An IRS public-private program that routes eligible taxpayers to
participating tax-prep companies for free federal filing. Free File
scores above commercial tax prep because it reduces direct cost, but it
remains fragmented and depends on private vendors rather than a
universal public filing tool.
Why this matters: Free File is better than paid tax
prep, but it is also evidence that the tax system has not yet built a
simple universal public interface.
Letter grade CPerformativeHigh
confidence (AI)Rubric gcd-rubric-v1
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not
human-checked or final.
Base Material41Bonus+3Cap66No structure cap
After Cap44Penalties-3!Not Verified
Represent this organization?
Request verification to have the evidence record checked against primary
materials and organization-supplied documents. Verification does not buy
a higher score; scores change only when review finds factual errors,
omissions, or miscalibration.
The score turns mainly on Extraction, with the largest penalty coming
from Accountability Opacity.
Strengths
Extraction6/10
Solidarity with the
Unemployed6/7
Ownership5/10
Penalties
Accountability
Opacity-2
Ideological
Disavowal-1
Evidence state
ConfidenceHigh
confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessDeveloped
(AI)
Linked claims13
Direct axis claims13
Coverage13/13
Scoring Axes
Axis
Score
Why this score
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control
at 10.
5 / 10
IRS Free File's public record identifies its ownership form,
institutional type, or public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in
the tax category.
IRS Free File's public record identifies its ownership form,
institutional type, or public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in
the tax category. On Ownership, IRS Free File sits in the middle because
the structure has real public, nonprofit, or service value, but users
still do not hold decisive control over prices, access rules, quality,
or institutional priorities. That places it above ordinary shareholder
firms but below democratic or member-owned alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
IRS Free File's public record identifies its ownership form,
institutional type, or public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in
the tax category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic
stakeholder control at 10.
4 / 10
IRS Free File's public record indicates whether binding control sits
with shareholders, executives, members, public officials, nonprofit
boards, residents, patients, or customers.
IRS Free File's public record indicates whether binding control sits
with shareholders, executives, members, public officials, nonprofit
boards, residents, patients, or customers. On Governance, IRS Free File
sits in the middle because the structure has real public, nonprofit, or
service value, but users still do not hold decisive control over prices,
access rules, quality, or institutional priorities. That places it above
ordinary shareholder firms but below democratic or member-owned
alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
IRS Free File's public record indicates whether binding control
sits with shareholders, executives, members, public officials, nonprofit
boards, residents, patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured
extraction judgment.
6 / 10
IRS Free File's model determines whether money flows primarily to
investors and owners or back toward users, members, public value,
community services, affordability, or mission delivery.
IRS Free File's model determines whether money flows primarily to
investors and owners or back toward users, members, public value,
community services, affordability, or mission delivery. On Extraction,
IRS Free File sits in the middle because the structure has real public,
nonprofit, or service value, but users still do not hold decisive
control over prices, access rules, quality, or institutional priorities.
That places it above ordinary shareholder firms but below democratic or
member-owned alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
IRS Free File's model determines whether money flows primarily to
investors and owners or back toward users, members, public value,
community services, affordability, or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at
7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence
shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling,
retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of
worker voice, or extreme turnover.
4 / 7
IRS Free File's linked public materials do not show ordinary workers
holding full binding democratic control over the institution.
IRS Free File's linked public materials do not show ordinary workers
holding full binding democratic control over the institution. On Labor
Sovereignty, IRS Free File sits in the middle because the structure has
real public, nonprofit, or service value, but users still do not hold
decisive control over prices, access rules, quality, or institutional
priorities. That places it above ordinary shareholder firms but below
democratic or member-owned alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
IRS Free File's public materials do not show ordinary workers
holding full binding democratic control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Solidarity with the
Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment,
and non-competes.
6 / 7
IRS Free File operates in an everyday-need category where job loss,
illness, rent pressure, family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility
dependence, or household instability affects bargaining power.
IRS Free File operates in an everyday-need category where job loss,
illness, rent pressure, family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility
dependence, or household instability affects bargaining power. On
Solidarity with the Unemployed, IRS Free File sits in the middle because
the structure has real public, nonprofit, or service value, but users
still do not hold decisive control over prices, access rules, quality,
or institutional priorities. That places it above ordinary shareholder
firms but below democratic or member-owned alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
IRS Free File operates in an everyday-need category where job
loss, illness, rent pressure, family-care obligations, tax compliance,
utility dependence, or household instability affects bargaining
power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and
public obligations.
4 / 7
IRS Free File's product or service can absorb real household, civic,
care, housing, energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows
who bears costs when the institution fails or prices rise.
IRS Free File's product or service can absorb real household, civic,
care, housing, energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows
who bears costs when the institution fails or prices rise. On
Loss-Bearing Fidelity, IRS Free File sits in the middle because the
structure has real public, nonprofit, or service value, but users still
do not hold decisive control over prices, access rules, quality, or
institutional priorities. That places it above ordinary shareholder
firms but below democratic or member-owned alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
IRS Free File's product or service can absorb real household,
civic, care, housing, energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record
also shows who bears costs when the institution fails or prices
rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
4 / 5
IRS Free File operates in a market where customers, tenants, patients,
taxpayers, utility users, parents, or community members often face
switching costs, asymmetric information, or limited choice.
IRS Free File operates in a market where customers, tenants, patients,
taxpayers, utility users, parents, or community members often face
switching costs, asymmetric information, or limited choice. On Market
Conduct, IRS Free File sits in the middle because the structure has real
public, nonprofit, or service value, but users still do not hold
decisive control over prices, access rules, quality, or institutional
priorities. That places it above ordinary shareholder firms but below
democratic or member-owned alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
IRS Free File operates in a market where customers, tenants,
patients, taxpayers, utility users, parents, or community members often
face switching costs, asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
4 / 5
IRS Free File's core service has practical everyday utility, but its
integrity depends on pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality,
data handling, and accountability.
IRS Free File's core service has practical everyday utility, but its
integrity depends on pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality,
data handling, and accountability. On Product Integrity, IRS Free File
sits in the middle because the structure has real public, nonprofit, or
service value, but users still do not hold decisive control over prices,
access rules, quality, or institutional priorities. That places it above
ordinary shareholder firms but below democratic or member-owned
alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
IRS Free File's core service has practical everyday utility, but
its integrity depends on pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality,
data handling, and accountability.[8]
contextIRS Free File's scale
or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S.
households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or
communities.[9]
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
4 / 5
IRS Free File's scale or category makes its decisions consequential for
ordinary U.S. households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility
customers, or communities.
IRS Free File's scale or category makes its decisions consequential for
ordinary U.S. households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility
customers, or communities. On Scale Integrity, IRS Free File sits in the
middle because the structure has real public, nonprofit, or service
value, but users still do not hold decisive control over prices, access
rules, quality, or institutional priorities. That places it above
ordinary shareholder firms but below democratic or member-owned
alternatives.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
contextIRS Free File's public
record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or
public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.[1]
contextIRS Free File's public
record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders,
executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents,
patients, or customers.[2]
contextIRS Free File's model
determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back
toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability,
or mission delivery.[3]
contextIRS Free File's public
materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic
control over the institution.[4]
contextIRS Free File operates
in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure,
family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or
household instability affects bargaining power.[5]
contextIRS Free File's
product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing,
energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears
costs when the institution fails or prices rise.[6]
contextIRS Free File operates
in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility
users, parents, or community members often face switching costs,
asymmetric information, or limited choice.[7]
contextIRS Free File's core
service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on
pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and
accountability.[8]
IRS Free File's scale or category makes its decisions
consequential for ordinary U.S. households, patients, tenants, parents,
taxpayers, utility customers, or communities.[9]
Penalties
Penalty
Applied
Why this penalty
Accountability Opacity
?
Material opacity, reputation laundering, or hidden accountability
structures that prevent public accountability. Range: -2 to 0.
-2
IRS Free File's public record makes Accountability Opacity relevant
through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden,
youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.
IRS Free File's public record makes Accountability Opacity relevant
through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden,
youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability. This warrants a Accountability Opacity penalty because
the evidence shows harm or risk tied to the institution's actual role:
housing, tax, utility, healthcare, storage, or childcare power over
people with limited alternatives. The penalty is calibrated to this
entity's severity rather than assigned automatically to the whole
category.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
IRS Free File's public record makes Accountability Opacity
relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental
burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or
community accountability.[12]
Ideological Disavowal
?
Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional
necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or
non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.
-1
IRS Free File's public record makes Ideological Disavowal relevant
through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden,
youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.
IRS Free File's public record makes Ideological Disavowal relevant
through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden,
youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability. This warrants a Ideological Disavowal penalty because
the evidence shows harm or risk tied to the institution's actual role:
housing, tax, utility, healthcare, storage, or childcare power over
people with limited alternatives. The penalty is calibrated to this
entity's severity rather than assigned automatically to the whole
category.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
IRS Free File's public record makes Ideological Disavowal relevant
through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden,
youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.[13]
Bonus Credits
Bonus
Credit
Why this credit
Good Deal
?
Credit for unusually fair value: durable quality, fair pricing, low
lock-in, and clear customer surplus.
2 / 3
IRS Free File's public record makes Good Deal relevant through its
ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth
exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.
IRS Free File's public record makes Good Deal relevant through its
ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth
exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability. This earns limited Good Deal credit because the record
shows a concrete public, cooperative, affordability, access,
transparency, or community-accountability feature beyond ordinary market
service. The credit stays limited unless affected users can reliably
exercise durable power over the institution.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
IRS Free File's public record makes Good Deal relevant through its
ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth
exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.[10]
Cost Transparency
?
Credit for clear posted prices, all-in fees, unit costs, public rate
cards, margin/cost visibility, or surplus-allocation transparency,
especially in markets where opaque quotes, hidden fees, or
individualized pricing are normal.
1 / 3
IRS Free File's public record makes Cost Transparency relevant through
its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth
exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.
IRS Free File's public record makes Cost Transparency relevant through
its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth
exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability. This earns limited Cost Transparency credit because the
record shows a concrete public, cooperative, affordability, access,
transparency, or community-accountability feature beyond ordinary market
service. The credit stays limited unless affected users can reliably
exercise durable power over the institution.
Calibration notes
Comparative anchor: Coverage-gap batch calibrated
across tax filing, utilities, housing, storage, healthcare systems, and
childcare/youth institutions.
Linked evidence
IRS Free File's public record makes Cost Transparency relevant
through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden,
youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community
accountability.[11]
Confidence Basis
Confidence Basis
Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not
typed into the profile by hand.
This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail.
AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.
Claim confidence17/20
13 verified linked claims
Source quality18/18
Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability
Direct axis-specific claims14/18
13 direct claims across 13 active components
Dispute load12/12
0 disputed claims on this entity
Recency10/10
Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026
Reviewer status7/12
Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding
Component coverage10/10
13/13 evidence-bearing components have direct support
Evidence State
Evidence State
Profile stateAI draft / human-pending
VerificationUnverified
ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
Correction routeUse “Challenge this rating” for
factual errors, missing counterevidence, source problems, or calculation
mistakes.
Company responseCompany representatives can
submit source-backed corrections; payment never changes scores or
reviewer authority.
Claims and Sources
Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis
category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support
a score.
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not
human-checked or final.
1IRS
Free File's public record identifies its ownership form, institutional
type, or public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the tax
category.
2IRS
Free File's public record indicates whether binding control sits with
shareholders, executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards,
residents, patients, or customers.
3IRS
Free File's model determines whether money flows primarily to investors
and owners or back toward users, members, public value, community
services, affordability, or mission delivery.
6IRS
Free File's product or service can absorb real household, civic, care,
housing, energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who
bears costs when the institution fails or prices rise.
Loss Bearing FidelityVerifiedHigh
confidenceHuman-reviewed
7IRS
Free File operates in a market where customers, tenants, patients,
taxpayers, utility users, parents, or community members often face
switching costs, asymmetric information, or limited choice.
8IRS
Free File's core service has practical everyday utility, but its
integrity depends on pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality,
data handling, and accountability.
9IRS
Free File's scale or category makes its decisions consequential for
ordinary U.S. households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility
customers, or communities.
10IRS Free File's public record makes
Good Deal relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying,
environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public
mission, or community accountability.
11IRS Free File's public record makes
Cost Transparency relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety,
lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in,
public mission, or community accountability.
12IRS Free File's public record makes
Accountability Opacity relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety,
lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in,
public mission, or community accountability.
13IRS Free File's public record makes
Ideological Disavowal relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety,
lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in,
public mission, or community accountability.
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axis value, or calculation below.
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Audit Log
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