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Comment by ourmandave | Hacker News Reader

Every year I do my taxes on H&R Block or one of the others right up to the point where I review the form and the next step is to submit.

Then I write all the numbers down and file for free on Free File Fillable Forms.

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

Thanks H&R!

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This is a massive waste of time, if you use TaxHawk/FreeTaxUSA (same company/software different website) you can just e-file your federal return for free without copying information to another place. Yes, it's actually free, you don't have to pay anything or even give out your credit card number.

If your state doesn't have income tax you're done, you pay nothing. If you want to continue on to e-file your state, it's only $15 (currently on sale for $13). If you want to do your state's taxes any other way (their website?), no problem, just stop after e-filing your federal return, you still pay nothing.

Taxhawk is a company that has been around for 20 years, they are authorized to e-file with the IRS, and their software is (in my subjective opinion) excellent. Been using them for a decade. I am not affiliated with the company, but I advocate for TaxHawk on HN all the time, because I'm extremely satisfied with it and apparently not many people know it's an option. My taxes are not straightforward either. (multiple W2s, 1099-INTs, 1099-DIVs, 1099-Bs, and business income)

I do my taxes manually entirely on paper and send them in. I don't want H&R Block, Intuit, Taxhawk, or anyone else to have that information that they will then turn around and monitize. I also like the painful yearly reminder of the unnecessary burden the government is placing upon its citizens. For the majority of W2 income earners, the IRS already has everything it needs to compute your taxes and send you a refund or a bill in mid-February.

Okay, but if you're going to go enter all your info onto a for-profit company's website anyways it's a massive waste of time to then go copy all the numbers to a different place. That was my point.

Not me. I pay the $30 and go about my life while my federal and state returns go straight into my bank account. It's worth it to me.

Thanks H&R!

$30 for Federal and State?

what about state taxes? is there a state level Free File Fillable form?

California has CalFile. (way better than FreeFillableForms) Not sure about other states.

Oregon is free to efile as well

Using their fillable forms or through tax-prep software?

I used the online form a couple years ago and the process was so annoying compared to freetaxusa that I will gladly pay the $12 to avoid dealing with the Oregon.gov site.

Depends on the state, check your state's tax website.

https://www.mass.gov/how-to/explore-filing-options-for-massa...

https://www2.illinois.gov/rev/programs/mytax/Pages/il-1040.a...

https://portal.ct.gov/DRS/TSC/TSC-Online

https://www.njportal.com/Taxation/NJ1040/

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/ways-to-file/online/calfile/inde...

https://www.oregon.gov/dor/programs/individuals/Pages/free-f...

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