#Direct File

[saywhat-politics]

In a post on X, unelected government official Elon Musk revealed that he has cut the staff of the Internal Revenue Service that oversaw the system that allows Americans to file their taxes for free easily on its website.

A right-wing MAGA influencer called the "direct file" tax program a "far left government wide computer office" that was "built by Elizabeth Warren."

He claimed, "Direct file puts the government in charge of preparing people's tax returns for them," he claimed.

[thingstrumperssay]

"Direct File" doesn't seem to be gone, (yet,) but it's really fucking scary that Musk is talking about getting rid of it

Direct Files helps you with your fucking taxes. Something that doesn't matter to Musk who doesn't pay taxes, but matters a whole lot to 99% of Americans.

[parsleysagerosemarytimemachine]

IRS Direct File

Hey, if you're in the US, it's tax season again!

Want to make it easy to deal with? And not pay someone else to do it for you? The IRS has continued to expand their free online services - if you live in any of these states (and don't have a more complicated situation), you can file directly with the government and cut out a lot of the cruft in the middle!

(That's almost half the country on-board now; if your state _isn't_ on the list, why don't you contact your governor and state legislature, and ask why they won't let the government money you spend on the IRS be used to provide government services for you...)

ALT

Here: IRS Direct File

Also, not to get political, but this would be a great time to do your taxes early, and support your professional civil servants by taking advantage of the services they provide. There's too many assholes out there who want to take it away from you, because they don't think the government should work for people; don't let them win. :)

[onlytiktoks]

[wat3rm370n]

Tax prep company lobbying to get Donald Trump to kill IRS Direct File.

Republican lawmakers ask Trump to kill IRS Direct File By Natalie Alms December 11, 2024 02:21 PM ET – NEXTGOV Nearly 30 House Republicans are asking President-elect Donald Trump to stop the IRS free tax filing service, Direct File, on day one of his new administration. {…} Intuit has long lobbied against a government-run system, as ProPublica has documented. It set a new record for itself in lobbying dollars in 2023, according to Open Secrets. Other tax prep companies and trade associations also increased lobbying spend that year. Supporters of Direct File say that it saves Americans time and money in tax filing. People spend 13 hours and $270 on filing taxes annually on average, although that varies for individuals, the IRS estimated last year.  That burden means that some people don’t file their taxes and miss out on benefits that are delivered through the tax code, like the Earned Income Tax Credit. Over 9 million people didn’t file returns to get benefits in the 2022 cycle, according to the IRS.

Letter to reps:

Keep and expand the IRS free tax filing “Direct File” service. We need this as a permanent option. It just makes sense. 

Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.

[emporiumofwonder]

Every year we help with taxes and we just want to say don't forget about Direct File! It's a new program that allows the IRS to do most of the hard work for filing your taxes. It's not the most expansive yet but if you qualify it's super easy! If Direct File doesn't work for you then you can use Free File!

https://directfile.irs.gov/

Also we're terrible at image editing so apologies for the garbage edit to this lovely picture.

[saywhat-politics]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program, an electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the agency for free, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. But Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation companies complained it was a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist, although they are hard to use.

The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have slashed their way through the federal government. Musk posted in February on his social media site, X, that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as Direct File.

[teledyn]

“IRS Direct File showed what’s possible when we invest in public infrastructure that puts people first. This fellowship is about building on that momentum to create tangible solutions that meet real needs.”

[literaryartisan]

Still linked to off irs.gov as of March 1, 2025!

The direct link is https://directfile.irs.gov/

Spotted in the notes, clarification (such that it is) from Snopes about what Musk may or may not have done, and that the treasury secretary has committed to maintaining DirectFile thorough the 2025 tax season.

Also I've been using Free File for years now, can vouch for it. And if you're in California and hit the wall where the Free File service wants you to pay for filing your state taxes? Take your federal return and go to www.ftb.ca.gov File for free there :)

Can't Have Nice Things

The Ketamine King Musk has shutdown the IRS's Free Tax Filing system.

Of all the things a government could off, a way to Freely calculate and file your taxes seems like a good one. But the richest man in the world thinks we shouldn't have that.

[irlpinkiepie]

psa for usamericans

if you live in any of the states below: the tax filing resource you should be looking for is IRS Direct File; you can file federal taxes directly on the IRS' website, they have a free support helpline if you're stuck, they'll also redirect you to a free preparer for state taxes, and it should work with most tax situations

if you live in any other state (or aren't eligible for Direct File) and your total income for the year was $84,000 or less, you're eligible for IRS Free File; this only covers federal taxes, and works through external providers, but will guarantee that you can use their tax preparation services for free

if you are eligible for Direct File, though, you should use it! obviously very few things about the current political situation are certain right now, but it is a genuinely good and revolutionary way to handle tax paperwork and it's a lot more likely to stick around and expand into more states if more people actually know how to access it and end up using it

[parsleysagerosemarytimemachine]

Hey, if you're in the US, it's tax season again!

Want to make it easy to deal with? And not pay someone else to do it for you? The IRS has continued to expand their free online services - if you live in any of these states (and don't have a more complicated situation), you can file directly with the government and cut out a lot of the cruft in the middle!

(That's almost half the country on-board now; if your state _isn't_ on the list, why don't you contact your governor and state legislature, and ask why they won't let the government money you spend on the IRS be used to provide government services for you...)

Go here: IRS Direct File

Also, not to get political, but this would be a great time to do your taxes early, and support your professional civil servants by taking advantage of the services they provide. There's too many assholes out there who want to take it away from you, because they don't think the government should work for people; don't let them win.

(More below the cut, because I want to send out a simpler version with less of my personal commentary. :)

Now, story time - this was available for me last year and I didn't use it; had a lot of stress going on and so just paid online for one of the big companies that I've used for years to file my taxes, because it was simple and what I already knew how to do. But this year, I wanted to give it a shot, and I thought it'd be useful to report back on the experience.

First thing you need to do is verify your identity; in my case a photo of both sides of my drivers license (other documents like a passport were also an option), and a brief video of my face. I gave them my phone number, and was texted a link that hooked in to my in-process filing so that I just took the pictures directly. Pretty simple, and the rainbow colors on the video were a nice distraction from seeing an unshaven early-morning version of myself. :)

Next was the time to fill in my forms. This is where I should say that there are still some situations where you'll have to do it another way:

You don't have to be from Illinois - I just am, so that's what it'll say here because I screen-shotted this as I went. But notable things they can't yet support are if you moved between states during the year, if you have self-employment or business income, any rental income, or any cryptocurrency income. (Hopefully these will be coming eventually; would love this to be as comprehensive as possible.)

I had to fill in the information from my W2 and assorted forms; there was a note about possibly pulling it directly from my employer's filing, but it wasn't working for me. OTOH, I wasn't able to upload the PDF last year with my paid tax preparation either, so nothing lost there.

Actually, overall it was I think smoother than the service I paid for - a series of check boxes and forms guiding me where to look for what numbers to type in; some complicated questions because the tax code is complicated, but as good an explanation from the IRS as to what it meant as anyplace else. Additionally the IRS doesn't feel the need to add flashy animations or advertise other paid services I might want to engage with, so I never had to fight the feeling that maybe it would be easier if I just gave them another $75. Love to just engage with a service that my taxes have already paid for.

All told, took maybe 30 minutes, at least half of which was setting up and verifying my account with the IRS, which I won't need to do again next year. Then another 10 minutes for my state taxes, which the IRS couldn't do directly for me, but _did_ have a helpful link to my state's free online filing and auto-filled out as much as they could.

Anyway, all told can't recommend this enough. If you have baseless tax anxiety, it's professional, simple, and free - what more could you ask for?

(If you have a basis for tax anxiety, I can't help you, sorry. I am not a tax lawyer, or any sort of government professional. :)

[alaturkaamerika]

ABD’de 30 Milyon Kişi İçin Vergi Kolaylığı: IRS, Ücretsiz Vergi Beyan Programını 25 Eyalete Genişletti!

💰 IRS’ten büyük vergi kolaylığı! 📑🚀 📢 Direct File programı artık 25 eyalette kullanılabilecek. ✅ 30 milyon kişi ücretsiz ve hızlı vergi beyanı yapabilecek. ⚠️ Sermaye kazancı veya kira geliri olanlar bu programdan yararlanamayacak. IRS’in Direct File Programı 25 Eyalete Genişletildi! 📌 ABD Gelir İdaresi (IRS), geçen yıl pilot olarak başlattığı ücretsiz vergi beyan programını genişletiyor. 📢…

[wausaupilotreview]

Free online tax-filing system now open for people in Wisconsin, 24 other states

Americans spend billions getting help filing their taxes every year. But a new online system with the IRS allows eligible taxpayers to file for free, including in Wisconsin.

By Peter Cameron, THE BADGER PROJECT Americans spend billions getting help filing their taxes every year. But a new online system with the IRS allows eligible taxpayers to file for free, including in Wisconsin. The federal Direct File system “integrates seamlessly” with the state’s free online filing program WisTax, the state Department of Revenue said in a press release, allowing eligible filers…

[robpegoraro]

Weekly output: T-Mobile buys much of UScellular, cookie-permissions dialogs, Verizon taps AST SpaceMobile, Android update, IRS keeps Direct File, Affordable Connectivity Program ends

The end of May coinciding with the end of a four-day workweek was a pleasant bonus of Memorial Day’s spot on the calendar this year. Another bonus: I had my last client-paid copy for the month filed by 2:09 p.m. Friday. Patreon readers got one other post, a rant about the woeful UX of a Hilton offer for double points on upcoming hotel stays. That didn’t get published until almost 9 p.m. on…

[tzikeh]

Already filed my taxes at direct file, for free.

didn't know people were this stupid. "I don't want the government filing my taxes" who do you think is taxing you, moron? is it really this easy to get conservatives on board with wasting their money for turbotax? lmfao