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> Just a reminder -- since a lot of people don't know about it -- the IRS has had "Free File Fillable Forms" [1, 2] for many years. Everyone (no income limits) can use it to e-file for free.

Just a reminder, because even *less* people know. This is a third party service not run by the IRS. In past years it was Intuit, this year it looks like according to the site's privacy policy: https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/home/privacy_statement... that it's these randos out in Missouri: https://www.olt.com/main/home/default.asp

I did not know that, thanks! Looking into it, according to Wikipedia it's "operated by a private organization, the Free File Alliance" [1], which is a "public-private partnership with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide free electronic tax filing services" [2]. The Missouri company you list is one of the "7 participating Alliance members" [2].

I honestly don't know what a "public-private partnership" means, or how that's different from the IRS just contracting a company to build a product. But it seems awfully integrated into the IRS's website, so there's clearly a "partnership" -- it can't be total randos (hopefully??).

I don't see any obvious red flags in the privacy policy, is there something to be worried about?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File#Free_File_Fillable_F...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_File_Alliance

Red flag from Intuit mentioned in another comment [1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34765258

> I don't see any obvious red flags in the privacy policy, is there something to be worried about?

if you’re an idealist like me: you believe the tax code is needlessly complex, and that tax-prep companies like Intuit have a vested interest in keeping the tax code and process unfriendly. hence, you avoid paid tax prep services because you know a portion of your payment will go to lobbying a policy that is against your own interests.

but if IRS contracts with Intuit, then Intuit’s still getting paid either way; their lobbying efforts are still funded either way. any illusion of a moral high ground via self-filing is mostly gone.

I had to give up on e-filing with Free Fillable Forms last year because it claimed an arithmetic error where none existed and it would not allow me to e-file until that non-error was corrected.

The same forms I ultimately generated with both TaxHawk's and H&R Block's software were identical to those I wasn't allowed to submit with FFF.

But can one e-File with Free File Fillable Forms? If I have to print out the return and mail it, then it's a no go for me.

Yes, it uses the same API backend as the other commercial e file systems.

Yes. Just click submit at the end, and in somewhere between 15 minutes and a couple of hours you'll get a response from the IRS whether it was accepted or rejected with an error message of what didn't match up.

(Sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 tries because I mistyped a number from a W2 or missed a line or something.)

Hah, I can't e-file my taxes at all, because it is not possible to e-file as "married, filing separately" if one has a non-resident alien spouse (without SSN or ITIN). Aka married overseas, US hadn't yet granted a visa yet, no point in trying to obtain an ITIN (that's harder than having to mail the form).

The form is totally fine - according to IRS, one just needs to write "NRA" ("non-resident alien") instead of spouse's SSN and that's it. But for some technical reason (despite, AFAIK, IRS having at least 4 iterations of XML schemas) e-filing is said to be not possible - one gotta print and mail it.

Worse, I had to explain how this works to "specialists" at H&R Block, as they almost made a mistake of suggesting to file my returns as "single" (glad I did my own research, huh). And I can't use FreeTaxUSA because they don't support such scenario either.

Edit: Upd: freefilefillableforms.com doesn't let me type in "NRA" in that field either. (Doesn't really matter, works for me as long as I get a PDF out of this)

As a taxpayer and software engineer, I think it’s a good thing that the irs built or bought an e-filing system that doesn’t handle every scenario. Because I know if they spec’ed out such a system it would have cost a lot more money, have taken longer to build, and been buggier.

We should all be on the lookout for cases when a system can be developed to handle >99% of cases and kick the hard remaining ones out to a manual process.

You are correct, of course. I was writing my comment with two ideas: a) venting some steam as I'm of course upset that I can't e-file; b) telling that things some take for granted, such as an ability to file electronically, aren't really universal.

I suppose the issue is that they had to start from scratch. It's not really about software, it's only a data structure here that's problematic - an XML schema that doesn't allow to make some value kind of optional.

IRS most certainly has an existing data structure that can handle all scenarios. They don't just file outlier cases as a paper in some cabinet - they do digitize those mail-in forms and input them into a computer. I had downloaded back a transcript and it's all in there, my 1040 was digitized, so I know it for a fact.

It's just probably that it's hidden in an ugly giant legacy system (possibly involving some Fortran-running mainframe somewhere) so they weren't able to realistically extract this full schema from there. Or deemed it too flawed.

A shame that they probably will never be able to afford a proper rewrite (sometimes legacy code gets too convoluted it becomes impossible to treat it as anything but a black box).

lol I can't e-file because I claimed software development research credits

that's ironic. can't use software to get the software research credits

That’s for federal filing only right? What do you do for your local state taxes?

My state has its own iFile system that works pretty flawlessly as a pseudo-wizard but actually a free fillable form. It expects you to file federal taxes first so your 1040 can be used to fill in the details.

Which state is this and do you mind providing a link?

Maryland - https://interactive.marylandtaxes.gov/Individuals/iFile_Choo...

Not all states have their own income tax

Yeah but those are a small minority -- there is 8. Most of the population lives in states with state-level income taxes.

Those without income taxes have a complex set of sales, property, etc, taxes, and those often come with byzantine exemptions and other rules.

Does CRA (Canada) have anything like this?

I tried their fillable forms, but you have to do the math manually and are very error prone