Elon Musk creates confusion about IRS' Direct File -- but the free tax program is still available

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News/AP

February 3, 2025, 8:59 PM


WASHINGTON -- Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk posted Monday on his social media site that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as the IRS’ Direct File program. This led to some confusion about whether Direct File is still available to taxpayers, but the free filing program is still available, at least for the coming tax season.

While Musk’s tweet may have intimated that the group of workers had been eliminated, an individual with knowledge of the IRS workforce said the Direct File program was still accepting tax returns. The individual spoke anonymously with The Associated Press because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

As of Monday evening, 18F’s website was still operational, as was the Direct File website. But the digital services agency’s X account was deleted. The IRS announced last year that it will make the free electronic tax return filing system permanent and asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help taxpayers file their returns through the program in 2025.

The Direct File trial began in March 2024. But the IRS has face intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing their returns each year. Commercial tax prep companies that have lobbied against development of the free file program say free file options already exist.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/elon-musk-creates-confusion-irs-direct-file-free-118422575

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PA was finally going to implement this for the coming tax season but now that Muskrat it poking and mucking around, I am probably going to have to HARD pass. And those other "free file options" mentioned are generally only available if you meet a certain income threshold.

Of course, Federal Records legislation has NOT gone away (latest updates) -

H.R.1233 - Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014

So if that account he "deleted" had federal records that were required to be retained based on some IRS Records Schedule, but were deleted with that account, then this just adds on to his growing list of violations of the law.

[Nictuku]

1. I did my taxes yesterday

I can confirm the option was still there.

But would you trust it at this point?

I didn't. I was thinking about trying it (usually use Turbotax) and while Turbotax had a sneaky thing happen at the end of the process (which would have added a $45.00 fee I didn't agree to), I still trust them more than I would a program being publicly targeted by elon musk.

[TurboDem]

2. I used it a week ago.

It's so easy to use you almost feel like you did something wrong.

It also takes you directly to your state's income tax site and pre-loads the info for you.

It takes all of the hard work out of doing your taxes and it's completely free! No wonder melon husk wants to eliminate it. He can't have something that helps ordinary people.