Tesla (TSLA, Financials) CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who would run the Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration, are considering a mobile app for free tax filing, according to unidentified sources cited in the Washington Post.
The suggested project would be a component of a larger endeavor by the group to save government expenditure and simplify policies. Talks on the app are still in their early phases as the change of authority and department establishment have not started yet.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration had unveiled a free tax-filing website for 2024. Under the Internal Revenue Service’s pilot phase, which let over 100,000 people use the site to submit taxes, Republicans opposed the measure, however, and under the Trump administrationwhich has declared plans to revoke the lawit may encounter further difficulties.
Among the concepts under review to completely restructure federal processes under the Trump administration’s government transformation program is a possible tax-filing app. Once the government takes office and finishes the changeover process, more developments are predicted.
Several businesses in the tax preparation sector might be greatly affected by the planned creation of a free mobile tax-filing application by the Department of Government Efficiency of the Trump administration. Especially notable players that may be impacted include Intuit (INTU, Financials), the producer of TurboTax, and H&R Block (HRB, Financials).
After news of the government’s possible foray into the tax-filing industry, Intuit’s shares dropped more than 5%, suggesting investor worries about further competition. Analogous changes in H&R Block’s shares resulted in an 8% decline.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
