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Direct File's future uncertain as IRS faces deep workforce cuts
Direct File’s future uncertain as IRS faces deep workforce cuts
The Trump administration has eliminated or greatly reduced the staffing of teams at other agencies that helped launch Direct File.
Jory Heckman@jheckmanWFED
April 15, 2025 7:57 pm
6 min read
Aquiel Warner, a 31-year-old medical school student in Austin, Texas, completed her tax return this year before she finished cooking breakfast. ... “I literally did this while lying down in bed, with my tax documents next to me in my phone, which is not how I have ever done taxes in my life,” Warner said.
Warner is a full-time student and didn’t have any income to report this year. But using Direct File, a free online tax filing platform run by the IRS. She submitted her federal and state tax returns in about 10 minutes. ... This year, Direct File prepopulated many tax return fields based on data the IRS already had from taxpayers.
“I was expecting to get just a simple blank page, and I’d have to fill out everything. But everything was preloaded — my name, my personal information, my last address — I had to just answer simple questions, like any other tax software,” Warner said. “When it came time to enter my income, it already had my entire W-2 in the system. I went through it just to make sure everything was correct, but they had all the details already in there.”
Warner is one of approximately 32 million taxpayers who were eligible to use Direct File during this year’s tax filing season. But despite the positive reviews, Direct File’s future remains uncertain. ... The IRS is preparing for major workforce cuts now that the tax filing season is over. Those cuts, according to an internal memo obtained by Federal News Network, will also impact the team running Direct File.
{snip}
The Trump administration has eliminated or greatly reduced the staffing of teams at other agencies that helped launch Direct File.
Jory Heckman@jheckmanWFED
April 15, 2025 7:57 pm
6 min read
Aquiel Warner, a 31-year-old medical school student in Austin, Texas, completed her tax return this year before she finished cooking breakfast. ... “I literally did this while lying down in bed, with my tax documents next to me in my phone, which is not how I have ever done taxes in my life,” Warner said.
Warner is a full-time student and didn’t have any income to report this year. But using Direct File, a free online tax filing platform run by the IRS. She submitted her federal and state tax returns in about 10 minutes. ... This year, Direct File prepopulated many tax return fields based on data the IRS already had from taxpayers.
“I was expecting to get just a simple blank page, and I’d have to fill out everything. But everything was preloaded — my name, my personal information, my last address — I had to just answer simple questions, like any other tax software,” Warner said. “When it came time to enter my income, it already had my entire W-2 in the system. I went through it just to make sure everything was correct, but they had all the details already in there.”
Warner is one of approximately 32 million taxpayers who were eligible to use Direct File during this year’s tax filing season. But despite the positive reviews, Direct File’s future remains uncertain. ... The IRS is preparing for major workforce cuts now that the tax filing season is over. Those cuts, according to an internal memo obtained by Federal News Network, will also impact the team running Direct File.
{snip}
2 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
