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.
I’m sure those companies are just looking out for wasteful spending of tax dollars. Not so they can collect and sell your data. Not so they can attempt to upsell you on getting virtual assistance when their own software is to complicated for the some users. Not so they can spring surprise charges on you at the last minute. But so they can charge processor fees for paying due taxes. Not so they can maintain monopolies that allow them to charge higher prices for their filing services. Not so they can continue to lobby the government to make the tax system more unnecessarily complicated and working even more in their favor. No, it’s the congressional budget they’re worried about. Sure.
Bro I didn’t feel like fucking with the free fillable forms (basically an electronic version equivalent to filling out and mailing in paper forms) so I used H&R Block this year. They forced me to pay 60 because I can’t file if something somewhat arbitrary “needs done” and having an HSA meant they forced me to input info about it for determining itemizing vs standard. I knew I was taking the standard, could tell them to ignore that HSA shit and still it wouldn’t let me file for free.
It was so stupid.
Next year I’ll not wait until the last minute and go through the trouble of actually filling out the forms but it’s a pain in the ass.
I wish our taxes were like everywhere else on this planet with a reasonable and effective government. Send me a check or a bill. If I think I’m due more or shouldn’t owe I’ll do my own audit of their math and can say “hey fix this” but 99% of the time it’s just right. So much easier and cheaper and simpler.
This country is a joke sometimes.