In its second year, Direct File is a free service for eligible American taxpayers to file taxes directly with the IRS. Building on last year’s successful pilot, this year’s Direct File is active in 25 states for the free filing of simple tax returns — more than doubling the number of states as the pilot, and with an expanded tax scope. 18F has been supporting the IRS to create and launch its Direct File project alongside the US Digital Service, vendor teams, and participating states.

Direct File is still active, and eligible taxpayers are encouraged to consider it as an option to file this tax season. However, the dismantling of 18F recklessly cuts off those team members of the Direct File project. This will directly affect the work planned for future tax years to add more tax forms and situations. The abrupt terminations and absence of any time for transition planning stretches an already lean team, and deprives them of critical project background and knowledge.