Washington – Mia Francis, a 22 -year -old barista from Boston, presented her taxes on her own this year for the first time, using a free governmental presentation program that made it easy because she did most of the work for her.
Francis said he took 45 minutes to finish his taxes with the IRS direct file programA system for submitting electronic tax declarations that IRS made permanent last year and has been implemented in 25 states.
Francis awaits a reimbursement of $ 530. And because he saved cash when he did not use a commercial tax preparation company to present his taxes, “that money will be very useful,” he said. She plans to use it for a trip to Amsterdam this year.
Despite its popularity between Francis and other members of the American public, the fate of the IRS direct archive remains clear how Elon Musk and the Government Efficiency Department Aggravate through the federal bureaucracy. Until now, the program is still available for use before the deadline for submitting taxes on April 15, and Treasury Secretary Scott Besent committed during your January confirmation audience To keep it, at least for this tax season.
Representatives of the Internal Tax Service and Doge did not respond to the requests for comments from Associated Press on their direct file plans. But a Republican tax expert says that IRS never received the authorization from the Congress to create a direct file. And republican legislators and commercial taxes preparation complain that the program is a loss of money because there are already free presentation programs, although they are difficult to use.
The direct file was implemented as a pilot program in 2024 after the IRS had the task of investigating how permanent fact.
The IRS accepted 140,803 statements presented by taxpayers using the direct file in the 12 states where the last tax season was available. It has expanded to include half of the country this year. It is not clear how many taxpayers have used the direct file this year.
Merici Vinton, an original direct architect of the United States digital service, pointed out the ease and accessibility of the program and described it “a great example of how people should interact with the government in the 21st century.”
“We effectively launched a startup in the IRS,” he said. “It was built by an internal product team, iteratively, and we sent updates to the software to improve the user experience in real time based on the comments. If we continue to invest in it, both taxpayers and IRS can benefit. “
Musk published last month at his social media site that had “eliminated” 18F, a government agency that worked on technological projects such as the IRS direct file program. This led to some confusion about whether the direct file is still available for taxpayers. However, conversations within the IRS indicate that a decision has not been made on whether to reduce the program, two people familiar with these conversations tell the AP.
Former IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, who supervised the deployment of the program, said that treasure officials who consider the future of the program should take into account “the voice of taxpayers.”
“My reflection is that taxpayers are in very different situations and have very different preferences about how they want to present,” he said. “Those whose preference is to file electronically directly with the IRS for free, it is a good option to have in the menu. But you should not replace other options.”
Derrick Plummer, an Intuit spokesman, one of the largest commercial tax preparation companies, said that the preparation of free taxes had been available for years before the direct file appeared.
“The direct file of the IRS is a solution in search of a problem, a loss of taxpayers dollars and a drainage of the critical resources of the IRS,” he said. A Treasury General Inspector of June 2024 for the Fiscal Administration Report estimates that the annual costs of the direct file may vary from $ 64 million to $ 249 million.
“The IRS must focus on its main mission, including data privacy and customer service, while policy formulators in Washington focus on simplifying the tax code,” Plummer said.
However, other taxpayers, such as Aquiel Warner, 31, in Austin, Texas, say they want to avoid using commercial tax preparation software.
Warner presented his taxes with the direct file in 10 minutes using his phone and a chatbot that provides the IRS. He likes the convenience of the program, which prepared his tax forms and that allowed a free presentation. Although you have some concerns about the privacy of the data in the government, it is reported that Doge has access to some of the internal IRS systems, it feels safer because of the IRS than the commercial taxes preparation services.
“I don’t want to be a product. I don’t want my information to sell when I present my taxes, “he said.” I have to present my taxes and I do not want them to put me in a situation in which, to present my taxes, I have to pay to get the help I need because I am not a professional tax coach. “
Grover Norquist, president of American for fiscal reform, said that IRS never obtained an explicit permit from Congress to create the direct file system.
“It really doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea. It was carried out illegally, “he said, asking the Congress and the Department of Justice to investigate what he says is an unauthorized expense that was created in the creation of a direct file.
Democratic legislators in January asked the Besent Commissioner and the IRS Commissioner, Billy Long, to preserve the program. They wrote In a letter That “finishing the direct file would damage everyday Americans.” Long has not yet received a nomination audience.
Meanwhile, Musk and his computer programmers could decide to exercise their technological skills to boost the program, or use the same digital knowledge to eliminate it.
For its part, Werfel expects the agency to maintain the program. “It is a great country with many taxpayers with many different preferences,” he said.
Francis, Boston Barista, also expects.
“There are many young people like me who are working and discovering how to present their taxes, this makes it faster and easier,” he said.
