Mass. Sen. Warren, 175 Congressional Dems call on Trump not to shutter free tax-filing service (2025)

This year’s tax season might be in the books, but the fight over a government service that millions of Americans use to file their taxes is still going strong.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., joined by hundreds of her fellow Democrats on either side of Capitol Hill, called on the Trump administration to back off its plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program,

The electronic system, developed under the prior Biden administration, allows taxpayers to file their tax returns directly to the agency for free.

News of the decision to close it was first reported by The Associated Press, which cited two people familiar with the decision.

The system saved the average taxpayer $160 in tax-filing fees and saved them hours of work, Warren said in a statement on Tuesday.

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.

“Ending this free, easy-to-use, and popular program would be an insult to American taxpayers, eliminating an important alternative to commercial options provided by the tax prep industry,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Acting IRS Commissioner Michael Faulkender.

The lawmakers asked the Treasury Department and the IRS to respond to their demands to preserve Direct-File by May 5.

Seven of Massachusetts’ nine Democratic members of the U.S. House signed onto the letter, according to a statement from Warren’s office.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Warren’s Senate colleague, also signed the letter.

The Democratic lawmakers pushed back hard against what they described as industry efforts to end the program, asserting that the “free, easy-to-use tax filing program requires the [tax prep] industry to compete for taxpayer business and is a direct threat to the industry’s bottom line.”

The two people were not authorized to publicly discuss the plans and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The Treasury Department has not made a decision about the program’s future, according to an official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Adam Ruben, a vice president at the liberal-leaning Economic Security Project, said “the fix was in from the beginning.”

“It is an outrage to see everyday taxpayers play no role in this decision,” he said. “Cutting costs and saving money for families were just empty campaign promises.”

But David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which describes itself as a nonpartisan organization that disseminates research and analysis on the government’s effects on the economy, said Direct File was “problematic” from day 1.

He cited the program’s costs and noting that many people who started the process never finished. According to the IRS 423,450 taxpayers logged into Direct File and 140,803 submitted accepted returns in 2024.

On Tuesday, Warren and her colleagues remained steadfast in their support.

“The Trump Administration’s dismantling of a program that makes tax filing easier and free for millions of Americans is shameful. Taxpayers have spoken loudly and clearly: Direct File works well for them, and more Americans want access to it,” they wrote.