Ben Borodach

@aakashgupta Most taxpayers can file for free at Chime, PayPal and over 30 other finance apps. While direct file only covered limited situations and few states, this solution covers most situations and all states. The private sector can also be part of the solution

Intuit spent $4 million in lobbying last year to kill a federal program that would have saved Americans $23 billion in filing fees. That was a record: $3.9 million in 2025, nearly the same in 2023 and 2024, $53.8 million total since 2004. In November 2025, the Trump administration formally shut down IRS Direct File, the program that let Americans file federal returns directly with the government for free. The ROI math is the best trade in corporate America. Intuit's TurboTax generated $4.9 billion in FY2025 Consumer Group revenue. Treasury estimated Direct File would cost $10 per return to run. TurboTax charges around $128 for a "free" filing once the upsells hit, per a simulation by Senator Warren's office. Then the actual mechanics. 70% of American taxpayers are already eligible to file free through the existing Free File program. Only 2-3% ever do. Intuit and H&R Block added noindex tags to their free-filing pages so Google couldn't surface them. They ran "free" ads that upsold at checkout. The FTC made them pay $141 million to settle in 2022. While lobbying that Direct File was "unnecessary, costly, and unauthorized," Intuit collected federal R&D tax credits roughly equal to what the entire Direct File program cost to run. The company you pay $128 to file is using your tax credits to lobby against letting you file for free. In December 2024, Intuit wrote Trump's inaugural committee a $1 million check. Direct File died 11 months later. Most OECD countries pre-fill your tax return. The government tells you what it thinks you owe, you check it, you submit. America is the only major economy where a private company has convinced the government that "collecting the taxes" and "telling you what you owe" are two separate products taxpayers need to buy one of. That's the scam.

@DerekGrover @jimcramer Great to hear! Thank you for sharing your experience.

@jimcramer I did my taxes w April via HOOD. Took 37 minutes. TurboTax is toast.

Perplexity just pushed me a very strong way to file my taxes. I have to have mine prepared but i could see why that part of Intuit's business is under such assault

@andrewchen Love to see tax on the list! Will be happy to power whoever is building this with @getapril_tax

Who’s working on this idea: Openclaw for personal finance - integrates w all your banks/cards/etc - understands tax returns and filings - monitors portfolio and competitors - digests proprietary data sources (credit card panels, app rankings, and etc) - reads company news and X Etc etc

@altcap @TrumpAccounts We have already seen thousands of Americans say “yes” by filing through @getapril_tax this year through platforms like Chime, PayPal, OnePay and others

90% of families filing taxes early are claiming their $1000 account by simply replying “yes” on their tax form. You can sign up directly on @TrumpAccounts starting this Sunday when we drop our Superbowl Ad just after the natl anthem! 🇺🇸🚀

This tax season, we’re collaborating with @getapril_tax to give U.S. PayPal Debit Mastercard® customers the ability to file their 2025 federal and state tax returns for free using april’s DIY tax filing service. Customers can use PayPal to pay their taxes or receive their refund, too. Learn more: paypal.com/us/digital-wal… This card is issued by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated.

@fintechjunkie Wise words!

@pratyushbuddiga @nickabouzeid @haystackvc @honam Cool to see more innovative tax companies succeeding and getting funded

Thrilled to share we’re co-leading this round with XYZ and @haystackvc. Nick is a throwback to a different era - a true “hedgehog founder” in the vernacular of @honam. “In the end, we agree with Jim Collins – that Hedgehogs are the ones who build great, lasting companies. As entrepreneurs, they are the rarest of breeds – those who can start something anew, make it work, stick with it, and build something special, and ultimately, inspire others along the way, with their determination, dedication and commitment.” Hedgehog founders are one of my favorite archetypes - @khawajasn is a canonical example for me and why we partnered with Shinkei in their seed round before Founders Fund led their Series A. Nick has that same sort of relentlessness and determination and customer obsession. It’s why Rivet works with some of the leading AI companies in the world, from Cursor to Cognition and Chai Discovery. AI services is a core idea we believe in at Susa. We were fortunate to be the first investors in @hanoverpark last year, and Rivet fits squarely into that thesis area. It’s rare you meet someone and you know exactly what they’ll be doing in 20+ years– and that their business will still be compounding that far into the future. Long-term thinking is rare these days. Yet when I sat across from Nick in his Woodbury home, I could see the vision: he’ll still be building @RivetTax, and it’ll be the premier corporate accounting firm on the planet. Full blog at link in my bio. If you’re a founder looking for best-in-class corporate tax, reach out to Nick or me. Pumped to be on this journey!

@HarryStebbings @chetanp @honam @rabois @jasonlk @bdeeter @ttunguz Easy come, easy go

"Triple, triple, double, double is dead. Going from $1M to $3M to $9M is not interesting. You have to go $1M to $15M to $100M." @chetanp @honam @rabois @jasonlk @bdeeter @ttunguz is triple triple double double dead? Have our growth expectations changed forever?

@alexgraveley Challenge accepted. I'd say ~1 year away for @getapril_tax (depending on priority, which "AGI" like isn't an obvious choice). Key is carefully crafting which parts are AI and which parts are pure deterministic software. Luckily the slow deterministic part is mostly behind us

@fendien This kind of crap also drags the companies and founders not doing this as the comparison is benchmarked to metrics and growth that don’t exist in reality as every investment is an opportunity cost of those dollars

This sort of behavior is just the tip of the iceberg of what we'll see emerge given how quickly large funding rounds have gotten done for hype-y AI startups. "Airtable’s logo was featured on the 11x website until a few weeks ago and, as of March 20, 11x’s website still named Airtable as a “customer” on the company’s “manifesto” page. Airtable told TechCrunch it wasn’t a customer and never gave 11x permission to use its logo" Unfortunately hype cycles like this breed fraud and other bad behavior. Be careful out there.

@gokulr Same for tax

Just heard of a law firm that fired their legal AI vendor after they missed a court date for a $100m case. In several verticals like law, health, etc, accuracy of the AI tool is non negotiable - it can be a matter of life and death or have massive financial implications.

@pitdesi @DOGE @pitdesi respectfully disagree. Americans can file taxes for free now in many venues - cash app taxes, chime, etc with a better customer UX and at a lower cost for taxpayers. That money should go into improving IRS tech, which is far outdated and limiting taxpayer experience

This was the best thing Warren had done- tax filing should be easy, free and automatic like it is in other countries. This is the worst thing that @DOGE could possibly cut.

@elonmusk Check out @getapril_tax avg time to file is 22 min and most American can file for free!

Tax regulations need a massive reset. They are torturing the American people!

@iamjakestream @msuster +1

I hate the word "agentic" so much...

@signulll @getapril_tax

no one i have met with a net worth between $1m & $15m is happy with their CPA or tax guy. i think the CPA + tax industry will be reinvented from first principles with ai. it will start with the high earners above & work its way down to everyone—that means turbotax will be deeply disrupted by ai. why? turbotax is not a toothbrush journey, people use it because they have to once a year. the brand has such negative perceptions & largely exists solely because the lobbying arm that powers intuit. hopefully DOGE guts irs & removes complexity… which would mean tax savings will be the biggest pain point, not the filing itself (reasoned LLM’s can be incredibly good at both). who is building in this space with a design first approach? i’d like to invest. i would personally like to see intuit as a company fade into the ether.

april won the Pitch Challenge at @team8group 's Fintech Village today. We love seeing the april logo on the @NYSE floor. As they say, it takes a village. #TaxTwitter #fintechnews

ICYMI: We launched aprilPro: blending our award-winning digital experience with expert tax pros for complex tax needs or those who prefer pro support. Learn more via @AccountingToday accountingtoday.com/news/april-rel…

@elonmusk @DOGE Check out @getapril_tax we automated the tax law using AI. Build the first new national e-file provider in 15 years. Happy to help!

Wow, this needs to be greatly simplified @DOGE!

@CallMeGillette @getapril_tax @twifintech Wanted to ensure you had a good nights sleep!

Oh man. When it comes to Money2020, the @getapril_tax team doesn’t miss. @BBorodach

Today's newsletter brought to you by our friends at @getapril_tax. Find them this Money2020 at Cabana 10, poolside at the Venetian: getapril.com/money2020?utm_…