Trump officials want to rewrite tax season. Cross your fingers and file like normal, experts say.
DOGE wants access to filers’ data, and the commerce secretary says Trump wants to scrap the IRS. But filing a return remains mandatory — the earlier the better, tax advisers say.
This tax season is rife with uncertainty, as the world’s richest person looks to shake up the Internal Revenue Service and the commerce secretary calls to eliminate it — but filers still need to carry on as usual, tax experts say.
“Whatever they’re going to have to do to make their tax return accurate and true, they have to do,” said Christina Wease, director of the Alvin. L. Storrs Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic at Michigan State University.
“In the face of uncertainty,” tax filers should consider getting their returns in as soon as they can, ideally electronically, said Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “This was the case a few years ago with the pandemic,” and the advice still holds true, she said — echoing a common refrain among tax advisers even in uneventful tax seasons.
The current season has already been anything but.
Alina Habba, an adviser to President Donald Trump, said at a conservative conference Thursday, “We’re firing a bunch of the IRS today, so don’t worry.” Her remarks followed Associated Press reporting that thousands of probationary employees are slated to be cut this week.
Rating: 5