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

The program developed under President Joe Biden was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. But Republican lawmakers and commercial tax prep companies complained it was a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist, although 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.

The Treasury Department has not made a decision about the program’s future, according to an official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Adam Ruben, a vice president at the liberal- leaning Economic Security Project, said: “It is an outrage to see everyday taxpayers play no role in this decision. Cutting costs and saving money for families were just empty campaign promises.”

But David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which describes itself as a nonpartisan group that disseminates research and analysis on the government’s effects on the economy, said Direct File was “problematic” from day 1, citing its costs and noting that many people who started the process never finished.

The IRS has faced intense opposition to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress.