Freetaxusa dot com

[Swimmer]

Just discovered. So, what's the catch? Is it really free? Anyone used it? Thanks.

[jimb_fromATL]

There are a lot of companies that offer free filing in alliance with the IRS for federal taxpayers. The main catch is that it's only with under $62K income. That site may be one of them ... or not. I'd want to know if that is one of them before I used it. And I'd probably go with one that was sponsored by some company that I recognized.

IRS About The Free File Program

the IRS site ... not open for 2016 filing yet.


jimb

[David Jay]

TurboTax has an online version for free. That seems lower risk to me.

[MI_bogle]

Does anybody know how this works with MFJ? I have used in the past as a single person but not sure how it works with MFJ, if that income limit is doubled or not. Cursory google did not turn up much, but maybe I missed it

[corysold]

I used it last year and was quite pleased. If I remember, it is free for federal and $12.95 for state. We file MFJ, I have schedule C income and it handled everything just fine.

Total income was in the $80,000s, taxable in the $35000s, not sure if that matters for getting it free though.

[jimb_fromATL]

Does anybody know how this works with MFJ? I have used in the past as a single person but not sure how it works with MFJ, if that income limit is doubled or not. Cursory google did not turn up much, but maybe I missed it

As far as I can tell, and since they don't make any distinction, I'd guess that the $62K limit is the income shown on the tax form whether it's single or MFJ. Not doubled for MFJ.

jimb

[Swimmer]

Thanks. Didn't want to go to the trouble of starting it if it wasn't going to work out.

[reriodan]

I used it last year and was quite pleased. If I remember, it is free for federal and $12.95 for state. We file MFJ, I have schedule C income and it handled everything just fine.

I have used it as well and it works good for me. I think it's quite nice actually. As far as I know, the only catch is above, many people will just pay $12.95 to file the state taxes as well.

[emp2b3]

As others have stated, there is no "catch" other than paying for state filing if you choose to do so.
I have been using it for 8 years or so and have had zero problems. There is definitely no income limit or other restrictions.
Similar to other programs it automatically imports your prior year's data.
http://www.thewirecutter.com reviews tax programs each year. Last year FreeTaxUSA was lower due to concerns over a security feature (lack of two factor authentication?) that has since been resolved if I recall correctly. My guess is that it will again be the top choice for people that have a baseline understanding of the tax process.

[jimcrawford01]

Used it for 2 years now with no problems.

Very user friendly and CHAT function is reliable and helpful!

[Cloud]

No catch, state forms are $12.95.. This is my second year using it and so far I like it better then TaxAct. Also, both Turbo Tax and TaxAct screwed up their VT state returns last year, FreeTaxUsa got it right!

[mikep]

Go through ebates before signing up for 25% cash back and use coupon FREETAXUSA10 for 10% off. Hopefully the cash back link is saved until you pay to file months later.
This drops your $12.95 price to $8.41.
I will try it this year after being a longtime taxact user, since taxact is substantially more expensive this year.

[PittPharmboy]

I will echo the other replies as I have used this for roughly a decade and have had absolutely no issues whatsoever. It's extremely easy to use and I go ahead and pay them for my state return as an appreciative gesture for the ease of use. As mentioned above, there's coupon codes available every year so make sure you use those to save a couple bucks.

I don't believe the $62K limit applies here as I've been MFJ and have been above that threshold for a couple years now and have never paid for the Federal return.

[N1CKV]

I used it last year and was pleased. There is no income limit that I came across. My state offers free filing directly through their Department of Revenue, so I file my state taxes directly for no cost.