free tax efile?

[snipelfritz]

Anyone know of any credible websites where you can file your taxes for little to no cost?

From what I understand a lot of these websites pull a bait and switch on the whole free thing.

Also, I don't really have much deductions or income in general, so if it's something simple, that would definitely suit me.

[Achtane]

Turbotax, yo.
They do state taxes for free too now.

[Mike]

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Yo ... s-for-Free

You cannot eFile for free if your income is above $60k, or if you want to itemize deductions (instead of claiming the standard deduction).

Most places charge for the state filing.

Personally, I would avoid TurboTax. Their system was shut down just last week after the government notified Turbotax that their system was being used to submit fraudulent returns. Turbotax had no clue. Now they say it is fixed. Yeah, right.

Good luck!

Mike

[snipelfritz]

Yeah, I've heard bad things about turbotax.

I just filed state taxes for free through the state's website and am getting a decent, much needed refund.

Now for dat federal.

EDIT: Just filed federal for free at 1040.com (but state would've cost $19.99)

All done

[culturejam]

You cannot eFile for free if your income is above $60k, or if you want to itemize deductions (instead of claiming the standard deduction).

Yeah, this is what always gets people. All the big guys (and even the little ones) advertise "free federal filing", but that's only if you can file using 1040EZ, which means only the "standard deduction" (no itemizing). So if you own a house, pay student loans, have a kid, have any sort of income that would require a 1099, etc, then you're going to pay to e-file (or even paper file, for that matter, unless you do the calcs yourself and mail it in). Maybe there are some places that do it free even for more complex returns, but I've not looked into it much.


As for TurboTax, I've used it for the last several years with no issues. I find it's "walk-through" approach to income and deductions to be very intuitive and thorough. There are deductions I would have definitely missed had it not been for the software asking about them. It also found a mistake that I made this year in typing in a number from a W2, which would have cost me about $150 had it not caught it. I also like that it saves past tax returns and compares current year to past years and asks questions if there are major discrepancies from year to year. I assume the other software does the same types of things, but I've no intention of switching at this point.

[LOCOPELAND]

Taxact.com

Been using that shit for like 6 years. Did my efile and had my refund deposited within a week.

[snipelfritz]

Yeah, I had the advantage (said lightly) of low income, no dependents but myself, and only a non-standard deduction for paying rent as a part of state property tax cuts.

Basically, I got enough back to live for another month and pitch in on our ep we're recording this Saturday.