Summary
Elon Musk claimed on X that he eliminated the IRS team responsible for the “Direct File” program, which allows Americans to file taxes online for free.
His statement was in response to a right-wing MAGA influencer who called the “direct file” tax program a “far-left government-wide computer office” built by Elizabeth Warren.
Thus far, the website remains active.
Why would you want your taxes done early? That makes absolutely no sense.
If you expect a refund, you have been doing your taxes wrong. Stop taking exemptions. You always want to owe under $1,000. Refund money is free money you lent the government that pays 0%.
If you owe money, you have even less reason to pay taxes early.
I just explained why it made sense. I want my money back before the government functions suffer from Musk and trump.
Listen, I know you’ve got a tiny bit of conventional wisdom and need to share it, but understand that one-size-fits-all doesn’t actually fit-all. When you don’t consider things like this, you come off as not only wrong but arrogant because you’are so confident in your wrongness you’re prescribing action when you don’t even know the situation.
I am getting a refund because I installed solar panels on my house and there are tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act that give me money back as in the form of credits against the tax I owe.
That you are getting solar tax credits doesn’t change that you could have and should in the future adjust your withholdings. You knew you were going to get money back months ago but didn’t change your withholdings.
Yes but how much? Was the project sure to have gone forward? Would there have been overruns? Have you not done project management before? Do you think its realistic to have perfect budgetary projections a year before even talking to a vendor?
The amount was fixed by the contract you signed. You knew what the tax credit was going to be because the salesman likely highlighted it as part of the sale. If you did it yourself, you’d have an every more detailed knowledge of the costs and timeline. Unless it was finished in December, you could have adjusted your withholdings.
I’ve done everything from $100 repairs on my house, $80k renovations, to multi million dollar business deals. Even the bat specialist who moved the bats out of my front required a contract.
It is completely absurd that you had an extremely unique tax situation ( tax credits on a project ending in December so no withholding adjustments could be made) yet your first post was authoritative general tax advice without mentioning it was specific to your condition. Then you had the nerve to call me out for giving general advice.
Are you saying you’re submitting a new W-4 to your employer for even a withholding change that would benefit you for as little as $100? And multiples of them a year as your tax burden changes?