A new consumer-focused tax filing platform was released Thursday by Prime Meridian, a Palo Alto, CA-based company that includes former IRS commissioner Danny Werfel as a strategic advisor.
Built as an AI-native service, Prime Meridian says its tax platform provides a clear, guided path from document upload through filing, responding to taxpayer demand for a transparent no-cost option built around accuracy and security.
The platform is accessible for low-income individuals, while it’s also capable of handling more complex tax situations, including K-1s, multiple sources of investment income, and multistate wages.
“Tax filing has become more difficult for many consumers amid ongoing regulatory changes, including the 2025 passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and expanded reporting requirements. Reduced access to affordable professional support has also added to the complexity and cost. At the same time, confidence in ‘free filing’ options has eroded, with consumers often encountering fine print, limited eligibility, or unexpected upsells once they’ve put in hours of work,” the company said in a March 5 media release. “Prime Meridian was built to address those challenges directly.”
The platform uses artificial intelligence to guide users through tax decisions via a straightforward, four-step process— from uploading documents to submitting their return—with no hidden fees and no surprise limitations, Prime Meridian says.
“Prime Meridian is designed to be transparent about what it offers and who it serves,” the company adds. “The process is simple and accessible, while still capable of supporting complex tax situations, and is designed to help users understand what information matters, what choices they are making, and why.”
Saket Kumar, founder and CEO of Prime Meridian, said the tax platform was built to offer taxpayers a better way to file their taxes.
“For far too long, tax filing has been confusing and costly, and unnecessarily stressful,” he said in a statement. “Finally, Americans have a high-quality, no-cost option that allows them to file their taxes with greater certainty, without sacrificing accuracy or trust.”
Prime Meridian combines a completely free offering with verified accuracy. The platform achieved a 100% score on TaxCalcBench, an independent industry benchmark that tests tax software against standardized scenarios to verify accurate calculation of credits, deductions, and tax rules, the company said.
Werfel, who served as IRS chief during the Biden administration, said Americans should have access to a free, easy-to-use platform that guides them through filing their taxes with clarity and confidence.
“As the landscape evolves, it is increasingly important for private-sector innovators to step forward and deliver credible, truly free options,” he said in a statement. “Prime Meridian represents the kind of responsible new entrant that can expand access while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and trust.”
Prime Meridian is backed by investment from General Catalyst, with participation from Belief Capital, Calibration Capital, and angel investors, including Gokul Rajaram and the co-founders of Doordash, Turing, and Cambridge Aerospace.
The free platform is available to taxpayers now and can be found here.
Photo credit: C-SPAN via YouTube
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Gary Bowen April 11 2026 at 11:58 am
I helped a friend do her 2025 tax returns. Then I saw Prime Meridian's ads for free efiling. Saw where is was recommended by previous IRS Commisioner, I believe. So, I recommended she go there to efile. What an out and out fiasco, that turned in to. Her return was submitted to them about three to four weeks and placed in queue to be efiled. It sat there, and sat there, and sat there, ad nauseam. Finally a staff person emailed her, and apologized and told her she could back out of the efile arrangement if she wanted. She asked me what I thought, and I told her she already invested a lot of time, she may as well keep her place in-line. A mistake on my part, she just kept setting in line, evidently. In the meantime she kept getting staff emails telling her it would be filed in a day or two, and they would contact her after the weekend, etc (which never happened, either). Miracle of miracles, they contacted one day after all that time had gone by, and said it had been efiled and they would let her know if the IRS Accepted, or Rejected it. a few days passed (when I efile people from my tax software, I know within hours whether or not it has been accepted) before they told her it was accepted. In fact she got her refund direct deposited about the same day. If PM is going to offer nation-wide free efiling they should have staff, capable available facilities, communications, etc to handle the over whelming volume of transactions. Great concept, but should be able to fulfill it. For the next few years I’m staying away from it and won’t refer it to anyone again. I would rate it at about a 2 on a 1-10 scale where 10 is excellent.