Sayonara, TurboTax

January 29, 2024 4:57 PM

The IRS Direct File pilot offers a new choice to file your 2023 federal tax return online. If you're eligible, you can file for free, directly with IRS. [IRS.gov about page] Directfile.IRS.gov
posted by hippybear (56 comments total)

You can't use Direct File if you have:

Health insurance you bought directly through a marketplace (like HealthCare.gov)
Money you withdrew from a health savings account (HSA)


So the new IRS toy doesn't fit with the old IRS accessory set?
posted by phunniemee at 5:14 PM on January 29 [22 favorites]

Apparently it's currently a limited pilot, and only available in certain states. I already used the free version of TurboTax for this year's return, but maybe it'll have expanded a bit by next year.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:32 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]

dare i ask, how is a tax ... thing... not available because you have Obamacare...?
posted by slater at 5:44 PM on January 29 [16 favorites]

I have a bit of second-hand knowledge from some folks that worked on this. It was done by a comparatively small team and they were pretty worried a few times the entire project would be scrapped, either by agencies or Congress. Basically everyone who worked on it wishes it'd be available for everyone and it was bigger but are overall happy with what they were able to get ready for this tax year. It's definitely intended to cover larger parts of the tax code and have more people who are eligible in the future.
posted by skynxnex at 5:49 PM on January 29 [74 favorites]

Just a reminder about Free Tax USA. Free Federal filing, $15 for state. The name does sound sketchy, but it absolutely works.
posted by cozenedindigo at 6:00 PM on January 29 [40 favorites]

dare i ask, how is a tax ... thing... not available because you have Obamacare...?

There are some fairly complicated edge cases involving the ACA Premium Tax Credit. (For example, the case where it has a circular dependency on the SE Health Insurance Deduction that can cause the tax return to “alternate between two significantly different states” each time you recalculate either the deduction or the credit.) Maybe the programming in this area wasn’t fully finished and thoroughly tested in time for this tax season.
posted by mbrubeck at 6:20 PM on January 29 [9 favorites]

as is this is worthless.
but a good first step.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:32 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

For the people for whom this works, who have maybe been trapped into one of the paid filing systems in the past because they didn't know better or fell victim to dark design or whatever... This is going to make a huge difference. And this year, if it goes well, means that maybe next year will be more fully featured.

The fact that it is so difficult to file taxes for free anymore in this country should be a scandal.
posted by hippybear at 6:38 PM on January 29 [31 favorites]

Sadly not available for those of us outside the US who have to file NR tax returns.

Here in NZ we have a greatly simplified tax system - most people don't need to file, if they do it's usually a couple of web pages,, our IRD will even send you refunds if they think you paid too much if you don't file (with interest)
posted by mbo at 6:40 PM on January 29 [4 favorites]

"Access to the Direct File pilot is currently limited, but will open to more participants soon."

oh well.
posted by atom128 at 6:43 PM on January 29

Just a reminder about Free Tax USA. Free Federal filing, $15 for state. The name does sound sketchy, but it absolutely works.

I don't know which of these companies are the same under the hood, but I've used and been perfectly happy with Free File Fillable Forms, with which I feel reasonably comfortable because the official IRS website directs me there. They're a little cryptic when you file and get an error—you basically get a raw dump of the failed XML validation—but, if you're willing to sort through that, it's as easy it promises to be. I believe that it is also $15 for state taxes.
posted by It is regrettable that at 6:43 PM on January 29 [4 favorites]

Back in the incredible future year of 1996, the IRS introduced the ability to file electronically. It was very minimalist-- you could only file a 1040EZ, and had to make less than $60K annually or something-- but as you can imagine we were all very excited. So I filed electronically! It worked! It was lovely!

Two months later I received a official communication from the IRS informing me that yes, I had filed correctly, but I had failed to mail them a separate, physical form stating my intent to file electronically. For this crime, I was henceforth barred from filing electronically again for the next five years.

The IRS. They're there, but it's almost impossible to see them past that curve they're behind.
posted by phooky at 6:52 PM on January 29 [32 favorites]

They're just not funded well enough to actually do a good job. It's been done on purpose, but I'm preaching to the choir.
posted by VTX at 7:06 PM on January 29 [41 favorites]

Meanwhile back in Australia, the Australian Tax Office's "MyTax" online tax return filing system has been working well enough in recent years that I'm almost willing to believe that there isn't still some lurking eldritch COBOL horror running the back end.

Watching the US financial system take baby steps into the 20th Century is kind of cool. How long, do you reckon, before paper cheques are not really a thing any more?
posted by flabdablet at 7:19 PM on January 29 [13 favorites]

In Chile, third world and all, for over a decade, you log in, look at the proposed return, see how much you're supposed to pay or get back, and push "accept". If you have to pay, you pay through your bank. If you get money back, it's deposited in your account in a few weeks.
That's it.
posted by signal at 7:32 PM on January 29 [14 favorites]

You can get tax forms for free at the library.
posted by officer_fred at 7:37 PM on January 29

I remember reading that this was the result of the IRS giving a lot of access and help to H&R Block and Intuit and so on in exchange for the promise of free filing for large categories of people, and the companies basically "thanks, suckers!" and immediately doing absolutely everything they could to funnel people who they'd agreed with the IRS would be eligible for free filing into paid services- the IRS eventually got fed up and went "fine, fuck it, we'll do it ourselves then".
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:52 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]

I'll never be able to use this, but glad to see Intuit taking the occasional L.

(I literally bought a printer just so I can mail the IRS a paper form once or twice a year, because some things can only be done with paper forms.)
posted by credulous at 8:03 PM on January 29 [2 favorites]

Some of the things Intuit did to try to keep people paying to file
posted by Songdog at 8:04 PM on January 29 [11 favorites]

That's it.

I have to admit, I'm terrified of how this would be handled in the USA, where a lot of financial assistance and incentives comes through deductions, credits, and so on. And it would not be well-funded. I hope this program is successful and it gets more funding as a result.

Here I've had years where the "professional" software couldn't handle my taxes, resulting in it telling me I owed near half my $25,000 income in taxes. (It couldn't handle differing exemption criteria for graduate tuition waivers.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:08 PM on January 29

a circular dependency on the SE Health Insurance Deduction that can cause the tax return to “alternate between two significantly different states”

Quantum tax return
posted by latkes at 8:15 PM on January 29 [4 favorites]

The Australian MyTax thing works pretty much like the Chilean one as described above.

The only real downside, for me, is needing to wait almost until the tax return filing deadline at the end of October to use it instead of being able to get it all squared away closer to the start of the new financial year in July. If I don't wait, there will be company dividends missing from its pre-filled data that I would then have to dig up from my own records and add in by hand. This happens because the ATO gives companies quite generous amounts of time to file their own end-of-financial-year data.

If I do wait, though, the only stuff I need to fill in on my own is my tax-deductible charitable donations and my spouse's taxable income. And I can do those early, then just leave the return saved online in partially completed form while waiting for the rest of the company data to populate.
posted by flabdablet at 8:18 PM on January 29 [2 favorites]

Some of the things Intuit did to try to keep people paying to file

Fittingly, the tour culminated in San Diego, the home of TurboTax, the software that transformed the company’s fortunes. There, Smith arrived at his party in a DeLorean, and as he walked a red carpet, cheering employees waved “Brad is Rad” signs. To Smith’s delight, his favorite rock star, Gene Simmons of Kiss, emerged. The two posed for pictures, Simmons clad in black and the beaming CEO flashing the “rock on” hand sign.

I was made for billing you, baby
You were made for paying me
And I can't get enough off you, baby
Can you give it all to me
posted by flabdablet at 8:30 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

a circular dependency on the SE Health Insurance Deduction that can cause the tax return to “alternate between two significantly different states”

Sure, but when I include a vial of poison and a radioactive isotope with my return suddenly it's a whole federal case.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:39 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]

> Just a reminder about Free Tax USA. Free Federal filing, $15 for state. The name does sound sketchy, but it absolutely works.

Worth saying again in case it scrolls off -- don't support TT's dark patterns and lobbying. I have no affiliation whatsoever with FreeTaxUSA but it's been fantastic the 5 years or so that I've been using it.
posted by milnak at 8:44 PM on January 29 [7 favorites]

I'm in a pilot state, but due to income types I don't qualify for it, alas. Some person on reddit revealed to me this week that Free File Fillable Forms, my go-to, is actually administered on the back end by a rotating cast of tax prep companies, which means I'm not boycotting those companies as thoroughly as I had thought. So I might actually mail paper to the IRS this year.

Incidentally, I just yesterday saw the first of the new Intuit ads that try their best to spin their way through the court-ordered requirement that they state what proportion of their customers qualify for the free version of TurboTax. Amusing to see them try to imply that 37% is a really big number.
posted by egregious theorem at 9:02 PM on January 29 [6 favorites]

I used to mail paper to the IRS up until the day that the IRS office in Spokane, which was in the Federal Building, which required all the pocket emptying and justification of building-entry that one can imagine, stopped carrying the EZ forms, because they also aren't available at the post office.

What I'm saying is, the IRS has been shoving all the people who are least able to pay because they file the most simple of forms into the shark-infested waters of online filing by cutting off the paper forms they used to offer and have easily available.

So all those dark design bullshit things that are employed by a lot of tax filing services? Yeah, personally I got up to the "AND NOW YOU PAY" moment of more than a few services across more than a few years, and then bailed because I knew I should be able to file for free.

That removal of the easiest of tax forms from public access is one of the bigger crimes the US government has committed against its citizens, I'm convinced of this.
posted by hippybear at 9:08 PM on January 29 [2 favorites]

I have no affiliation whatsoever with FreeTaxUSA but it's been fantastic the 5 years or so that I've been using it.

That's how I felt, until I tried to download a copy of last year's return a couple of months ago, and was startled by their demand that I pay them for it.
posted by JHarris at 9:19 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]

I've always been able to find tax forms for free at all the local libraries I've frequented, for decades.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:27 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

NO you cannot get free tax forms at the library, or at least this is highly location dependent. We will help you print them out though.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:27 PM on January 29 [8 favorites]

To spell it out for those not completely aware of the history: the IRS Direct File pilot comprises the latest skirmish in a 20+ year battle over whether or not USians can use simple, free electronic filing like most rich countries, or remain captive to rapaciously greedy corporate predators, like most things in the US. The belligerents include, on one side, some financial services companies and the elected and appointed officials that love them (for pay), and, on the other, all USians, plus anyone and anything harmed by deliberately undermined trust between the US population and its government.

Free File started in 2001 under Bush's OMB, though I don't know what led up to that. It featured as many as 17 industry partners, who were supposed to offer free electronic filing to 70% of taxpayers in exchange for being allowed to charge the remaining 30%. Songdog's ProPublica link outlines Intuit's many acts of sabotage. Following that 2019 report, Intuit and H&R Block quit the program. Seven companies remain for current (2023) tax cycle.

Since 2020, filers have been able to fill out and submit the forms electronically, but that's both no easier than doing it all on paper and, as egregious theorum notes, a little fishy on the back end.

Meanwhile the Build Back Better Bill of 2021, which was supposed to be linked to the more politically palatable Infrastructure Bill to guarantee its passage, included a tiny $10 or 20m program to resuscitate free electronic filing. The Democratic House passed it in 2021, then reluctantly unlinked the bills in exchange for a pinky swear from Manchin and maybe Sinema?, who then killed it, and then brought it back to life the following year on his own terms, chiefly fossil fuels subsidies. Fortunately for this thread, the tax pilot survived, then survived the lie about "$77b for IRS Gestapo to invade your homes and murder your family" (surely there's a pithy Onion editorial cartoon on this), and survived gods know what else, and now we have a brave little pilot program.

Policy-making demands a long narrative: I'm not sure if it's more like following sports teams (for decades, and with huge stakes) or watching a nature show (for decades, and with huge stakes).
posted by PresidentOfDinosaurs at 9:34 PM on January 29 [28 favorites]

I'm also a FreeTaxUSA user and recommend it. Other than Direct File, the IRS offers other free file options. The Guided Tax Software path there led me to FreeTaxUSA with free state filing as a bonus if your AGI is < $45K.
posted by bjorkbjorkbjork! at 9:42 PM on January 29

Sadly not available for those of us outside the US who have to file NR tax returns.

Yup, I hate paying the greedy companies but those of us outside the US don't really have a good alternative. Citizenship-based taxation, FBAR, etc does not help either - the USG really goes out of its way to make life difficult for those who choose to leave.

Also add Sweden to the list of more enlightened countries. All you have to do is log on to Skatteverket's website and approve the form they have already filled out for you (or modify/contest if you see fit). That's it!
posted by photo guy at 10:06 PM on January 29 [2 favorites]

I've always been able to find tax forms for free at all the local libraries I've frequented, for decades.

Having done it both ways, I say filing forms on paper is an order of magnitude less convenient than doing it in a guided system with help online. I'm surprised at the number of people here scoffing at this useful service.
posted by JHarris at 11:33 PM on January 29 [21 favorites]

Having done it both ways, I say filing forms on paper is an order of magnitude less convenient than doing it in a guided system with help online. I'm surprised at the number of people here scoffing at this useful service.

Beyond that, all filing on paper means is that your paper form gets transcribed into the same digital format that e-filing uses, but with the added risk of additional errors introduced through the transcription process. (This is also why the IRS has been moving away from paper forms - they introduce a lot of unneeded friction and risk.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:36 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

I’m continually amazed at the unfriendliness of the US systems. In a bit of prior life I was the head architect for something called the Taxation Renewal in Sweden, where income tax, VAT, and related was digitised. We looked at some commercial offerings for tax (from the likes of Oracle) that were used in US states, and the difference in mindset and vision from what we, in our small office, had developed was just astounding. It helps of course that in Sweden, know who to get tax from is a solved problem, more or less.

We ended up building a system from scratch, encompassing web applications, process management etc (actual calculations were initially tossed over into mainframe land since there’s quite a bit of backwards-compatibility trickery with tax cases open to challenge for five to seven years). And hello, of course free to use.

An interesting thing was that we built a system to use the same data to both produce web forms, paper forms, and api:s for 3rd party integrations. This was a thing of beauty that would generate all the code, input validations etc (and nice printouts as well). When we opened up testing to 3rd parties we were inundated with bug reports, and it turned out a lot of vendors were relying on legacy quirks/bugs in the api:s that weren’t tolerated by the new, shiny and pretty system. Since timelines were short and we didn’t want to jeopardise returns via 3rd party software (super common for accounting agencies that do bulk filings, or companies with fancy finance systems) we had to make the decision to re-implement some of the quirks/bugs in the new system. There was almost literal tears over this from the forms architects and team …

Another fun little quirk was that embassies would set up limited companies so that they could be in customer registers etc (although no-one would give these companies any credit since there’s really no enforcement mechanism). This meant they were supposed to send in tax forms, but they never did (see above). And it was considered rude to send reminders, or to file to put them into bankruptcy (which is what would have happened to any other company that didn’t return the forms even after a sufficient amount of reminders and fines). This was managed in legacy by hard coded company registration numbers and by having designated assessors for these but we made a special category for them.

There was also a special category for the one company that was formally a trust but was by some decree back in the mists of time to be treated as a limited corporation for tax purposes.

Anyway, the Swedish tax authority went go great expense to make the systems accessible, easy to understand and to use (even to the extent of working with parliament to change some laws), and as a result most swedes can give silent consent on their taxes. Not coincidentally the tax authority consistently ranks as the top most appreciated government entity (way above for example the social security agency despite the tax authority collecting money and the social security agency paying it out).


In summary: USA, what?
posted by boogieboy at 2:58 AM on January 30 [28 favorites]

This is all reminding me that once again, despite the fact that I haven't lived in the US for over sixteen years at this point, I need to file yet another stack of forms telling the IRS that no, I don't owe them any money this year, either.

This is all complicated by the fact that the UK doesn't have W-2 form equivalents. There's a P60 form that's close, but it's per tax year, not calendar year, so I have to sit there and manually add up all of my earnings for the last calendar year and then do the conversion from GBP to USD.

Even that isn't so bad, but then I get to play tax website roulette. I've had good luck the last couple of years with a site called OnLine Taxes, but in previous years it's been a random selection of:

- Getting 75% of the way into filling out the return, only to be told "Oops! We actually can't handle foreign earned income with the filing option you've chosen, so you'll need to pay for a more expensive option/go elsewhere. Sorry!";

- Actually being able to finish the process, only to be told that you somehow owe upwards of $500 in taxes, despite having earned zero taxable income of any kind in the US for the last year, and having to start over on another site (H&R Block, I am looking in your direction); or

- Finishing with the expected outcome ($0 owed and $0 refund), but the site has baited-and-switched you and now refuses to let you do free filing as advertised, so you're stuck paying (and God help you if they only take credit/debit cards with US billing addresses, because you don't have one of those and you'll have to start all over again on another site).

The one saving grace in all this is that my last state of legal residence says you don't have to file if you don't earn any money in it, so I'm spared that bit of hassle, at least. Still, though. Making non-resident citizens file tax returns is a ridiculous and unnecessary bit of bureaucracy, and the US is one of the only countries on Earth that insists on it. (Although it does serve as a nice counter to the people who get snarky about my still voting in US elections--if they're going to continue to make me file taxes, then I'm going to get my representation.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:39 AM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, or Wyoming

Why limit the pilot to mostly red states who hate paying taxes?
posted by Ickster at 3:53 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Why limit the pilot to mostly red states who hate paying taxes?

Those are states with no state income tax. You'll notice California, New York, Washington, and Massachusetts are also eligible (famously not red states) but with caveats that you may have to file your state taxes or do something else separately.
posted by misskaz at 4:15 AM on January 30 [13 favorites]

Add me to the list of mildly annoyed overseas citizens who is deeply annoyed at the US tax code. I live, earn money, and pay taxes in a foreign country. I earn far, far less than the threshold for paying taxes (and am unlikely to ever earn even close to that limit), but I need to print, fill out, and send in my taxes every year. I say print because way back when the IRS said, hey, just use any one of these private companies, give them all of your data, and file your taxes that way, with each and every online form I used, I would get to the point where I need to fill out form 2555 (foreign earned income exception), and that company would be like, oh, that form? We don't have that. Try elsewhere. So I gave up, and print and write out my taxes every year. It's a complete pain in the ass, and as far as I know, it's just us and... Eritrea?? that require non-resident citizens to file taxes every year.

Mind you, from what I understand, the FEIE is only applicable if you're an employee. From what I've heard (and no, I don't really want to know), is that American residents who run their own business overseas are also liable for full business taxes in the US, even if their company does no business there. And then there's FBARS, but hey, I also don't really need to ever worry about having $10k in cash in a bank anytime soon.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:12 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I had failed to mail them a separate, physical form stating my intent to file electronically

Ah, in the same vein as all the companies that send you a physical piece of mail to inform you that you have switched to paperless statements.

I'm using paperless with my credit union, but I still get a paper invoice every month informing me that I owe $0.00 on the credit card that I only have for backup.
posted by Foosnark at 5:29 AM on January 30

I volunteer with Tax Aide and most of our work is done at libraries. None of them have had the big stack of forms since at least 2020. You can ask for help getting some printed, but you might end up coming back for a form you didn't know you needed. No one solution is going to work for everyone right away. This is a great step in the right direction.

I'm surprised at the number of people here scoffing at this useful service.
I am not surprised, but I am disappointed. The tax code / filing mess / corporate stranglehold is a big complicated system that will take years to dismantle. Having this as an option is a big deal and the plans are to expand it after the trial run.
posted by soelo at 6:08 AM on January 30 [5 favorites]

I f---ing hate Intuit, but I end up using TurboTax year after year because for my tax situation they are the easiest and the alternatives aren't any cheaper. I'm blessed to have some investment income, but that rules out doing a 1040ez, or some of the simpler free filing options. I have seriously looked at FreeTaxUSA, TaxAct, and TaxGator to not give Intuit my money. But they are all around the same price, and Intuit already has my info.

My biggest personal gripe with Intuit was the year I decided to drive for Lyft, and I was forced to upgrade to the TurboTax Self employed (+$50)- to show I made $57 net income from giving rides. There was no way to take the TurboTax output and hand fill out an attach the business form. Indignity on top of making $1000 gross for many hours of late night driving and seeing deductible expenses of $943. I had extra miles on my EV lease so my real expense were thankfully lower.

For the 80% of folks with simpler taxes I am very happy to see the IRS offer a direct option instead of cycling people into the TurboTax system
posted by CostcoCultist at 6:15 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]

As an American living abroad, I just fill in the paper/PDFs and send them back in. Its not that onerous. Ok maybe it is, but I refuse to engage with or give money to any tax filing service.

The FBAR is basically an online questionnaire and that has been online for some time. I am more dutiful about filing that every year.

I think most countries - like here in the Netherlands - have fairly predictable tax structures and so if you fit into the norm then you don't have to submit a return unless you have some really complicated income situation. Taxes are deducted automatically from payroll and from capital gains and then balanced at the end of the year. They have all the info they need which is both scary and useful.
posted by vacapinta at 6:20 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

There is no EZ form as of Tax Year 2018, by the way. Everyone gets a 1040 or a 1040SR (for seniors).
posted by soelo at 6:21 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I'm continually amazed at the unfriendliness of the US systems.

There is literally an anti-tax asshole in US politics - Grover Norquist - who actively works to make taxation as painful as possible in order to preserve his political power.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:09 AM on January 30 [6 favorites]

Shit man, I've been going to H&R Block and giving them a slice of my return because I don't want to bother with the annoyance of TurboTax. Plus of course TurboTax is evil.

I long for the simplicity they have in the nordic nations where it's literally just they text you your income, taxes paid, and anything you are getting back and you text back OK and it's done.
posted by sotonohito at 7:40 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Small business taxes in CA are so convoluted that they nearly turned me into a Republican (don't worry I horse-shoe theoried my way into insisting there should be a fuckoff huge national database with all the information, where the government just tells me what I owe and why). It's interesting that -- using a combination of professional help, accounting software, and plaintive calls to the state tax authority -- I frequently get the sense that the experts aren't entirely sure what new thing I'm supposed to be paying and why. It's a great feeling.

When I qualified, I was the rare person who managed to actually get the free version of TurboTax's "free" tax prep. I don't know how this happened! I suspect following the IRS link reduced the number of shenanigans they subjected me to. For personal taxes these days, I use Reddit-fave Free Tax USA. It has the same friendly, "DON'T PANIC" style interface as TurboTax but (I hope) they don't spend a bunch of money lobbying politicians to make paying taxes more complicated. I pay for them to file the state return for me, too; I tried to file with CA directly once and it didn't go well. (I don't think I did anything wrong, but it was enough of a problem that I had to personally follow up on the return. I've never had to do that when I spend $15 for someone else to file for me.)

I hope this goes well, but I have some concerns. Every government website seems to operate on a different era of cybersecurity, and when someone decides the older websites need to be updated, the new login process can be frustrating. You would be amazed how often a deadline-looming login will spit back that the organization needs to send me a special code through snail mail, and I can expect to receive it in 10-21 days. I feel more online agencies should have a "GUEST SUBMISSION" option, where you can't save any drafts but you can submit returns in one session without mucking about with logins and passwords. (Like you're mailing something! But electronically!)
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:21 AM on January 30

The Best Tax System in the World
What America and the world can learn from the Faroe Islands
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:24 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]

Thank you, PresidentofDinosaurs, for jumping in with the history. Seeing people taking random dumps on this project who apparently are (a) unable to grasp that a pilot is ordinarily limited in scope and complexity and (b) somehow completely oblivious to the long history of exploitative behavior and legislative obstruction by the big commercial tax preparers has been exhausting. Kneejerk potshots coming from a place of ignorance are never pretty.
posted by praemunire at 8:34 AM on January 30 [10 favorites]

- Finishing with the expected outcome ($0 owed and $0 refund), but the site has baited-and-switched you and now refuses to let you do free filing as advertised, so you're stuck paying

That has happened to me at least once, and probably twice. It was what filled me with my initial loathing for the "free" tax services. Do you know what your own boiled blood smells like? Ask me, for I know.
posted by JHarris at 10:46 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]

I'm one of the lucky people who only has income from a single employer. The past three years I've used Online Taxes—OLT.com—and they've been great. The first year I connected to them from the IRS' list of free tax services, and for two years I filed both federal and state taxes for free. This year I just passed the max for free filing, and still filed my federal taxes for free, and my state taxes were $10. They even saved all of my info from year to year without being paid. They've been great. But I repeat myself.
posted by Wilbefort at 10:56 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]

> boogieboy: "In summary: USA, what?"

I am reminded of this old New Yorker cartoon of two colonial era gentlemen in tricorn hats and ruffly collars with the caption reading "You know, the idea of taxation with representation doesn't appeal to me very much, either."
posted by mhum at 12:33 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

After a couple yeats being shanked by the ineffable process required to obtain free federal *and* state returns on Taxslayer, I switched it up with the inopportunely named Free Tax USA. Highly recommended. Better UI than Taxslayer. Not slimy at all (they kinda go out of their way to reinforce that in their prompts). Amd completely free for both my filings (because I am poor). Unequivocal yes!
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 3:56 PM on January 30

Thanks for the heads up on Free Tax USA, everyone who has mentioned it! I've used TurboTax and HR Block's online filing in recent years, but more than happy to get away from them. Out of curiosity this week I filled out both TurboTax and Free Tax USA up to the point they want to charge me. Both came out to the same refund amounts, but FTU wanted to charge me just $15 total, while TT wanted over $100. Quite happy to switch.
posted by Roommate at 2:29 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Rant. I am currently in HRblock filing hell. Started my returns, discovered I can't finish my return online as I have too many state returns. And its telling me I need to add a corporation name on one page where there is no corporation name field. So now I have to go in person and pay an increased price, as well as $37+tax per state to *checks notes* get my $4 back from Michigan and $13 from California, and $3 from Pennsylvania as well as whatever I get from Utah. So my Friday night will be spent driving to the nearest tax office and reexplaining everything again to a tax rep, providing paper copies of things I've uploaded as PDFs already. If its like last year I'll end up paying $500+ for the privilege of writing a big old Federal check and maybe if I'm lucky getting a few bucks back on state returns. And I'm just a regular married filled jointly, couple of W2s across four states for the same employer, a 401k, and a few itemized dedications.

Also, in the 10 or so years I've used HRBlock, not once has the auto import worked for my Vanguard 401k tax form or my bank's tax form. So I have to manually enter the *checks notes* $2.34 of interest and all the details for the $25 of dividends. I mean sure, Vanguard is such an unusual institution with only 50 million other users....

Ever year I am reminded that back in New Zealand I still just get a letter from the tax department each year that essentially says "Hey - we did your return for you - it's all good unless you want to file one yourself...we owe you like $1.56 NZD and have sent it to your bank account. Talk again next year, and have a nice day!" and that has been the case for like two decades.....
posted by inflatablekiwi at 8:57 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]