Gyroscopic Investing

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped to build the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax-filing service and revamp websites across government, a spokesperson for the General Service Administration said on Saturday.

GSA’s Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd notified employees of a digital service team known as 18F that their jobs had been terminated as they had been identified as “non-critical."

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musks- ... 025-03-01/

The team that built Free File was let go but the service still exists.

https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-free-fil ... s-for-free

Sure, for now. Software works until it doesn't if it isn't being actively maintained.

ochotona wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 7:43 am Sure, for now. Software works until it doesn't if it isn't being actively maintained.

In Trumpland .... it's the quintessential only think about today.

Here is an update article regarding it:

https://www.caniretireyet.com/irs-free- ... date-2025/

IRS Free File Update for 2025
By
David Champion
March 3, 2025
Taxes
8 Comments

It looks like "Free File" is different from "Free File Fillable Forms", which is the great product that I use. Or are they the same thing?

Xan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:03 am It looks like "Free File" is different from "Free File Fillable Forms", which is the great product that I use. Or are they the same thing?

You've been using the latter for years? The former is something relatively new?

yankees60 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 9:08 am

ochotona wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 7:43 am Sure, for now. Software works until it doesn't if it isn't being actively maintained.

In Trumpland .... it's the quintessential only think about today.

You guys are trying too hard to perpetuate a particular narrative. It just makes you look silly.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:24 am

Xan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:03 am It looks like "Free File" is different from "Free File Fillable Forms", which is the great product that I use. Or are they the same thing?

You've been using the latter for years? The former is something relatively new?

Many years. I don't know how old the other one is or really whether or not it's the same thing.

flyingpylon wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:01 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 9:08 am

ochotona wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 7:43 am Sure, for now. Software works until it doesn't if it isn't being actively maintained.

In Trumpland .... it's the quintessential only think about today.

You guys are trying too hard to perpetuate a particular narrative. It just makes you look silly.

There is only one person who has consistently looked silly for almost 10 years now without letup.

Apparently the team that got let go also built IRS Direct Pay, which I now use the dickens out of, before I had to write out a paper check, print and clip out the 1040-ES, fill it out in black or blue ink, put a stamp on it, mail it, hope it wouldn't get stolen.

ochotona wrote: ↑Tue Mar 04, 2025 11:08 am Apparently the team that got let go also built IRS Direct Pay, which I now use the dickens out of, before I had to write out a paper check, print and clip out the 1040-ES, fill it out in black or blue ink, put a stamp on it, mail it, hope it wouldn't get stolen.

I've always used EFTPS to make tax payments. Does IRS Direct Pay do the same thing? It's starting to sound like there are multiple separate systems that all do the same thing. Maybe some of them should indeed go away.

Xan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 04, 2025 11:12 am

ochotona wrote: ↑Tue Mar 04, 2025 11:08 am Apparently the team that got let go also built IRS Direct Pay, which I now use the dickens out of, before I had to write out a paper check, print and clip out the 1040-ES, fill it out in black or blue ink, put a stamp on it, mail it, hope it wouldn't get stolen.

I've always used EFTPS to make tax payments. Does IRS Direct Pay do the same thing? It's starting to sound like there are multiple separate systems that all do the same thing. Maybe some of them should indeed go away.

I have also used EFTPS only.

That has been mandated for decades for organizations to use to make tax payments. It is my belief that you and I are one of the few individuals using it as it's not easy to set up.

With one person I work with at a business she uses the Direct Pay which is much easier to set up.

I've never looked at Direct Pay so cannot compare it to EFTPS.

thanks for the tip about EFTPS! Good to have an alternative. It looks more secure.

ochotona wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:02 am thanks for the tip about EFTPS! Good to have an alternative. It looks more secure.

It was set up in the 90s and eventually all organizations making payroll tax deposits could no longer make them by check at a bank but, instead, had to make them all online using EFTPS. Sometime later I found out that individuals could also use this form of payment. But it's not as simple as going there today and getting set up today and using it today. Unless it's changed. In the old days you needed to wait for information from them in the mail to continue the process of getting set up with it.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:27 am

ochotona wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:02 am thanks for the tip about EFTPS! Good to have an alternative. It looks more secure.

It was set up in the 90s and eventually all organizations making payroll tax deposits could no longer make them by check at a bank but, instead, had to make them all online using EFTPS. Sometime later I found out that individuals could also use this form of payment. But it's not as simple as going there today and getting set up today and using it today. Unless it's changed. In the old days you needed to wait for information from them in the mail to continue the process of getting set up with it.

I've been using it a long time and I don't think there was any physical mail involved in getting set up.

Xan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:39 am

yankees60 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:27 am

ochotona wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:02 am thanks for the tip about EFTPS! Good to have an alternative. It looks more secure.

It was set up in the 90s and eventually all organizations making payroll tax deposits could no longer make them by check at a bank but, instead, had to make them all online using EFTPS. Sometime later I found out that individuals could also use this form of payment. But it's not as simple as going there today and getting set up today and using it today. Unless it's changed. In the old days you needed to wait for information from them in the mail to continue the process of getting set up with it.

I've been using it a long time and I don't think there was any physical mail involved in getting set up.

Do you remember when? I still have all they sent to me (located only a few feet from me now). I do remember them setting me either some codes or passwords to get going. And, then the same when I'd been inactive for too long.

Xan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:46 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:24 am

Xan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:03 am It looks like "Free File" is different from "Free File Fillable Forms", which is the great product that I use. Or are they the same thing?

You've been using the latter for years? The former is something relatively new?

Many years. I don't know how old the other one is or really whether or not it's the same thing.

Yeah, I use it too. I don’t know if I’d call it great but it gets the job done.