IRS Direct File for free tax filing to be cut

The Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program, an electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the agency for free, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. But Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation companies complained it was a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist, although they are hard to use.

The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have slashed their way through the federal government. Musk posted in February on his social media site, X, that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as Direct File.

Direct File said its future became clear when the IRS staff assigned to the program were told in mid-March to stop working on its development for the 2026 tax filing season.

DeepSeek a ‘profound threat,’ report says

Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek is a “profound threat” to U.S. national security, a bipartisan House committee said Wednesday, urging Nvidia Corp. to hand over information on sales of chips the startup may have used to develop its breakthrough chatbot model.

The House Select Committee on China alleged in a report Wednesday that DeepSeek’s ties to Chinese government interests “are significant,” citing corporate filings obtained by the panel. Lawmakers claimed that DeepSeek’s founder, Liang Wenfeng, controls the firm alongside the High-Flyer Quant hedge fund in an “integrated ecosystem” linked to state-linked hardware distributors and Chinese research institute Zhejiang Lab.

The panel said its inquiry found that DeepSeek is powered by “tens of thousands of chips,” and the firm may have circumvented U.S. export controls in acquiring them. Pointing to information from analytics firm SemiAnalysis, lawmakers said DeepSeek has at least 60,000 Nvidia processors, with orders for “thousands” more of the company’s H20 chips.

Mortgage rates jump most since October

U.S. mortgage rates jumped last week by the most since October on the back of heightened volatility in the Treasury market, causing a pullback in financing applications for home purchases and refinancing.

The contract rate on a 30-year mortgage increased 20 basis points in the week ended April 11 to 6.81%, the highest since February, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. Rates on adjustable and 15-year fixed mortgages also climbed.

The jump in financing costs brought an abrupt end to a six-week stretch of increasing home-purchase applications, highlighting homebuyer sensitivity to interest rates as housing prices remain elevated. Mortgage Bankers Association’s purchase applications index dropped 4.9%. The refinancing gauge slumped more than 12%, the fourth decline in the last five weeks.

Mortgage rates track yields on 10-year Treasuries, which soared last week by a half percentage point as the trade war shakes global markets. The weekly surge in yields was the largest in more than two decades. Yields have gradually retreated so far this week.

Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg reports.