Comments on: List of Free Tax Preparation Services

By: Shahid

Shahid — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:56:43 +0000

Deb,

Thanks for letting us know about that website. I’m debating whether or not to use TaxAct this year. I file jointly, have no kids, take the standard deduction…….and only have a few stocks to put on the Schedule D (Capital Gains & Losses).

By: DEB

DEB — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:37:43 +0000

FREE1040TAXRETURN.COM IS A TERRIBLE SITE…FIRST, THERE IS NOTHING “FREE” ABOUT IT…WAS CHARGED WRONG AMOUNTS…CAN’T GET MONEY BACK…I FOLLOWED ALL OF THEIR DIRECTIONS AND MY STATE TAX RETURN NEVER WENT THRU. THEY CHARGED ME $24.95 FOR AUDIT PROTECTION…I NEVER AUTHORIZED THIS…DON’T USE THIS SITE!!!

By: Shahid

Shahid — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:59:31 +0000

I’ve used TurboTax but felt scammed last year when they wanted an additional fee to efile my state return. I bought the software in a store and no where on the box did it state that. I had to look in the inside flap (after buying it of course) and in very small letter it had an asterisk with the extra fee.

I’m going to give TaxAct a try this year.

By: Chas

Chas — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:13:14 +0000

This year you can only get access to the free Tubotax by having a State Farm Bank product added to your online account. Just having a State Farm insurance product isn’t good enough.

By: cheo reom

cheo reom — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:26:33 +0000

VITA is great! They offered to help me fill out my entire tax return!

By: laxtosnoco

laxtosnoco — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:09:29 +0000

Just to clarify on your last heading; VITA programs provide more than just a little extra help. VITA volunteers prepare your entire return for free. Some programs do set income limits, but people who are not comfortable with the free-file options should look into the service.

By: kitty

kitty — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:00:39 +0000

Thanks for info about State Farm. I’ve been buying Turbo Tax and paying for filing not knowing I could get it for free through State Farm.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:51:37 +0000

I’ve used TaxAct for the last 4 years and I’ve had nothing but good results. I pay the $17 bucks for the “Premium” package because it includes the $13 State charge and it also populates all of my info from the previous year to compare against – I did my taxes last weekend in about an hour because all I had to do was update all of the 2007 numbers to the 2008 numbers (My wife and I have the same employers, mortgages, loans, investment accounts, etc) and it was a breeze. I’ve used Turbo Tax in the past and have found it nothing but unnecessarily complicated and every time I used it the results were wrong (I’m a nerd engineer who didn’t believe the numbers it was shooting out at me, so I redid it by hand and it was wrong)

By: JohnW

JohnW — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:30:01 +0000

I used TaxAct this year and it worked fine and was free! No rebates to hassle with.

By: KeithM

KeithM — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:22:28 +0000

I used TaxAct for the first time this year. I downloaded the software, installed it onto my PC and completed our joint 1040 with no problems. Granted, my return wasn’t complicated, but it did the job just as well as TaxCut. The constant offerings/pushing of the Premium version (an additional $12.95) from TaxAct were kind of annoying, but I got over it.

I’ve been a fan of TaxCut for the last 3 years, but the increase in the cost of the software plus the additional cost for efiling both federal and state gave me the reason to try TaxAct. I’m glad I made the move.

By: JB

JB — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:18:50 +0000

I’m using Vanguard via Turbotax for approximately a 33% discount. I used it last year and it was nice to have it all of my 2006 info imported. I used their State filing last year which people have told me was a waste of money. Will be trying Calfile, California’s free State filing this year.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:47:56 +0000

I filed for free with taxact.com the first year I got to the united states because it was well… free Then, every year from then on, I used the same service for both federal and states since I only qualified the first year.

So, by giving it away for free the first year, they got more than $50 out of me. I’d say it was a good dead for them

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:59:58 +0000

Vanguard customers get a discount for using TurboTax. Just be sure to start and access your return from the link on Vanguard’s site.

I’ve heard about TaxAct for a couple years now but have not tried them. Maybe this year I will…?

By: RacerX

RacerX — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:04:21 +0000

Nice post wit lots of great resources. Thanks!

By: HC

HC — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:32:29 +0000

TaxAct rocks. The Q&A formula is easy to understand, it’s possible to skip sections that don’t apply, and you can do a form view to see how everything stacks up. (I haven’t done any schedule filing, but I have done a couple of additional forms and that’s worked fine.)

If you’re lazy, you can also pay $13 and it will populate the fields with W-2s and 1099s from your prior year return. I ended up doing that this year because I’ve used it for free three years running (without filing my state taxes) and figured the company had earned it.