which is why we at the IRS have partnered with tax software companies to bring Free File to all taxpayers. Free File lets you do your federal taxes for free on the Internet by using a variety of software programs or online fillable forms. Free File is available exclusively through IRS.gov.

You can use Free File if your income for 2010 was $58,000 or less, which covers about 70 percent of taxpayers in the United States. If you made more than $58,000, you can use Free File Fillable Forms, which is the electronic version of IRS paper forms. Anyone can use the online fillable forms, but it helps if you have experience preparing your own tax returns.

You do not need to be an expert to use the online software. Just answer the questions and the program will do the hard work to help you get your tax breaks. When you’re done, you can file your return online with IRS e-file for free. Some Free File software providers offer state tax return preparation for free or a fee, and 21 states have state free file programs to let you file your state taxes online for free.

If you can’t make the April 18 deadline and need to file an extension, you can use Free File for that as well.

If you’re ready to get started right now, just go to www.irs.gov/freefile.

If you’d like to learn more about Free File, visit freefile.irs.gov.

This post was written by Nancy Mathis, who manages marketing efforts for the IRS Free File and IRS e-file.