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 go...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25117460

Summary

Elon Musk claimed on X that he eliminated the IRS team responsible for the “Direct File” program, which allows Americans to file taxes online for free.

His statement came in response to a right-wing influencer criticizing the program as government overreach.

However, the Treasury Department confirms that the Direct File system remains active, offering free tax filing with customer support.

The program, available in English and Spanish, is optional, allowing taxpayers to choose between using it or filing their taxes manually.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    51·
    9 hours ago

    Even this easy file was ineligible for anyone who did any IRA which americans have to do to have retirment funds and is super common. Of course the idea was the thing was supposed to be expanded not sunk.

    • Bronzebeard@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      5 hours ago

      They’re still developing it. This was a test rollout to see if they could do it. IRS software was still running on cobol mainframes. Upgrading from these things take time and a lot of development. And they’re doing it from scratch.

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
        1·
        5 hours ago

        I mean its sorta funny though because if someone does not put in their taxes the irs will send them a filled out one and ask for a signature to go forward. They also have this great form 1040x that would be perfect to send a prefilled tax return out and leave room for modifications.

        • Bronzebeard@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          3 hours ago

          This real only works for W2 workers, and a few 1099ers.

          They know when you leave some things (banks, brokerages, employers) that also report to them off. They don’t know everything.

          So yes, they could prefill it a majority, but the filing companies didn’t want that to happen

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
      1·
      5 hours ago

      Sorry as a non American IDK what IRA is in this context, usually it’s Irish Republican Army, but that doesn’t fit the context. Obviously pension funds are automatic too here, I just forgot to mention those.

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
        2·
        5 hours ago

        sorry I thought mentioning it had to do with retirement would be enough. if you put money into a special account you can’t touch till you retire then they will not tax it right away but only when you withdraw it once your retired. Alternatively you can pay the tax and put it into an account where they will not tax any investment growth of it or tax what you withdraw. Yeah I even feel stupid typing it out. I hope this helps anyone in a country with politicians trying to sell privatizing shit.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
          1·
          5 hours ago

          sorry I thought mentioning it had to do with retirement would be enough.

          I prefer to know what an acronym stands for, before claiming I know what is meant, and looking up 3 letter acronyms for another country is not as easy as I suspect most Americans think it is.

          But from your explanation I now figure the RA is retirement account, so now I only lack the meaning of the I? Which with my new knowledge I could look up, and find out means Individual.

          So now I know in this context, IRA is Individual Retirement Account.