What are your experiences with Turbotax Free Edition? From a tax standpoint, last year was about as simple as they come: I drew a salary, collected a little unemployment during a furlough, and I have two children. I ran the numbers on a couple of online calculators which said that I owe a fair amount. I also ran most of the way through turbotax free, and it is saying that I will get a substantial refund. Should I be skeptical, or has turbotax come through for you as well?
I’ve used the free edition for the last few years and haven’t had any issues yet.
I’ve used it for the last 6-7 years and it always works fine. The only weird thing is I got charged one year.
Thanks.
A couple of follow up questions:
- How much does it cost to e-file (if any?)
- I have joint custody and am allowed to claim my children. What form do I use to claim, and/or how do I submit the form with the Turbotax return?
Sorry for being this ignorant; this is the first year in a while that my taxes were simple enough to do them myself.
They will tell you how much it costs to e-file, Federal is free, state usually has a slight fee (varies per state).
But check your state website - for me, when I was in Denver I could actually file online for free (well, they gave you a $15 credit for filing through their system) so I used the print out from turbo-tax and filed online through them.
And the joint custody question can be answered by searchign online at Turbotax - they walk you through all that.
They charged me this year and I’m still not sure why. I selected the free one, went through the whole process, and although I noticed a lot auto-completed for me I know I chose the free edition. I did it twice, the second time retyping everything that auto-completed. Still charged me 19.99.
Before this, I’ve never had a problem.
For those that were charged, it might be because your earnings were above 56,000 limit for free file.
Ahahaha ahahahaha
I wish that was the reason!
Me too.
Me three. Used it last year for the first time and loved it. Was also my first year E-filing. Went off without a hitch. Will do it again this year.
I have used Taxslayer for several years now (and no, I do not work for them nor have any other relationship with them whatsoever) and they charge $9.95 to e-file your return.
My SO has a simple form - no major deductions, etc. but I have a more complicated form with mortgage and other credits/deductions.
All I can say is that we are happy with them and get a good return on our taxes.
No, it isn’t “free”, but for under 10 bucks, I figure it is a great deal.
It is, however, “free” to go through the process. You don’t have to pay a single penny to fill out their forms and see what your return/payment will be. If you like what you see - then, and only then - do you pay the fee and have it submitted to the IRS.
In previous years i’ve just selected the free-file stuff from the IRS --specifically ezTaxReturn.
It’s basically just the online version of the 1040 form, but it’s quicker to do the calculations, so you can play around with it a little to get the maximum return. I found out the way my dad was deducting my student loan interest caused me to get a few hundred less than optimal. I make more than the limit set by the IRS, but I still plan on playing around with the software, then just mailing in the finished form.