Elon Musk Eliminates Elizabeth Warren’s IRS Direct File Team

Elon Musk just announced that he has eliminated 18F — a government agency that focused on tech projects.

The group was most known for working with Elizabeth Warren to create the IRS Direct File program, which was released last March and allows people to let the government prepare their tax returns at no financial cost.

In a response to a post by ALX on X about the 18F group, Elon Musk replied that it has been “deleted.”

Here’s that post:

That group has been deleted https://t.co/TICeriaLlA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025

The New York Post has more details:

Tech titan Elon Musk announced Monday that the General Services Administration’s tech arm, 18F, has been “deleted,” appearing to confirm prior reports of its demise as he continues his crusade against government bloat.

The group, 18F, helped develop the IRS’ Direct File program, which was championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and has been in the crosshairs of conservatives.

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“That group has been deleted,” Musk declared on X in response to a user claiming that the “far left government-wide computer office … was recently taken over by allies” of the Tesla and SpaceX boss.

18F aided other government departments in developing or purchasing technology and was housed in the GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) department.

The group functioned as a sister organization of the US Digital Service, which was rechristened under the Trump administration as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk now leads.

As of noon ET Monday, 18F’s X account was gone.

To be clear, Direct File is still available for people to use this tax year.

Only the group behind the program has been eliminated, so far.

AP explained:

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, but the free filing program is still available, at least for the coming tax season.

While Musk’s tweet may have intimated that the group of workers had been eliminated, an individual with knowledge of the IRS workforce said the Direct File program was still accepting tax returns. The individual spoke anonymously with The Associated Press because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

As of Monday evening, 18F’s website was still operational, as was the Direct File website. But the digital services agency’s X account was deleted.

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Still, the confusion led to the ire of many on X, who criticized Elon Musk’s move.

Take a look at these critical responses:

This was the best thing Warren had done- tax filing should be easy, free and automatic like it is in other countries.

This is the worst thing that @DOGE could possibly cut. https://t.co/fVSUGtAwgP pic.twitter.com/sUY7on7bR6

— Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi) February 3, 2025

ELON, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU GOT THIS ONE WRONG! This was actually an effort from within the IRS to make it easier for blue collar people to file their taxes and reform the broken, convoluted system to file through the IRS before this and replace it with UX that made sense.

— Victor Lee Wyatt (@victorleewyatt) February 3, 2025

In all, Elon Musk’s decision to delete 18F appears to be the latest move in his question to cut down on BILLIONS of dollars of government spending.

The leftist tech group simply wasn’t needed anymore.

Though, Brian Eskow made a great point in response to critics:

Haters: I can't file my taxes for free anymore

Elon: When I'm done, there won't be any taxes left to pay

— Brian Eskow (@brianeskow) February 3, 2025

So, what’s next?

One possibility is that DOGE will develop and release its own tax filing app, as the WaPo reported today.

Per CBS News:

H&R Block and Intuit shares dropped on Tuesday after the Washington Post reported that President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is run by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is looking at developing a free app for people to file their taxes.

The publication cited two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, in reporting that the leaders of the incoming administration’s DOGE discussed the idea of crafting a mobile app to file income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

What are your thoughts on this?

Would you use a DOGE tax filing app to file your own taxes?