Over the last few years, I’d been a loyal follower of taxactonline, until I spent the better part of tonight, filling in all my information (W2’s, home mortgage interest, etc), only to find out that for 2015, they’ve “moved the goalposts” in that you now have to buy their “Deluxe Edition” (albeit only $15) to file anything more than a basic 1040EZ form - their free software doesn’t include itemized deductions anymore.
I’m not interested in going down to the neighborhood H&R-Block joint and having them do it for me, and I suppose I could just do mine (over the span of a few hours) with pencil and paper, but I always liked the simple Q&A fashion that they presented.
I briefly checked out TurboTax, and it appears that theirs is the same sort of deal - unless you’re filing a 1040EZ (i.e. no itemized home-mortgage deductions), you’re gonna have to pay to upgrade with them as well.
Any other free online tax-filing avenues that you know about / are a fan of?
I’m also interested, since I have been using Turbo Tax until they moved their goalposts and required a higher-cost version for self employed people (Schedule C, I think it is). I was going to go with TaxAct because it is much cheaper and I don’t expect to get anything very good for free. But if there is something both good and free out there, I’ll bite.
I usually go between TurboTax and H&R Block free files but this year they’ve both annoyed me. I used TurboTax last year and tried to go get my 2014 tax return and it was gone. Ok, no big deal. Kinda annoyed but I can’t expect them to hold it forever. So then I go to do 2015 taxes and it’s like ‘Oh hey, look we’re importing all your info from last year to make it easier!’ Great! That’s appreciated! Oh wait…I have to pay you $25 to upgrade to get this? Uhh no. Then it makes a big show of ‘removing’ all the stuff it just imported.
Skip to H&R Block. I work on free file, going through the stuff and it’s like oh hey you qualify for EIC! That’s an extra MILLION DOLLARS in your pocket! Oh…dang, to claim that you have to fill out a special form and that’s only available for the upgraded. Do you want to pay $9.99 for that or lose out on that MILLION DOLLARS?
Look, it’s not the fact that they’re offering upgraded services for a fee that bothers me. It’s that they present it to you in such a manipulative fashion that bothers me. I’m not going to use either of them this year and see if I can find something different. I was thinking TaxAct but it looks like that’s not really an option either per the OP.
I’ve never been able to use a free version, but I’ve used the HR Block online for around 10 years now. I just log in every year, import last year’s info, make a few edits, and file.
I use Taxslayer ( \m/ ). They calculate EIC and other stuff automatically as you go along, and they import from last year too. It’s fucked up to charge low income people extra to get EIC.
I always used TurboTax or H&R Block in the past. My husband has always used FreeTaxUSA. This is our first time filing jointly and we went with FreeTaxUSA because they had a coupon code (COUPONS10). 10% off the state return, and free federal. Plus the H&R Block forms print with an obnoxious watermark, and these didn’t. Got our refund in a week, I have no complaints. Our income situation isn’t complicated, but their website says the free version “Supports home and child credits, investments, small business income, and more.”
I get really frustrated at the tax preparation industry. They promote the idea that taxes are really hard to do and if you don’t pay someone to do it for you, you’re going to end up losing a bunch of money. For most people, though, that’s just not true.
I used TaxAct until this year because it saved a bit of time but it was only worth it because they were free. So I used the free fillable forms instead.
I think I’ve used them in the past, I’ll check them out. And yeah, that really pissed me off. It’s like, Thisis the freaking form they were wanting to charge me for them to fill out. It’s not exactly rocket science. I dunno, I was looking on their website, HR Block, and they have a perk for $9.99 you also get a gift card for some retailers for 5% of whatever your refund is… I’m going to look into the details and see what the catch is and decide whether or not to do it.
Missed the edit window but I found the fine print. Of course it’s not so simple as just giving you a card for 5% of your return. You gotta like choose to put at least $100 of your refund on that card and then they give you 5% of that on the card. Plus it requires you filling out an extra form with the irs. No thanks lol
I have used tax act in the past, and since i have to file for two states (live in MN, work in WI) I have had to pay anyway.
I will probably continue out of habit and plug my nose
I just finished my federal and state taxes on TaxAct. I consider the $30 to be money well spent. No worries about math errors. No worries about forgetting anything. I just make sure to double check everything I enter. My state refund will be in my bank probably by the end of the week, because they turn e-filing around fast. The feds will get what I owe on April 15. I downloaded a copy, printed it, and my 2015 tax folder is now complete.
Free is nice, but I don’t consider what I paid to be outrageous - it’s less than my husband or I earn per hour, and it took just over an hour to get it done and checked. Seemed like a good deal to me.
I’ve tried the big 3 and have been going with H&R Block. TaxAct had some frustrating parts like non-intuitive menus and the previous year import didn’t work (this was a couple years ago). Block isn’t perfect either. TurboTax sucks. No state tax so it’s all free.
My taxes aren’t hard but I don’t mind paying less than $100 (much less) to save me time. The conveniences the Premium version gives you are what I’m paying for, not the math.
I use H&R Block. I am EZ and claim the standard deductions, and have a W-2 and a tiny bit of interest on my bank accounts. That’s it. Also, no state tax in NH since I don’t have any applicable investment income.
Same here. A few people think I’m silly for paying that amount of $. My tax preparer has been doing mine for almost 10 years now. I could never get the same level of service online.