Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk posted Monday on his social media site that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as the IRS’ Direct File program. This led to some confusion about whether Direct File is still available to taxpayers,

President Trump’s “special government employee,” Elon Musk, announced on Monday that he has dissolved the Internal Revenue Service’s free file program, effectively firing the staff who worked on the popular program.

The Internal Revenue Service's new free online Direct File service is open for business. Last year, more than 20,000 Florida taxpayers took advantage of the pilot program that allowed taxpayers to prepare and file their taxes online directly to the government for free,

IRS Direct File launched last year as a way to file your taxes with the federal tax agency — for free. At the time, there were only 12 participating pilot states. This tax season, twenty-five states will participate, though the IRS invited all states and the District of Columbia to join in.

Direct File is an online program offered by the IRS that allows you to file your tax return directly to the agency for free. It launched as a pilot program in 2024 across 12 states as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022.

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.