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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

Why not use the official IRS free file forms?

I tried Free File Fillable Forms last year on principal, but I ran into issues in two areas:

1. reporting scholarship income (goes on the line beside box 1 and nowhere else), and 2. state taxes are not supported, and my state does not have an equivalent service.

It's really frustrating that states have not adopted an equivalent service. I actually filed paper forms for mine because their free service is a simplified approximation of the full form and leaves out certain workflows that limit its scope of complexity.

I find it more approachable to use the question/answer format compared to reading all of the instructions on detail, determining if that particular section applies to me, and wondering if I found every form to cover every situation from the last year.

An example is figuring out whether I would owe taxes on the gain from the sale of a primary residence I owned for less than 2 years. Figuring that out manually took some googling, finding an IRS guide, reading multiple pages of regulations along with exceptions and determining where I stood.

Another is determining HSA contribution limits when my wife and I were in individual HDHP plans part of the year, and a family plan the remainder.

If your tax situation doesn't change from year to year you don't need to scour the instructions. Just work through the forms using last year's return as a guide.

Except things change from year to year so even if YOU don't change, the underlying tax laws move over time.

And there have been a lot of tax changes recently. Although my personal situation didn't change significantly, the filing experience changed more during the past administration than in the 10 years I'd been filing taxes before that, even though those previous 10 years included multiple moves and changes of jobs, and the purchase of a house.

They changed form 1040 drastically a year or two ago. Plus tax law changes from year to year.

They did, but the line instruction verbiage is easy enough to trace where it went in the end if you search certain keywords and phrases you can hook into the right places more or less.

The new 1040 is essentially the same as 1040EZ split across two pages with the option to add more schedules as necessary. No big deal.

I did in college. If your tax situation is nontrival it can take a very long time and has lots of room for error. I made a mistake and owed a $200 penalty for it back then. Software walks you through it and automates all of the arithmetic, number copying, and prevents fat finger errors.

As another freetaxusa user, I would rather pay a very small fee to have the tool walk me through the process than try to figure it out myself.

Based on this site[0], it looks like you have to use a 'partner' to file the forms if you make under $72,000 a year, is that right?

0: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f...

The IRS site gives that impression, but I believe that's not the case. There is "IRS Free File" which is income limited as you mention, but there is also "Free File Fillable Forms" which appears to not be income limited. Intentionally misleading if you ask me.

Yes, and I presume it’s because some corrupt legislators are twisting the IRS’ arm on behalf of Intuit.

I don’t feel like that’s required, more like if you make over $72,000 that you’re required to file the forms yourself

The wording is confusing (I think this is an IRS requirement having read the documentation for many years now) but what it is saying is that if you make under $72,000/year there are a ton of free options available. If you make more than $72,000 this is supposedly the only free e-file option available.

The whole thing is a mess because TurboTax and H&R Block and the like want to stay in business. If the process is too easy then the middlemen won't survive.

When my tax situation was very simple I was happy to do my taxes on paper, often using form 1040-EZ, which only took about 10 minutes. Now that they are complicated (lots of different 1099s and business income) I very much prefer to use software to guide me questions and answers style.

Does the IRS allow direct e-filing? At least as of last year, it seemed that you still had to go through someone else to file electronically (although the forms are freely available).

Yes, I’ve been using IRS free fillable forms for over 10 years, I think, with no middleman between me and the IRS. Similar with my state taxes on my state’s revenue website.

Sorry, so, just to be clear: you've been filing your forms electronically with the IRS, not printing out the filled forms and mailing them? How? I swear I've looked, and been unable to find a way to file electronically (although I agree it's easy to find the form), except if you fall into certain income categories. I've even been told that it's intentionally legally impossible, as a way for the IRS to avoid competing with private providers.

(State taxes are a different matter; I've paid Illinois and Michigan taxes recently, and they do provide an easy and obvious way to e-file directly with the state.)

https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/ is the site. It is technically not an IRS service, but one provided by the free file alliance as part of the IRS agreement not to build their own software.

There are no income exclusions or anything. It is possible you will be unable to use it if you have to use some really obscure forms, but it does have all the forms that paid Turbo Tax can file for you. You also might not be able to use it if you have one of those weird tax situations where the IRS instructs you to write a message across the top of your 1040.

Yes, I use the link here:

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...

It’s all electronic. You get an email confirmation.

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