Going to give a +1 for FreeTaxUSA. Significantly cheaper than H&R Block and a user interface that is just as good.
The large tax companies are engaging in regulatory capture and ought to be sidelined in favor of a healthy society.
The large tax companies are engaging in regulatory capture and ought to be sidelined in favor of a healthy society.
All this for like $13.50 federal and state filed online. Can't get cheaper than this.
I love how they ask you again if you enter something that's "not common" in case you misunderstood what something is for.
And here is this subthread, recommending "FreeTaxUSA" … for $13.50+state.
It might be cheaper, better quality, or better quality/price … perhaps. But is this not exactly the same thing? (Perhaps with less advertising, e.g., not running a commercial to millions of people repeating "free" a gajillion times.)
13.50 is for state filing.
Edit: my relative says that it's already on the TODO list, but it takes a while with all of the other things they have to do.
Edit: sanitized personal information because I'm stupid.
I LOVE the company and the product though, please pass along kudos. what a breadth of fresh air after years of using Turbo Tax. I now tell EVERYONE I know to use them.
Your +1 and kudos have been passed along.
However, I worry that the reason they haven't done it is because of lack of time. They spend a lot of time on finding and stopping fraud. If they didn't need to do that, I'm sure it would get done faster.
Tangentially, there are all sorts of good reasons for an investor to want a CSV available locally anyway. Analysis of one's misadventures, for a start.
Consider that this requires cutting a separate deal with each individual brokerage. Even TurboTax omits some big ones e.g. Vanguard. Not on TT's list -- I checked just today.
My concern is that my tax situation, while not extreme, is not exactly simple. How well does something like FreeTaxUSA deal with small businesses (K1), part-time employment (1099?), stock awards and ESPP, and so on? If I can do my taxes in a day and be confident that I don't severely screw anything up, I'll totally go with that next year.
A few non-IRA investments become very annoying to file after a couple years.
The current tax system is absolute garbage.
I found it MUCH more usable than TurboTax * and TaxAct. TurboTax was going to charge me >$300, and TaxAct was also > $150.
FreeTaxUSA was only $16.
* TurboTax can auto import your 1099s from most institutions. I did have to manually import 6 different forms into FreeTaxUSA - but I think the process was still faster.
If you google "FreeTaxUSA" and log-in that way, it'll change your free-file account to a paid account and there is no way to change it back. To free-file with them, you need to always log in using the special IRS link.
I thought this was pretty annoying, especially as there's no way for customer service to change it back. Their recommendation was to make a new account and re-enter all my tax info.
Or, unless you're saying I should believe the marketing, but again, we're in a thread about the marketing from companies in that industry being false…
This IRS link issue is something I've noticed with TurboTax and TaxSlayer in the past. They hide their free file (even the Federal File) from users unless they use the IRS link.
At least the paid accounts are cheaper than H&R block's gotcha upsells!
https://finovate.com/square-takes-on-taxes-as-justice-oks-in...
P.S. Use FREETAXUSA 10 for 10% off, and go through TopCashback for cashback
They support the federal version, and did leave them a message, so we'll see next year.
Ended up using FreeTaxUSA and was pleasantly surprised. Was way easier to enter all my info in than TurboTax, and pulled up the same refund amount. I don't see why I would want to use TurboTax when the free alternative is free and easier to use.