kill switch why the IRS killed a free, easy way to file your taxes
Apr 8, 2026
Merici Vinton, a former IRS staffer and senior advisor who helped build Direct File, shares the story of a free, easy IRS tax-filing pilot. She describes the careful, iterative build and early user love. The conversation covers industry pushback, political shifts including DOGE and Elon Musk’s intervention, and why the program was ultimately shut down despite technical success.
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Government Can Build Products People Love
- Direct File showed government can build a delightful product with high trust, registering an NPS of +74 and better satisfaction than Apple or Netflix.
- Marici Vinton built it iteratively across states, starting with one user and scaling to 12 states to avoid a catastrophic big‑bang rollout.
First User Was A Single Mom Who Cried
- The pilot began with a single user: a Texas single mom who cried when she submitted after saving hundreds on prep fees.
- Engineers fixed a six‑hour submission bug at 10pm with 130 people on a call before her return processed.
Prepopulating Returns Uses IRS Data To Improve Accuracy
- Direct File pre‑populated returns using IRS data so taxpayers only had to verify numbers, reducing errors and increasing accuracy.
- The IRS's incentive structure (accuracy, security) differs from private firms that monetize user data, making a.gov more trustworthy.