IRS Direct File remains open. That’s what you need to know about the IRS tax filing application after a post by Elon Musk on Monday created confusion about the program’s status.
Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had “deleted” 18F, the group responsible for creating the technology behind projects like the IRS’ Direct File program, in response to a post suggesting that “the far left government wide computer office” was recently taken over by Musk allies. That caused some users on social media to incorrectly report that the program itself had been axed.
18F is not a group inside the IRS but a team of designers, software engineers, strategists, and product managers within the General Services Administration (GSA). The team collaborates with other agencies to fix technical problems, build products, and improve public services through technology.
The group, whose name is short for the address of GSA headquarters in Washington, D.C. (1800 F Street), began in 2014 as part of efforts to improve and modernize government technology. In 2016, 18F became part of the Technology Transformation Services, or TTS. TTS services include Presidential Innovation Fellows, USAGov, and Login.gov. (If the latter sounds familiar, it’s the sign-in system for several government websites, including My Social Security on the Social Security Administration’s website and VA.gov for the Department of Veterans Affairs.) In 2017, TTS became part of GSA’s existing Federal Acquisition Service.
As of last year, 18F had completed 455 projects for 34 agencies and the Executive Office of the President, the Library of Congress, and the U.S. House of Representatives.
When it comes to getting paid, 18F does not receive appropriated funds from Congress. Instead, 18F charges partner agencies for work.
This isn’t the first time Musk has made news with Direct File.
Shortly after the election, Musk and Ramaswamy, at that time leaders of President Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” reportedly discussed creating a mobile app for Americans to file their taxes free with the IRS. That program already exists—it’s Direct File.
(Ramaswamy has since announced plans to leave DOGE to run for office.)
Direct File is the result of the Inflation Reduction Act. In that law, Congress tasked the IRS with delivering a report on, among other things, the cost of developing and running a free direct e-file tax return system, including costs to build and administer each release, with a focus on multi-lingual and mobile-friendly features and safeguards for taxpayer data. The IRS released the report to Congress in May 2023.
According to the report, the IRS studied how an IRS-run free direct e-file tax return system might work for several months. Most taxpayers surveyed by the agency reported interest in using an IRS-provided tool to prepare and file their taxes. At the time, the IRS indicated it hoped to make that a reality for some taxpayers for the 2024 tax filing season.
At the same time, the House GOP proposed an appropriations bill that would bar the IRS from using funding to develop or provide a free direct-file tax return system without the prior approval of the Committees on Appropriations of the House and the Senate, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee. The House failed to pass a long-term appropriations bill, and the short-term funding bill did not address the direct-file tax program.
When the filing season opened in January 2024, the IRS announced the limited-scope pilot, which it claimed would allow the IRS to evaluate the costs, benefits, and operational challenges associated with providing the option to taxpayers.
The pilot was, the IRS says, a success. According to the IRS, Direct File users reported a high degree of satisfaction and quick answers to their filing questions. In a GSA Touchpoints survey of more than 11,000 Direct File users, 90% of respondents ranked their experience with Direct File as “Excellent” or “Above Average.” Most survey respondents who filed taxes in the prior year reported having to pay to prepare their taxes last year. Among survey respondents, 47% of users paid to file their taxes last year, and 16% did not file last year at all.
When asked what they particularly liked, respondents most commonly cited Direct File’s ease of use, trustworthiness, and that it was free—predictably, commercial tax prep companies had lobbied against the development of the program.
According to the IRS, taxpayers filed—for free—to obtain more than $90 million in refunds and saved an estimated $5.6 million in filing costs.
(You can read what some taxpayers had to say to Forbes about their experiences here.)
The pilot’s successful launch resulted in the Treasury Department declaring that Direct File would be a permanent, free tax filing option.
The IRS announced that the number of states offering Direct File would increase for the 2025 filing season—and that the scope of income, credits, and deductions that the program could handle had also grown.
Direct File is now available in 25 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. That means 62% of Americans live in states offering Direct File.
Taxpayer eligibility to participate in the pilot last year was limited to taxpayers with only certain types of income, credits, and deductions—taxpayers with relatively simple returns. For the current filing season, Direct File supports additional income types and credits for individuals who meet other eligibility requirements, including the Credit for Other Dependents, Child and Dependent Care Credit, Premium Tax Credit, Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, as well as the deduction for Health Savings Accounts.
In the 2025 filing season, Direct File offers a new chatbot to provide guidance on the eligibility checker. Live Chat will again be available in English and Spanish and will have enhanced authentication and verification features to allow customer service representatives to provide more information. Taxpayers can also request a callback, during which dedicated IRS customer service representatives can provide technical support and answer basic tax questions in English and Spanish.
So what has changed? In a word: nothing.
There is no indication that the group has been terminated. Despite Musk’s comments, as of February 4, 18F’s website is still online. However, the team’s Twitter profile now reads “This account doesn’t exist.” That suggests that the only thing Musk actually deleted was the social media account (the GSA did not respond to a request for comment).
Importantly, Direct File remains open and operational. The program opened on the first day of the current tax season, January 27, 2025, and the page on the IRS website is online as of February 4, 2025:
While 18F helped create Direct File, the free filing program is being administered by the IRS, and there is no indication that will change. Even if the team were eliminated, that should not impact the filing season.
Additionally, the White House Office of Communications noted in an email to the press that “the official IRS Direct File website remains online and is accepting tax returns.”
Direct File has also been guaranteed to last throughout for the filing season by Treasury. At his confirmation hearing on January 16, now Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee, “I will commit that for this tax season … Direct File will be operative.”
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