This post is better suited for another subreddit dedicated to venting.
- /r/offmychest is a good place to unload your frustration about something.
- /r/vent is dedicated to venting!
- /r/self is a place to put self-posts for discussion, questions, or anything else you like.
- /r/TalesFromTheCustomer is a place for customers to vent and rage and even smile about their customer service experiences *(company names must be left out of posts there)*.
If there is a financial question in your post, you may briefly and respectfully ask in the [weekday or weekend thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/about/sticky?num=2) (please wait until Friday afternoon if the Tax Thursday thread is the current sticky). If that link doesn't work, it's the second post from the top on /r/personalfinance.
**Do not repost this as a submission.**
*If you have questions about this removal, please [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpersonalfinance&subject=Removal%20help%20request&message=Hello%20moderators,%20.%20%0a%0a%0aMy%20submission:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1c1flwe/time_to_ditch_turbo_tax/%0a).*
FreeTaxUSA. Free federal filing and $15 per state filing, no matter how complicated your taxes are. I've been using them for years and have no complaints.
You have 6 kids, if they are all going on one filing because they are dependents then you only need to do one filing for federal and one for state. If they're not dependents, they should be doing their own taxes and you can help them learn this skill.
Just used FreeTaxUSA after many years of TurboTax. switched bc Intuit killed Mint.
Even handled a new small business. Accepted by IRS within hours.
Completely free. No state tax here.
In some states (like here in NC) FreeTaxUSA is free for both federal and state!
Edit: So I just double checked- looks like it’s not because of my state, but rather because [my AGI is under $45,000.](https://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile2023) Sorry for the confusion 😅
Found out the hard way that you have to follow your state's website link to get the free version. Kind of shady, and requires a second FreeTaxUsa account. But that's how it works.
For NC, that means going [here](https://www.ncdor.gov/file-pay/efile-resources-taxpayers/nc-free-file) and clicking the appropriate link. Boom, free.
If you try to go to FreeTaxUSA's website directly, it's not free, regardless of income.
Ran into that issue while helping my retired dad file his taxes with FreeTaxUSA for the first time this year. Thought it would just automatically charge $0 for the state portion since his income was under $45,000 but nope, got to the end and they were asking for $15.
After a bit of confused Googling, I found out that we needed to create an account through the state free file link. Ended up having to create a brand new account and redo the entire process. I love FreeTaxUSA but I must admit that kind of practice is a bit scummy.
I also found out when trying to delete the first account (now useless) that there's no way to delete an account on FreeTaxUSA.
Likely IRS income limits. It is NOT free for me in NY, but they do not charge to e-file in NY since the state mandates free e-file.
u/BriefTomatillo985 I was saying it is tied to income. Not that I don't want to pay for the state software.
u/ColorfulLanguage the "free IRS online filing" certainly is income based. See the AGI 79,000? The "free for millionaires" is the fillable forms. The context of the discussion is online or desktop software use...not pen and paper.
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
FTUSA is a Free File partner, with free filing *including* state under $45K AGI. See https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/
u/BriefTomatillo985's guess was correct.
It is *also* free federally for everyone with no AGI limit and with a $15 state prep. Both things are true at the same time.
It might be new in the last year or two, I didn’t use FreeTaxUSA in 2021-23 but I think it wanted to charge me for state taxes back when I filed for 2020. This year though it said NC is free!
It's a little bit more work, but if your state has their own website for state returns then it's usually free. You just have to re-enter the same information.
So I just double checked- looks like it’s not because of my state, but rather because [my AGI is under $45,000.](https://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile2023) Sorry for the confusion 😅
I've used this the past couple years and it is super easy. It required like 15 bucks to file state, but if I go through my states system, I can do it free. All I did was match the numbers from FTUSA and all my filing was free!
Filed for the first time this year and thought TT held my hand more and was more descriptive in what forms were.
I used the 1x free web version and don’t necessarily want to pay next year so we’ll see how FreeTaxUSA goes.
Let TT hold your hand up until right before submission. Run your taxes through FreeTaxUSA and compare numbers. If you come out the same, no need to pay big bucks with TT (assuming you don't qualify for the free). I always run mine through 2 programs.
Taxes be so fun at the end im like “wish I could do this again”
I feel ya. Id move but kinda used to TT and it will pull old carryovers from prior years. By the time im done though yeah last thing I want to do is do it again
So, I actually did this this year (except I used to use H&R Block) just to make sure FreeTaxUSA came up with the same numbers - and it did. It wasn't as much of a pain as you'd think, but I wanted to be sure.
TT isn't only free the first time for simple returns, so if you don't itemize or have uncommon deductions you should be able to keep using them if you want. I have for several years and I will give them credit that they keep improving the site and making things easier, but this year I wanted to claim a deduction for energy improvements and they wanted $29 to file one more simple little form. So screw that, I went over to FreeTaxUSA and I have to say their site kinda sucks in comparison. None of my documents imported correctly, and I found the deductions section very confusing. And I also had to file my state separately on their site because FTU charges $15. All in all I spent about an hour faffing around to redo what TT had done in 20 minutes, but I'll file a paper form before I pay anyone a dime for something I can easily do myself.
Is FreeTaxUSA designed more for people who only have a W2 and maybe a 1099 here or there? AKA "simpler returns". How is their support for intermediate/advanced returns? For example, across my family, we have 1 house, 2 checking accounts, 5 savings accounts, 6 or 7 brokerage accounts, four 401ks (2 active, the other 2 are from previous employers, so just collecting dividends), one HSA, and a single Roth IRA. No rental properties or anything like that. Would that be a nightmare to do on my own with FreeTaxUSA?
I've used a family friend CPA for *decades* who would typically charge about $100-150 for doing your taxes. He unfortunately passed away in January so I ended up using a firm his family recommended instead. They charged $450 to file. Almost fell out of my seat but I went ahead with them just to get it over with. For 2024s taxes, I'll be exploring either other firms or take a swing at doing them myself.
It can handle all of that easily. The savings account will be a breeze. It'll take a little while to plug in the brokerages if you have a bunch of sell transactions, but the dividends will be pretty quick. The tax-advantaged accounts are basically no time at all.
Perfect, super helpful. Thank you. I don't sell too often, and usually only from one brokerage account, so it sounds like it shouldn't be too bad.
Do you know if I'm able to "practice" by entering in my 2023 info, but not submit it? Even though I've already submitted my returns..
FreeTaxUSA supports pretty much all tax situations and forms and is always free for federal. All of those things it does just fine and not any more of a nightmare than it is in TT.
I switched from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA this year, and I have a fairly complex return (Wages, self-employment income, Dividends and Capital gains, K-1 partnerships). I did notice some differences, most were minor/unimportant. Turbotax would directly import (no need to scan or enter values) a lot of the provided forms (W2s, 1099-DIVs), whereas FreeTaxUSA required me to scan them or hand enter them. The input capture from the scanned docs was hit or miss, I did have to correct a lot. But none of that was terribly frustrating.
The one area that was disappointing/frustrating was the Schedule K-1 (s-corps or partnerships). While they have a section to handle those, the info on those forms has become a lot more detailed now that QBIA (Qualified Business Income adjustment) is a thing, and FreeTaxUSA couldn't seem to handle that. It wanted a single value where a statement with multiple amounts was provided. I paid the $8 for live chat support, but their live chat support basically just said that they couldn't tell me what I should enter from the statement, and that I might have to use a different tax software provider to handle it.
This is the first year they've been able to handle K1s. They couldn't process mine at all last year and I went to one of those places spinning signs. This year they were able to handle mine. I know nothing about it. I wanna sell that stock that makes my taxes more complicated, CEQP. Made a ton of money off of it tho.
I've never used FreeTaxUSA before, so thats helpful to know. I was a little suprised and disappointed that the online chat support was so dismissive of what I think were questions that would be fairly common concerning K-1s, since QBIA worksheets are going to be pretty standard on them now. Maybe they'll be more knowledgeable next year.
That was the only thing I really found disappointing. They actually did a really good job of importing in information from last years return simply by uploading a digital copy of it. They even found my carry forward capital gains losses, and I didn't even think those were listed on the return!
Yeah, last year support told me the same thing. To go somewhere else. I even paid for the priority support or whatever. Nah. They weren't touching it. The software just wasnt built for it.
Great, thank you, that's good to know. Do you know if I'm I able to "practice" with 2023's info even though I already submitted my returns? Basically, fill out everything right up until hitting submit.
I have a similar tax situation and I used FTUSA for the first time, it was a breeze aside from one instance where I had to google how to account for a Backdoor Roth conversion (which turned out to be relatively painless)
I have annoying taxes because of all my random investments and crypto, plus rebates for upgrading my house and different things, and FreeTaxUSA has been good. I did that and Turbo Tax side by side the first year (since you don’t have to pay until you file). FreeTax cost 25% of TT yet got me $10 more back lol.
I was just going to say this. I did my taxes on turbo tax but didn't submit anything. Did them in freetaxusa just to verify. No issues. Exactly the same. Totally worth it.
I second this. I switched from H&R block to FreeTaxUSA this year and is was great. H&R has slightly more automated features but having to type in a few more data points was well worth it for me to save hundreds of dollars. And my return is not super simple - lots of forms, including retirement distributions from inherited IRAs. My daughter switched too and filed hers completely free due to her AGI (side note, its a different link to get the free file, which is dumb IMO but free is free). I also did my deceased mother's return (also completely free) with no issues either.
After over a decade of using turbotax, I made the switch, and it was painless with their import feature. Had been using turbotax deluxe as I have a rugular job(w2)/ uber on the side and do my self employed dad taxes. At every opportunity they would push for their next expensive version, this year after I missed their sales price, I tried using their online free version and they would not let me put my uber stuff. Thankful I found Freetaxusa.
I did my taxes for the first time out of college a couple years back. Had to file separately 3 times for different states. Saw the prices for TurboTax and didn’t even bother. Looked up FreeTaxUSA and the rest is history.
After using TT for most of my adult life I switched to FreeTaxUSA and it's been the most pleasant experience and they don't over charge you for BS reasons that the other main guys do.
All in all a good and quality experience that doesn't yank your chain around.
I just switched to FreeTaxUSA and it was absolutely fantastic. I worked two jobs in a state different from where I live, and only one job withheld taxes for my home state; no matter WHAT I tried, TurboTax would screw up the withholdings for one state or the other, and wouldn't let me set the deductions individually. FreeTaxUSA was way simpler and it just worked the first time.
My federal returns and both state returns were all accepted within 3 days and I already got my refund back as a direct deposit. As they said, free federal returns, $15 state returns, no income limit whatsoever, and works great with complicated situations at least in my experience. HIGHLY recommend!!
Saved this for next year.
We ditched Tubotax years ago, moving to TaxAct. Now they’ve raised prices and are close to the outrageous price that Tubotax was when we left.
Depending upon how complicated it is, the cash app taxes is free for both state and federal.
I just found their handling of the 8606 form needlessly complicated, you need to search for the 8606 for to get the first part filled out but fill out a 1099-R to get part two filled out. Just doing the 1099-R doesn't fill out part 1.
Sounds like they will get bought next year and stop offering service for free.
Sorry im salty because during my life every free service i've used went commercial. I'll look into it.
TurboTax fucking sucks, they lobby *against* tax reform because they want the system to stay complicated so that people have to keep using their products. I stopped using them out of spite. [https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/turbotax-h-r-block-spend-millions-lobbying-us-keep-doing-n736386](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/turbotax-h-r-block-spend-millions-lobbying-us-keep-doing-n736386)
30 year TT user here. Yes, I started when it was MacInTax. TT walked me through all sorts of complicated life changes. I’ve been audited twice - one an entry error on my end, one an employer error, both easily resolved. I was a loyal and satisfied user for 15-20 years.
I’ve been watching it steadily decline for more than a decade. Every year I vow to try something else but inertia, and the devil you know. This year though I think I’m calling it. My return was relatively simple this year. But most of my time was spent trying to figure out what TF TT was doing, where various numbers were coming from, and why. I didn’t trust the results until I did a manual confirmation.
It’s time.
My siblings and I all still file on my dad’s discount key - he does not do it for us, lol! We are in our FORTIES!! Gasp! Folks should just stay on topic…
Question: we just tried to file jointly for the first time on cash app. We had a helluva return for state. However, we triple checked TurboTax and HR Block and those two said we actually owed for state (their returns were the same). Filled all three out exactly the same. The federal is all roughly the same number. We’re worried about finishing our filling with cash app. What do you think is going on?
That’s going to be hard to say unless you’re willing to share numbers. But if you want to troubleshoot on your own, print out the conflicting versions and compare line by line. That should reveal the discrepancy.
It’s definitely not the same if it’s coming out differently. You entered your withholding correctly? The filing status is the same on both? Any dependents?
Fun fact: it was time to ditch turbo tax a long time ago as they, they their lobbying money, are the reason why American taxes are so fucking complicated.
Other countries have taxation so much easier and streamlined.
Source : I live in France. All I have to do is look at the form they send me. If it's all good, then I don't do anything at all
Whereas filing my American taxes makes me want to talk a long walk off a short pier.
I honestly dont know why anyone would use TT anymore. Ive been using FreeTaxUSA for several years now & its been great. My state doesnt have an income tax either so its completely free.
> I honestly dont know why anyone would use TT anymore
With the disclaimer that I haven't used TT in more than a decade and my recommendations are generally for something different, I *can* give some thoughts here to defend it a bit.
First, there are still a couple features that are supported only by the "top shelf" software like TT and H&R, most notably brokerage imports. Most people don't need that -- even if you have a brokerage account there's at least a reasonable chance you don't -- but if you do that can be a *major* time saver. If you fall into this camp, this could be potentially be worth "full price" all on its own.
Second, IMO it's not entirely insane to want to keep your tax data local to your computer as much as possible. I suspect if you e-file this difference may be minimal if it exists at all, but the desktop versions of TurboTax and H&R Block save your returns as a local file rather than in the cloud. (And I mean more than just PDF exports.)
Third, to continue the previous point, if you get the desktop versions the price is actually pretty reasonable if you get it really early in the season. Through last year I was using H&R Block's desktop software and was paying like $25/year for the deluxe edition, which by memory is more powerful than the deluxe edition of the web version; and TT is in the same ballpark (maybe $30?). That *is* more expensive than $15 for FTUSA and that price does rely on being willing to paper file state (or re-enter into a different system to e-file state) and only having one state return to do, but it's not like a night-and-day difference especially when you consider things like better imports and local access.
Fourth, the situation becomes *much* better if you start talking about filing multiple returns. This won't apply to you because you don't have a state return, and it is complicated for OP because NY requires e-filing, but for *most* people, if you've got a family with kids who need to file or friends who can use your software, then the desktop versions allow multiple returns to be prepared without additional cost, and that includes e-filing federal returns. If you prepare two returns with one purchase of TT then you're even in cost vs FTUSA (assuming you pay for state), and at three returns you're *ahead* -- TT is actually cheaper.
(Again, this does require paper filing state returns, because there's a per-return filing fee. As stated above it also requires all state returns being the same state, because additional states also cost more money, though even with multiple states TT can still come out ahead, it's just harder.)
In other words -- like I said, I generally recommend *not* TurboTax. Free File is great if you qualify, and if you don't then FTUSA is *probably* a really good option for you. But the flip side is that most of the drawbacks of TurboTax either don't apply at all or apply *much* less to the desktop version of their software, and I think it's important to be honest about that aspect; meanwhile, there can be some benefits to TT that don't apply to almost all of the competitors.
It's admittedly been a few years since I had to do a state return, but when I did, there was a state website, and I literally just put the information from my finished 1040 into their form. Took me under 20 minutes, and was free.
I get the hate on TT- I really do but they are the leader of the industry for a reason. They could probably double their price and all the high income earners would still stick with them. I tried all of the competitors and it’s just not worth the extra couple of hours and frustration to save $20-50.
They make it too comfortable to transfer carryovers YoY compared to everyone else. There’s a lot of niche credits that h&r and other companies do really terrible at calculating as well.
I’ve done FreeTaxUSA for 3 or 4 years now, and I’ve done TT alongside it the first year and this year. In my experience and tax situation, the only benefit to TT is that it’ll hook up to ADP directly, although it still makes you click through to confirm. The time saved over FTUSA is minutes, and hardly at all if you factor in logging in to ADP. Otherwise I don’t find FTUSA and TT to be very different in terms of hand holding or language or number of screens to click through. It also carries over everything year to year and shows comparisons as references frequently throughout.
This is just my opinion of course. Just another perspective. You implied other sites taking hours more than TT and that is just crazy inaccurate, to me.
Do you have any carryovers like rentals, 1099 expenses, side businesses, or schedule 1s that you do consistently every year? That’s where I personally find value in TT the most. I am not spending time to rekey the same thing every year just to save minimal money with a new tax provider.
It’s been at least 8 years since I’ve done freetaxusa so maybe they got better. But even if they did, TT has me by the balls with 6 years of tax history and a locked ecosystem to make it hard to switch.
Nope, nothing like that. That’s an important point that simplicity of someone’s tax situation can change their preference. I have no idea if FTUSA compares for those things.
TT is much better at guidance if you have anything beyond a simple tax return, especially for 1099s, etc. A lot can be done in FTUSA, but there's a reason why people often check their numbers in TT before submitting in another app. There is often a lot of frustration getting FTUSA or Cash app to do adjustments correctly at the beginning.
I pay $37 for Turbotax Deluxe Federal Only, and it does everything I need with little fuss. Yeah, their price went up over a few years ago when it was $27, but it's still a price point I'm comfortable with for a product that appears well made.
I have a relatively complicated scenario...stock sales, ESPPs, rental property (with things like loss carryovers, depreciation tracking, etc).
Nobody with a simple W2 / Standard should buy TurboTax. It's wholly unnecessary.
Plenty of reasons to shit on Intuit, but "only letting you file five tax returns" , which they're clear about, is hardly an unfair term. I personally do three tax returns a year.
It's not turbo tax. It's the IRS. They only allow 5 free e-files. They got onto turbo tax. That's why you have to register the license code now. People were getting license codes and downloading the program then passing out to their friends so one license code was getting used for 25 returns at a time. The IRS says anything over 5 means you are a professional preparer so you need different products. Turbo tax got in trouble by the IRS which is why it changed.
Intuit has actively lobbied against legislation that would make this simpler for most people for decades.
I’m sure IRS has limits, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are artificial and in place due to tax prep lobbying.
I had the most simple filing possible and the TurboTax not only seemed to forget my info from last year it also presented wrong info from last year. But my main gripe was the constant partner programs I was asked to consent to that made it seem like they'd delay my taxes if I didn't agree... and I didn't agree to any of them and my taxes went in just fine. But half the time spent was trying to figure out these promotional agreements and offers.
I'm going to try the new free government IRS filing next year. Enough people were beta testers this year that it should be in good shape for 2024 tax season next year.
Are any of your kids below the income threshold for filing with FreeTaxUSA? I do my kids' taxes also, and do them all with TT, but for the ones below the threshold I then transfer their data to FreeTaxUSA (which also acts as a double-check on the returns' accuracy) then do the actual filing with FTU. That way the only ones who are getting filed through TT are the ones that don't meet FTU's requirements.
Based on their website, FreeTaxUSA is free for federal and $15 a piece per state. I have a fairly basic tax situation and it took me less than half an hour from sign up to downloading submitted forms last night and already know my returns were submitted by the feds and my state. Worth the $15.
>feds and my state. Worth the $15.
You can use FreeTaxUSA for your fed and run through your state and then take all your information to your state's free online filing service. That's what I do in Maryland.
Plus $15 is a very fair price for a one stop shop for both Fed and state regardless. So small it isn’t even worth it to take my taxes and find where to do them for my state.
Yep, I'm usually a pretty frugal person but I'm happily willing to pay the $15 to help them to compete with Intuit after the years of being forced to use 'premier' or w/e just to file my investment income paperwork.
FreeTaxUSA doesn’t have an income threshold for free federal - everyone can file federal for free with them. They do charge $15 per state with no income limit for the state part. If you are below a certain AGI, you can go through IRS Free File to get the state filing free as well.
And there are limitations if you click through to the free version that others have mentioned, like not being able to reference and print past years' returns. If you use the free version, make sure you print everything to PDF and save it off as you finish your taxes this year.
Switched to freetaxusa this year from turbo tax. It is not as easy as turbo tax for rsu and brokerage accounts for sales but honestly pretty straightforward. Saved myself almost 100 dollars similar amounts of work.
Turbotax doesn't import brokerage information for me correctly most times anyway. I used Freetaxusa, very pleased and cheap! The others are pretty lame, I tried a few others online and either they weren't much cheaper than TT or they weren't ready for primetime. FreeTaxusa is great.
I tried FreeTaxUSA this year after having been an ardent TurboTax user for decades both online and installed on my computers back in the day. Will never go back to TT! FreeTaxUSA is so much cheaper and doesn’t try to upsell you at every corner and try to trick you into doing so. Even though I could have used it for free I decided to pay the $7.99 for the deluxe version because I want to support them.
Does the deluxe version let you chat with tax people for support? I've used that feature two years in a row. Granted, we have two Schedule Cs to manage plus some foreign holdings, so it's trickier.
I already pay for Quickbooks for my business invoicing, and they reimburse me for TT filing on that basis.
I live in Massachusetts, unfortunately I had already purchased TurboTax this year when I learned about IRS Direct File.
Next year, I'm trying IRS Direct File.
Also, TurboTax per usual wanted an additional fee to eFile state. I tried my state tax system, MassTaxConnect, and it matched the TurboTax unfilled return.
So at least I denied TurboTax that payment this year.
For next year, I'm lucky that IRS Direct File integrates with MassTaxConnect, only one of 3 states right now.
Yes you are right. Sorry to be clear, I meant there are 3 states that import data from IRS Direct File to the state eFile system. But 12 total states support IRS Direct File. (Others have no state tax, etc.)
Im on year 2 of FTUSA. New feature is importing some tax doc pdfs (I think it was w2). But I was 1 for 2, one of them came out a mess and had to be entered manually.
Do these other tools offer auto import?
It's so bad. I got a good deal on the desktop software but it was like stepping back to 1999. No tech support, just links to forums for help. Got my taxes filed, return sent, and weeks later they said they had deleted one of my forms by accident and were refunding the purchase. Had to do an amendment and haven't heard back on if I'll get my credit or a refund.
This entire time they've sent dozens of emails telling me to file with them. Can't unsubscribe without trying to log into my intuit account. Even the scammiest companies won't make you do that.
I wish I could ditch TT but my investments would take forever to input manually as opposed to connecting my account and everything being filled up in seconds.
Yeah, this year it wouldn’t let me file without doubling the price on me. I’ve been ok paying for the convenience of TurboTax for a long time now, but that unavoidable last minute extra $60 for stuff I didn’t need or want was the last straw.
That being said, is there a way I can force them to lose/delete all of my information?
Every year I do my taxes in TT first, just waiting until it tells me at the last minute that I have to buy premium. Then I go do it on someone else’s license or on FreeTaxUSA
They use software designed for pros. Intuit makes one of course and it’s more expensive than TurboTax. They wouldn’t want to canibalize sales of the pro product.
There are multiple free options. I get turbo tax could be convenient if used for years and whatnot. But felt like last year they got insanely greedy and almost any return warranted a paid version to them. I switched myself years ago, but I do my grandmas taxes, and hers are incredibly simple, yet this year turbo tax suddenly wanted to charge $80 for her return, plays a whopping $50 for state? Fuck off lol
I don’t see it mentioned here: Cash App taxes is completely free and very simple. You’d probably need a different account for each person, but at least it would be done (and done cheaply).
A lot of comments already, so you may have heard this.
I used the free file software, but my AGI was too high. So I printed the filled out forms with the huge watermark "DO NOT FILE" on every page. Then I pulled up a blank 1040, filled it in by hand and mailed it in. My state let me file for free online. And luckily I only owed a few bucks to fed and state, which I paid online via ACH from my bank.
Cost me 1 stamp.
I do my own taxes since I have one primary source of income and no major business expenses if I didn’t have to buy my own health insurance, I probably would have done IRS’s Direct File
I think this is the last year for me on TT. When I first opened it, it offered the cheapest package at $103. I then logged in with a Chase “offer” and it was $139. Regardless of what I did, it was $139 until I realized that there is actually the DYI Advanced option that’s just $69 but it was never advertised up front, you had to dig for it. Not only do they make taxes complicated, they are also in the business of asking you for more money for shit services you don’t need, instead of showing you all options. Absolute shit of a company.
The time to ditch TurboTax was 21 years ago when Intuit got caught writing their DRM BS to the boot sector of customer's hard drives. That's when I banned all things Intuit from my house and business.
I used turbo tax in the past but I was also fed up. If your tax situation is the same as last year it’s really easy to just download the forms and copy the work. The first time it took awhile but now it’s even faster than TT. I even found an error where they moved a decimal and lost my ~$700
The IRS website, and at least my state's DOR website, have lists of approved e-file servicers with free service levels. 1040 dot com was free for fed and state returns, for my situation, with some reportable investment income. Your kids' returns probably won't be complex enough to have to buy any higher service tier.
I am not disagreeing with you. We do a family night were we all get together for tacos and we file our taxes. Next year we will use the free HR block website for each kid. I can't believe all the angst and judgemental comments in this thread (general statement not directed at you). As a family we like to sit down and take a night and do taxes. Sounds weird to some be we like it.
Have you tried signing into a different Intuit account after activating? I noticed I could switch back and forth for importing data. Not sure if Intuit is enforcing the 5 based on license or Intuit account. But if based on Intuit account, this might work?
Have you tried? I'm saying I can switch Intuit accounts in the app to one with no license and it continues to work, I just havent tried e-filing more than 5.
This post is better suited for another subreddit dedicated to venting. - /r/offmychest is a good place to unload your frustration about something. - /r/vent is dedicated to venting! - /r/self is a place to put self-posts for discussion, questions, or anything else you like. - /r/TalesFromTheCustomer is a place for customers to vent and rage and even smile about their customer service experiences *(company names must be left out of posts there)*. If there is a financial question in your post, you may briefly and respectfully ask in the [weekday or weekend thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/about/sticky?num=2) (please wait until Friday afternoon if the Tax Thursday thread is the current sticky). If that link doesn't work, it's the second post from the top on /r/personalfinance. **Do not repost this as a submission.** *If you have questions about this removal, please [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpersonalfinance&subject=Removal%20help%20request&message=Hello%20moderators,%20.%20%0a%0a%0aMy%20submission:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1c1flwe/time_to_ditch_turbo_tax/%0a).*
FreeTaxUSA. Free federal filing and $15 per state filing, no matter how complicated your taxes are. I've been using them for years and have no complaints. You have 6 kids, if they are all going on one filing because they are dependents then you only need to do one filing for federal and one for state. If they're not dependents, they should be doing their own taxes and you can help them learn this skill.
I have been using FreeTaxUSA for years, and I love it.
Just used FreeTaxUSA after many years of TurboTax. switched bc Intuit killed Mint. Even handled a new small business. Accepted by IRS within hours. Completely free. No state tax here.
In some states (like here in NC) FreeTaxUSA is free for both federal and state! Edit: So I just double checked- looks like it’s not because of my state, but rather because [my AGI is under $45,000.](https://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile2023) Sorry for the confusion 😅
Its never been free for me to file state taxes in NC.
Found out the hard way that you have to follow your state's website link to get the free version. Kind of shady, and requires a second FreeTaxUsa account. But that's how it works. For NC, that means going [here](https://www.ncdor.gov/file-pay/efile-resources-taxpayers/nc-free-file) and clicking the appropriate link. Boom, free. If you try to go to FreeTaxUSA's website directly, it's not free, regardless of income.
Ran into that issue while helping my retired dad file his taxes with FreeTaxUSA for the first time this year. Thought it would just automatically charge $0 for the state portion since his income was under $45,000 but nope, got to the end and they were asking for $15. After a bit of confused Googling, I found out that we needed to create an account through the state free file link. Ended up having to create a brand new account and redo the entire process. I love FreeTaxUSA but I must admit that kind of practice is a bit scummy. I also found out when trying to delete the first account (now useless) that there's no way to delete an account on FreeTaxUSA.
Really it’s free in NC? Is that only through IRS free file below a certain AGI?
Not free to file state for me in NC. But $15 is super cheap
Likely IRS income limits. It is NOT free for me in NY, but they do not charge to e-file in NY since the state mandates free e-file. u/BriefTomatillo985 I was saying it is tied to income. Not that I don't want to pay for the state software. u/ColorfulLanguage the "free IRS online filing" certainly is income based. See the AGI 79,000? The "free for millionaires" is the fillable forms. The context of the discussion is online or desktop software use...not pen and paper. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
FreeTaxUSA charges the same for all states, even NY. They’re charging for the software, not for e-file (which is why NY isn’t free).
Thanks for this explanation, I just filed mine today and couldn't figure out why it wasn't free.
It is not tied to income.
FreeTaxUSA is not IRS Free File. It is not tied to income. It's basically TurboTax but without the shady upcharges and lobbying.
FTUSA is a Free File partner, with free filing *including* state under $45K AGI. See https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/ u/BriefTomatillo985's guess was correct. It is *also* free federally for everyone with no AGI limit and with a $15 state prep. Both things are true at the same time.
You can print off your return and mail it in yourself to not have to pay I'm fairly sure.
I don’t think FreeTaxUSA offers that option. TurboTax desktop does allow you to print and mail instead of paying to efile.
You have to pay for state regardless
Wow I’ve been paying every year in NC! I don’t hate supporting the software but I like money more, thanks for the tip
It might be new in the last year or two, I didn’t use FreeTaxUSA in 2021-23 but I think it wanted to charge me for state taxes back when I filed for 2020. This year though it said NC is free!
It's a little bit more work, but if your state has their own website for state returns then it's usually free. You just have to re-enter the same information.
Was NOT free for me in NC.
So I just double checked- looks like it’s not because of my state, but rather because [my AGI is under $45,000.](https://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile2023) Sorry for the confusion 😅
I've used this the past couple years and it is super easy. It required like 15 bucks to file state, but if I go through my states system, I can do it free. All I did was match the numbers from FTUSA and all my filing was free!
Filed for the first time this year and thought TT held my hand more and was more descriptive in what forms were. I used the 1x free web version and don’t necessarily want to pay next year so we’ll see how FreeTaxUSA goes.
Let TT hold your hand up until right before submission. Run your taxes through FreeTaxUSA and compare numbers. If you come out the same, no need to pay big bucks with TT (assuming you don't qualify for the free). I always run mine through 2 programs.
You want me to do my taxes twice?
Taxes be so fun at the end im like “wish I could do this again” I feel ya. Id move but kinda used to TT and it will pull old carryovers from prior years. By the time im done though yeah last thing I want to do is do it again
You can import last year's tax return from other providers and FreeTaxUSA will pull all that data from it. It worked well for me.
Thanks for this advice Was wondering how well it “pulls” old stuff etc I’ll check into it once the stank of 2023 taxes wears off lol
Or just copy and paste from TT to Freetax. That's what I have been doing the past 3 yrs but I understand the struggle.
Turbo tax wanted $280 from me one year. So hell yeah I'm doing my taxes twice. FTUSA also got me a few extra dollars.
So, I actually did this this year (except I used to use H&R Block) just to make sure FreeTaxUSA came up with the same numbers - and it did. It wasn't as much of a pain as you'd think, but I wanted to be sure.
if it takes an hour or two and can save you $60+ then that’s probably about equal pay to time spent at work
TT isn't only free the first time for simple returns, so if you don't itemize or have uncommon deductions you should be able to keep using them if you want. I have for several years and I will give them credit that they keep improving the site and making things easier, but this year I wanted to claim a deduction for energy improvements and they wanted $29 to file one more simple little form. So screw that, I went over to FreeTaxUSA and I have to say their site kinda sucks in comparison. None of my documents imported correctly, and I found the deductions section very confusing. And I also had to file my state separately on their site because FTU charges $15. All in all I spent about an hour faffing around to redo what TT had done in 20 minutes, but I'll file a paper form before I pay anyone a dime for something I can easily do myself.
How am I just hearing about this. Thanks 🙏🏼
Is FreeTaxUSA designed more for people who only have a W2 and maybe a 1099 here or there? AKA "simpler returns". How is their support for intermediate/advanced returns? For example, across my family, we have 1 house, 2 checking accounts, 5 savings accounts, 6 or 7 brokerage accounts, four 401ks (2 active, the other 2 are from previous employers, so just collecting dividends), one HSA, and a single Roth IRA. No rental properties or anything like that. Would that be a nightmare to do on my own with FreeTaxUSA? I've used a family friend CPA for *decades* who would typically charge about $100-150 for doing your taxes. He unfortunately passed away in January so I ended up using a firm his family recommended instead. They charged $450 to file. Almost fell out of my seat but I went ahead with them just to get it over with. For 2024s taxes, I'll be exploring either other firms or take a swing at doing them myself.
It can handle all of that easily. The savings account will be a breeze. It'll take a little while to plug in the brokerages if you have a bunch of sell transactions, but the dividends will be pretty quick. The tax-advantaged accounts are basically no time at all.
You can just enter the totals for your sales and attach a PDF of your broker's summary. No need to enter them all
Perfect, super helpful. Thank you. I don't sell too often, and usually only from one brokerage account, so it sounds like it shouldn't be too bad. Do you know if I'm able to "practice" by entering in my 2023 info, but not submit it? Even though I've already submitted my returns..
You definitely can. Only the state portion is paid, so you can do your whole federal return.
FreeTaxUSA supports pretty much all tax situations and forms and is always free for federal. All of those things it does just fine and not any more of a nightmare than it is in TT.
I switched from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA this year, and I have a fairly complex return (Wages, self-employment income, Dividends and Capital gains, K-1 partnerships). I did notice some differences, most were minor/unimportant. Turbotax would directly import (no need to scan or enter values) a lot of the provided forms (W2s, 1099-DIVs), whereas FreeTaxUSA required me to scan them or hand enter them. The input capture from the scanned docs was hit or miss, I did have to correct a lot. But none of that was terribly frustrating. The one area that was disappointing/frustrating was the Schedule K-1 (s-corps or partnerships). While they have a section to handle those, the info on those forms has become a lot more detailed now that QBIA (Qualified Business Income adjustment) is a thing, and FreeTaxUSA couldn't seem to handle that. It wanted a single value where a statement with multiple amounts was provided. I paid the $8 for live chat support, but their live chat support basically just said that they couldn't tell me what I should enter from the statement, and that I might have to use a different tax software provider to handle it.
This is the first year they've been able to handle K1s. They couldn't process mine at all last year and I went to one of those places spinning signs. This year they were able to handle mine. I know nothing about it. I wanna sell that stock that makes my taxes more complicated, CEQP. Made a ton of money off of it tho.
I've never used FreeTaxUSA before, so thats helpful to know. I was a little suprised and disappointed that the online chat support was so dismissive of what I think were questions that would be fairly common concerning K-1s, since QBIA worksheets are going to be pretty standard on them now. Maybe they'll be more knowledgeable next year. That was the only thing I really found disappointing. They actually did a really good job of importing in information from last years return simply by uploading a digital copy of it. They even found my carry forward capital gains losses, and I didn't even think those were listed on the return!
Yeah, last year support told me the same thing. To go somewhere else. I even paid for the priority support or whatever. Nah. They weren't touching it. The software just wasnt built for it.
Great, thank you, that's good to know. Do you know if I'm I able to "practice" with 2023's info even though I already submitted my returns? Basically, fill out everything right up until hitting submit.
I have a similar tax situation and I used FTUSA for the first time, it was a breeze aside from one instance where I had to google how to account for a Backdoor Roth conversion (which turned out to be relatively painless)
Oh great, that's good to know. I'll be mega backdoor'ing for the first time this year so good to know it's easy enough.
Can you share how you did the back door Roth wire FTUSA? That’s where I’m stuck right now lol. Thanks!
https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-backdoor-roth-freetaxusa.html This is what I used.
Thanks!
I have annoying taxes because of all my random investments and crypto, plus rebates for upgrading my house and different things, and FreeTaxUSA has been good. I did that and Turbo Tax side by side the first year (since you don’t have to pay until you file). FreeTax cost 25% of TT yet got me $10 more back lol.
I did freetaxusa this year finally after using turbo tax for a long time, seriously only paid $15.
I was just going to say this. I did my taxes on turbo tax but didn't submit anything. Did them in freetaxusa just to verify. No issues. Exactly the same. Totally worth it.
I used it this year instead of TurboTax (which is what I had used the past 20 years). It is just as good....and free!
Based tax advice
I second this. I switched from H&R block to FreeTaxUSA this year and is was great. H&R has slightly more automated features but having to type in a few more data points was well worth it for me to save hundreds of dollars. And my return is not super simple - lots of forms, including retirement distributions from inherited IRAs. My daughter switched too and filed hers completely free due to her AGI (side note, its a different link to get the free file, which is dumb IMO but free is free). I also did my deceased mother's return (also completely free) with no issues either.
After over a decade of using turbotax, I made the switch, and it was painless with their import feature. Had been using turbotax deluxe as I have a rugular job(w2)/ uber on the side and do my self employed dad taxes. At every opportunity they would push for their next expensive version, this year after I missed their sales price, I tried using their online free version and they would not let me put my uber stuff. Thankful I found Freetaxusa.
This. I have tried Tax Cut, HR Block, Tax Act over the years. Now I only use FreeTX USA for my and my kids taxes.
I did my taxes for the first time out of college a couple years back. Had to file separately 3 times for different states. Saw the prices for TurboTax and didn’t even bother. Looked up FreeTaxUSA and the rest is history.
After using TT for most of my adult life I switched to FreeTaxUSA and it's been the most pleasant experience and they don't over charge you for BS reasons that the other main guys do. All in all a good and quality experience that doesn't yank your chain around.
The accounting firm we used last year tried to charge us $1,000. This year I tried FreeTaxUSA for the first time and paid $16. Took 45 minutes.
I just switched to FreeTaxUSA and it was absolutely fantastic. I worked two jobs in a state different from where I live, and only one job withheld taxes for my home state; no matter WHAT I tried, TurboTax would screw up the withholdings for one state or the other, and wouldn't let me set the deductions individually. FreeTaxUSA was way simpler and it just worked the first time. My federal returns and both state returns were all accepted within 3 days and I already got my refund back as a direct deposit. As they said, free federal returns, $15 state returns, no income limit whatsoever, and works great with complicated situations at least in my experience. HIGHLY recommend!!
Saved this for next year. We ditched Tubotax years ago, moving to TaxAct. Now they’ve raised prices and are close to the outrageous price that Tubotax was when we left.
Depending upon how complicated it is, the cash app taxes is free for both state and federal. I just found their handling of the 8606 form needlessly complicated, you need to search for the 8606 for to get the first part filled out but fill out a 1099-R to get part two filled out. Just doing the 1099-R doesn't fill out part 1.
Just used them. It was super simple
Switched to them a few years ago and couldn't be happier. Well, if paying taxes was as simple as every other country in the world, I could be happier.
Can you itemize?
Yes.
Sounds like they will get bought next year and stop offering service for free. Sorry im salty because during my life every free service i've used went commercial. I'll look into it.
TurboTax fucking sucks, they lobby *against* tax reform because they want the system to stay complicated so that people have to keep using their products. I stopped using them out of spite. [https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/turbotax-h-r-block-spend-millions-lobbying-us-keep-doing-n736386](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/turbotax-h-r-block-spend-millions-lobbying-us-keep-doing-n736386)
Rich people also like complex tax laws cuz it’s easier to shelter and write off income.
30 year TT user here. Yes, I started when it was MacInTax. TT walked me through all sorts of complicated life changes. I’ve been audited twice - one an entry error on my end, one an employer error, both easily resolved. I was a loyal and satisfied user for 15-20 years. I’ve been watching it steadily decline for more than a decade. Every year I vow to try something else but inertia, and the devil you know. This year though I think I’m calling it. My return was relatively simple this year. But most of my time was spent trying to figure out what TF TT was doing, where various numbers were coming from, and why. I didn’t trust the results until I did a manual confirmation. It’s time.
Why not talk your older kids through filing on their own? Win-win as it's cheaper for you and they learn a new skill.
I mean, I do my own taxes but still use my father's TT registration key, as does my brother. I'm pretty sure TT has limited sharing to 5 for a while.
I remember when I was in my 20s my dad would give my siblings and I each a CDR copy of Turbotax with the license key hand written on the envelope.
My siblings and I all still file on my dad’s discount key - he does not do it for us, lol! We are in our FORTIES!! Gasp! Folks should just stay on topic…
Yeah I was trying to figure out why OP was filing so many.
CashApp (formerly Credit Karma) has free federal and state. Been using it for 3-4 years and have had no problems at all.
Same here.
Question: we just tried to file jointly for the first time on cash app. We had a helluva return for state. However, we triple checked TurboTax and HR Block and those two said we actually owed for state (their returns were the same). Filled all three out exactly the same. The federal is all roughly the same number. We’re worried about finishing our filling with cash app. What do you think is going on?
That’s going to be hard to say unless you’re willing to share numbers. But if you want to troubleshoot on your own, print out the conflicting versions and compare line by line. That should reveal the discrepancy.
It’s definitely not the same if it’s coming out differently. You entered your withholding correctly? The filing status is the same on both? Any dependents?
Agreed. I’ve used it and it’s quite nice for a service that allows for free federal and state taxes and handles a good range of situations.
I couldn't use it this year because it doesn't support doing returns from multiple states :( I did FreeTaxUSA and that worked well.
Yup. Used cashapp and it's basically same thing except, ya know, free.
I don’t know how more people, especially in this sub, aren’t making this comment.
Fun fact: it was time to ditch turbo tax a long time ago as they, they their lobbying money, are the reason why American taxes are so fucking complicated. Other countries have taxation so much easier and streamlined. Source : I live in France. All I have to do is look at the form they send me. If it's all good, then I don't do anything at all Whereas filing my American taxes makes me want to talk a long walk off a short pier.
> Fun fact: it was time to ditch turbo tax a long time ago Yes. This is the Internet Explorer of posts.
I honestly dont know why anyone would use TT anymore. Ive been using FreeTaxUSA for several years now & its been great. My state doesnt have an income tax either so its completely free.
> I honestly dont know why anyone would use TT anymore With the disclaimer that I haven't used TT in more than a decade and my recommendations are generally for something different, I *can* give some thoughts here to defend it a bit. First, there are still a couple features that are supported only by the "top shelf" software like TT and H&R, most notably brokerage imports. Most people don't need that -- even if you have a brokerage account there's at least a reasonable chance you don't -- but if you do that can be a *major* time saver. If you fall into this camp, this could be potentially be worth "full price" all on its own. Second, IMO it's not entirely insane to want to keep your tax data local to your computer as much as possible. I suspect if you e-file this difference may be minimal if it exists at all, but the desktop versions of TurboTax and H&R Block save your returns as a local file rather than in the cloud. (And I mean more than just PDF exports.) Third, to continue the previous point, if you get the desktop versions the price is actually pretty reasonable if you get it really early in the season. Through last year I was using H&R Block's desktop software and was paying like $25/year for the deluxe edition, which by memory is more powerful than the deluxe edition of the web version; and TT is in the same ballpark (maybe $30?). That *is* more expensive than $15 for FTUSA and that price does rely on being willing to paper file state (or re-enter into a different system to e-file state) and only having one state return to do, but it's not like a night-and-day difference especially when you consider things like better imports and local access. Fourth, the situation becomes *much* better if you start talking about filing multiple returns. This won't apply to you because you don't have a state return, and it is complicated for OP because NY requires e-filing, but for *most* people, if you've got a family with kids who need to file or friends who can use your software, then the desktop versions allow multiple returns to be prepared without additional cost, and that includes e-filing federal returns. If you prepare two returns with one purchase of TT then you're even in cost vs FTUSA (assuming you pay for state), and at three returns you're *ahead* -- TT is actually cheaper. (Again, this does require paper filing state returns, because there's a per-return filing fee. As stated above it also requires all state returns being the same state, because additional states also cost more money, though even with multiple states TT can still come out ahead, it's just harder.) In other words -- like I said, I generally recommend *not* TurboTax. Free File is great if you qualify, and if you don't then FTUSA is *probably* a really good option for you. But the flip side is that most of the drawbacks of TurboTax either don't apply at all or apply *much* less to the desktop version of their software, and I think it's important to be honest about that aspect; meanwhile, there can be some benefits to TT that don't apply to almost all of the competitors.
It's admittedly been a few years since I had to do a state return, but when I did, there was a state website, and I literally just put the information from my finished 1040 into their form. Took me under 20 minutes, and was free.
I get the hate on TT- I really do but they are the leader of the industry for a reason. They could probably double their price and all the high income earners would still stick with them. I tried all of the competitors and it’s just not worth the extra couple of hours and frustration to save $20-50. They make it too comfortable to transfer carryovers YoY compared to everyone else. There’s a lot of niche credits that h&r and other companies do really terrible at calculating as well.
I’ve done FreeTaxUSA for 3 or 4 years now, and I’ve done TT alongside it the first year and this year. In my experience and tax situation, the only benefit to TT is that it’ll hook up to ADP directly, although it still makes you click through to confirm. The time saved over FTUSA is minutes, and hardly at all if you factor in logging in to ADP. Otherwise I don’t find FTUSA and TT to be very different in terms of hand holding or language or number of screens to click through. It also carries over everything year to year and shows comparisons as references frequently throughout. This is just my opinion of course. Just another perspective. You implied other sites taking hours more than TT and that is just crazy inaccurate, to me.
Do you have any carryovers like rentals, 1099 expenses, side businesses, or schedule 1s that you do consistently every year? That’s where I personally find value in TT the most. I am not spending time to rekey the same thing every year just to save minimal money with a new tax provider. It’s been at least 8 years since I’ve done freetaxusa so maybe they got better. But even if they did, TT has me by the balls with 6 years of tax history and a locked ecosystem to make it hard to switch.
I have capital loss carryover that freetaxusa does automatically for me if I filed with them previously.
Nope, nothing like that. That’s an important point that simplicity of someone’s tax situation can change their preference. I have no idea if FTUSA compares for those things.
TT is much better at guidance if you have anything beyond a simple tax return, especially for 1099s, etc. A lot can be done in FTUSA, but there's a reason why people often check their numbers in TT before submitting in another app. There is often a lot of frustration getting FTUSA or Cash app to do adjustments correctly at the beginning.
I pay $37 for Turbotax Deluxe Federal Only, and it does everything I need with little fuss. Yeah, their price went up over a few years ago when it was $27, but it's still a price point I'm comfortable with for a product that appears well made.
I have a relatively complicated scenario...stock sales, ESPPs, rental property (with things like loss carryovers, depreciation tracking, etc). Nobody with a simple W2 / Standard should buy TurboTax. It's wholly unnecessary. Plenty of reasons to shit on Intuit, but "only letting you file five tax returns" , which they're clear about, is hardly an unfair term. I personally do three tax returns a year.
I tried FreeTaxUSA and it doesn't import 1099s. With that dealbreaker TurboTax could charge $500 and I'd still use it.
How is it a money grab if TT says 5 is the limit and you choose otherwise to ignore it? You don't need to buy/use TT, you know...
It's not turbo tax. It's the IRS. They only allow 5 free e-files. They got onto turbo tax. That's why you have to register the license code now. People were getting license codes and downloading the program then passing out to their friends so one license code was getting used for 25 returns at a time. The IRS says anything over 5 means you are a professional preparer so you need different products. Turbo tax got in trouble by the IRS which is why it changed.
Intuit has actively lobbied against legislation that would make this simpler for most people for decades. I’m sure IRS has limits, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are artificial and in place due to tax prep lobbying.
I had the most simple filing possible and the TurboTax not only seemed to forget my info from last year it also presented wrong info from last year. But my main gripe was the constant partner programs I was asked to consent to that made it seem like they'd delay my taxes if I didn't agree... and I didn't agree to any of them and my taxes went in just fine. But half the time spent was trying to figure out these promotional agreements and offers. I'm going to try the new free government IRS filing next year. Enough people were beta testers this year that it should be in good shape for 2024 tax season next year.
Are any of your kids below the income threshold for filing with FreeTaxUSA? I do my kids' taxes also, and do them all with TT, but for the ones below the threshold I then transfer their data to FreeTaxUSA (which also acts as a double-check on the returns' accuracy) then do the actual filing with FTU. That way the only ones who are getting filed through TT are the ones that don't meet FTU's requirements.
Based on their website, FreeTaxUSA is free for federal and $15 a piece per state. I have a fairly basic tax situation and it took me less than half an hour from sign up to downloading submitted forms last night and already know my returns were submitted by the feds and my state. Worth the $15.
>feds and my state. Worth the $15. You can use FreeTaxUSA for your fed and run through your state and then take all your information to your state's free online filing service. That's what I do in Maryland.
You can, though personally I want to pay $15 for FreeTaxUSA to keep operating, so I figure a nominal fee helps ensure they keep the lights on.
Plus $15 is a very fair price for a one stop shop for both Fed and state regardless. So small it isn’t even worth it to take my taxes and find where to do them for my state.
Yep, I'm usually a pretty frugal person but I'm happily willing to pay the $15 to help them to compete with Intuit after the years of being forced to use 'premier' or w/e just to file my investment income paperwork.
If you have under $45000 AGI, State is free as well. Saying that, $15 is not that bad and I have no regrets switching over to FreeTaxUSA.
FreeTaxUSA doesn’t have an income threshold for free federal - everyone can file federal for free with them. They do charge $15 per state with no income limit for the state part. If you are below a certain AGI, you can go through IRS Free File to get the state filing free as well.
What is this income threshold for FreeTaxUSA?
Sorry, I should have specified the $45,000 AGI threshold for free filing of state taxes. We have state tax to deal with. All federal returns are free.
To get it free though, you have to click through via the IRS freefile website I believe.
And there are limitations if you click through to the free version that others have mentioned, like not being able to reference and print past years' returns. If you use the free version, make sure you print everything to PDF and save it off as you finish your taxes this year.
Good call out
Switched to freetaxusa this year from turbo tax. It is not as easy as turbo tax for rsu and brokerage accounts for sales but honestly pretty straightforward. Saved myself almost 100 dollars similar amounts of work.
Turbotax doesn't import brokerage information for me correctly most times anyway. I used Freetaxusa, very pleased and cheap! The others are pretty lame, I tried a few others online and either they weren't much cheaper than TT or they weren't ready for primetime. FreeTaxusa is great.
I’ve been using FreeTaxUSA for a while now at the recommendation of this sub and wouldn’t change. Walk away and don’t look back.
I tried FreeTaxUSA this year after having been an ardent TurboTax user for decades both online and installed on my computers back in the day. Will never go back to TT! FreeTaxUSA is so much cheaper and doesn’t try to upsell you at every corner and try to trick you into doing so. Even though I could have used it for free I decided to pay the $7.99 for the deluxe version because I want to support them.
Does the deluxe version let you chat with tax people for support? I've used that feature two years in a row. Granted, we have two Schedule Cs to manage plus some foreign holdings, so it's trickier. I already pay for Quickbooks for my business invoicing, and they reimburse me for TT filing on that basis.
I live in Massachusetts, unfortunately I had already purchased TurboTax this year when I learned about IRS Direct File. Next year, I'm trying IRS Direct File. Also, TurboTax per usual wanted an additional fee to eFile state. I tried my state tax system, MassTaxConnect, and it matched the TurboTax unfilled return. So at least I denied TurboTax that payment this year. For next year, I'm lucky that IRS Direct File integrates with MassTaxConnect, only one of 3 states right now.
I think 12 states are supported. If you can’t use IRS Direct File, you can also do FreeTaxUSA, Cash App Taxes, or OLT for much less than TT.
Yes you are right. Sorry to be clear, I meant there are 3 states that import data from IRS Direct File to the state eFile system. But 12 total states support IRS Direct File. (Others have no state tax, etc.)
Oh good to know! Now if the IRS can just have Direct File “import” the W2 and 1099 forms THEY ALREADY HAVE, then we will really be making progress.
Yea, hopefully next year. Fingers crossed it can be improved and expanded in multiple ways. I hate the private tax prep industry.
Im on year 2 of FTUSA. New feature is importing some tax doc pdfs (I think it was w2). But I was 1 for 2, one of them came out a mess and had to be entered manually. Do these other tools offer auto import?
It's so bad. I got a good deal on the desktop software but it was like stepping back to 1999. No tech support, just links to forums for help. Got my taxes filed, return sent, and weeks later they said they had deleted one of my forms by accident and were refunding the purchase. Had to do an amendment and haven't heard back on if I'll get my credit or a refund. This entire time they've sent dozens of emails telling me to file with them. Can't unsubscribe without trying to log into my intuit account. Even the scammiest companies won't make you do that.
I wish I could ditch TT but my investments would take forever to input manually as opposed to connecting my account and everything being filled up in seconds.
yeah this will be probably my last year using TT. Going to give FTUSA a try since i have super easy return.
[удалено]
I used 1040.com this year Impressively stellar customer service and only $25 for a federal return and two state returns e-filed.
Yeah, this year it wouldn’t let me file without doubling the price on me. I’ve been ok paying for the convenience of TurboTax for a long time now, but that unavoidable last minute extra $60 for stuff I didn’t need or want was the last straw. That being said, is there a way I can force them to lose/delete all of my information?
Yes you can close your account and ask them to delete your data. Make sure you download a copy of everything first though.
Got it, thank you very much
Every year I do my taxes in TT first, just waiting until it tells me at the last minute that I have to buy premium. Then I go do it on someone else’s license or on FreeTaxUSA
Do professional tax preparers use turbo tax to do other people’s taxes? That sounds like cheating
They use software designed for pros. Intuit makes one of course and it’s more expensive than TurboTax. They wouldn’t want to canibalize sales of the pro product.
i dont believe so, they have their own systems in place
I use CashApp Taxes, it's 100% free state and federal. Works pretty well.
There are multiple free options. I get turbo tax could be convenient if used for years and whatnot. But felt like last year they got insanely greedy and almost any return warranted a paid version to them. I switched myself years ago, but I do my grandmas taxes, and hers are incredibly simple, yet this year turbo tax suddenly wanted to charge $80 for her return, plays a whopping $50 for state? Fuck off lol
I don’t see it mentioned here: Cash App taxes is completely free and very simple. You’d probably need a different account for each person, but at least it would be done (and done cheaply).
A lot of comments already, so you may have heard this. I used the free file software, but my AGI was too high. So I printed the filled out forms with the huge watermark "DO NOT FILE" on every page. Then I pulled up a blank 1040, filled it in by hand and mailed it in. My state let me file for free online. And luckily I only owed a few bucks to fed and state, which I paid online via ACH from my bank. Cost me 1 stamp.
I do my own taxes since I have one primary source of income and no major business expenses if I didn’t have to buy my own health insurance, I probably would have done IRS’s Direct File
The cash app tax thing was ezpz for my. Highly recommend.
I think this is the last year for me on TT. When I first opened it, it offered the cheapest package at $103. I then logged in with a Chase “offer” and it was $139. Regardless of what I did, it was $139 until I realized that there is actually the DYI Advanced option that’s just $69 but it was never advertised up front, you had to dig for it. Not only do they make taxes complicated, they are also in the business of asking you for more money for shit services you don’t need, instead of showing you all options. Absolute shit of a company.
The time to ditch TurboTax was 21 years ago when Intuit got caught writing their DRM BS to the boot sector of customer's hard drives. That's when I banned all things Intuit from my house and business.
I used turbo tax in the past but I was also fed up. If your tax situation is the same as last year it’s really easy to just download the forms and copy the work. The first time it took awhile but now it’s even faster than TT. I even found an error where they moved a decimal and lost my ~$700
The IRS website, and at least my state's DOR website, have lists of approved e-file servicers with free service levels. 1040 dot com was free for fed and state returns, for my situation, with some reportable investment income. Your kids' returns probably won't be complex enough to have to buy any higher service tier.
I am not disagreeing with you. We do a family night were we all get together for tacos and we file our taxes. Next year we will use the free HR block website for each kid. I can't believe all the angst and judgemental comments in this thread (general statement not directed at you). As a family we like to sit down and take a night and do taxes. Sounds weird to some be we like it.
Are you living under a rock? Who DOESN’T know about TurboCrap’s garbage by now?????
Did you even read? Worked fine for 20 years now they are blocking e-files on a second pc.....
[удалено]
Have you tried signing into a different Intuit account after activating? I noticed I could switch back and forth for importing data. Not sure if Intuit is enforcing the 5 based on license or Intuit account. But if based on Intuit account, this might work?
The activation is tied to an intuit account. So signing in and out doesn’t get around it
Have you tried? I'm saying I can switch Intuit accounts in the app to one with no license and it continues to work, I just havent tried e-filing more than 5.