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Why won't a non-profit pick up the open-source code they released and modify it for 2026?

Everybody seems to care about this issue so much, so this feels like an extremely high-impact thing to do.

There are already ways to file your taxes for free or very cheap, e.g. https://www.freetaxusa.com. It would be hard for anyone to compete with a free or very cheap competitor, even as a nonprofit.

Yes, but Direct File moved us closer to a future where the government could pre-fill data for (and/or potentially just send a bill to) tax filers. Even if other free tax filing software exists, the loss of Direct File is painful because it was advancing the precedent of first party tax software.

That’s valid, but my comment was about why a (non-governmental) third party or charity wouldn’t want to take the open source Direct File software and run with it. If they aren’t actually the government running it, it completely loses its primary advantage.

Just because an org is non-profit doesn't mean that it isn't out for itself.

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