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FreeTaxUSA

freetaxusa.com

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Re: FreeTaxUSA

#81

Post by huytersd »

carabiner wrote: post #43
huytersd wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you put in your logins for all your brokerages and investment accounts and it pulls in the tax data automatically? This is hugely important for me since I make a bunch of trades (not enough to be a day trader, but enough to be annoying for tax purposes).

Nope. It doesn't integrate with any banks, payroll systems, or do any tax form parsing.

Useless for me then. With TT, I’m usually done with my (relatively complex) taxes in 10 mins. It would take many hours without auto imports.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#82

Post by huytersd »

quickthrowman wrote: post #57
huytersd wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you put in your logins for all your brokerages and investment accounts and it pulls in the tax data automatically? This is hugely important for me since I make a bunch of trades (not enough to be a day trader, but enough to be annoying for tax purposes).

No, but you can enter a few numbers off your 1099-B and mail your trade history to the IRS. It took me about 30 minutes to enter a W-2, a few 1099-INTs, and 3 brokerage statements (plus 1099-DIV, futures, and 1256 contracts). Super simple and quick.

That’s too complicated and not immediate enough. Manual entering? Printing out and making a packet of trade histories for all my accounts, figuring out what address to send it to, manually going to the post office, waiting for confirmation of receipt weeks down the line, extra scrutiny because an agent has to manually review your paper copies etc. Yeah no thanks, that’s the opposite of super quick and simple. Super quick and simple is entering a couple of logins and clicking next and being done with federal and state taxes in 10 mins.

This is why you can’t take reviews of contentious software at face value. People are so sick of TurboTax (I am too) and their lobbying shenanigans that they will give glowing reviews to deficient competitors.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#83

Post by sys_64738 »

sircastor wrote: post #78

I will probably try to go this route this year. Previous years I was using CreditKarma/Cash, and then before that TurboTax of course. I should probably get an actual accountant. Does anyone else find this process a little fun? Finding all the opportunities for deductions?

> Does anyone else find this process a little fun? Finding all the opportunities for deductions?

It helps to love financials which I do. I have always done my own taxes just because I want to be knowledgeable about it. Some folks truly hate it.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#84

Post by dkokelley »

vidanay wrote: post #77
dkokelley wrote: post #50

Honest question: Why don't more people (especially high earners) go with a CPA firm to take care of their taxes? With the amount of money involved, and the potential legal trouble for getting it wrong, the cost/benefit calculation seems to strongly favor hiring a professional to guide you.

I went to a tax preparer once in my life. All she did was read the questions from the "Turbo Tax for Professional Tax Preparers" software on her computer. Whenever there was a subject that I wasn't clear about, her "help" was to simply tell me option A and option B and ask me what I wanted to do. Worst $500 spent in my life.

Important distinction that a tax preparer != a CPA.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#85

Post by vidanay »

dkokelley wrote: post #84
vidanay wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to a tax preparer once in my life. All she did was read the questions from the "Turbo Tax for Professional Tax Preparers" software on her computer. Whenever there was a subject that I wasn't clear about, her "help" was to simply tell me option A and option B and ask me what I wanted to do. Worst $500 spent in my life.

Important distinction that a tax preparer != a CPA.

Yeah, I know. That's why I specifically said a preparer and not CPA despite the thread topic.

I just searched the site of the person I used (it's a private family company, not one of those cubicles set up in Walmart) and there's no mention of "CPA" anywhere on their site.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#86

Post by wredue »

medler wrote: post #47

The first time I used Freetaxusa, I also filled out TurboTax as usual, and found that with TurboTax I made a mistake that would have cost me well over a thousand dollars in overpayment. I then realized that I had made the same mistake the previous year with TurboTax, so I filed an amended return and was able to get back well over a thousand dollars. Thanks Freetaxusa! The mistake was user error in entering a backdoor…

I find I have to do my taxes with turbo tax twice just to make sure I get it right and inevitably there is a problem the first time.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#87

Post by mynameisash »

dkokelley wrote: post #50

Honest question: Why don't more people (especially high earners) go with a CPA firm to take care of their taxes? With the amount of money involved, and the potential legal trouble for getting it wrong, the cost/benefit calculation seems to strongly favor hiring a professional to guide you.

I was happily paying a CPA to do my taxes for maybe 6-7 years. He charged me something like $400/yr, which I thought was very reasonable.

He decided it was time to retire, recommended another accounting firm in my area, and they charged me $750, and all it was was an Intuit frontend where I had to fill everything out myself. I did that one year, then I switched to FreeTaxUSA and was super happy with it.

I probably would go back to an individual CPA if I could find one like the guy I had, but I've been burned by the first CPA and this most recent one. 1/3 isn't a good prior.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#88

Post by herpdyderp »

gavinhoward wrote: post #80
herpdyderp wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I barely know anything about taxes but I've heard restructuring an LLC into an S corp can help specific tax situations but you have to have a firm handle it so you can pay out taxes every month instead of only once a year. Is that something FTU can do?

She says they don't handle paying out taxes, just the taxes from receiving contributions. Sorry. You can see more detail here: https://www.freetaxusa.com/self-employed . For my part, I have an LLC that is not an S Corp. The reason is that you have to pay yourself a wage, and programmer wages are R&D. I think the rules were changed recently such that R&D can't be fully expensed. But talk to a professional.

Ah good point about the recent R&D tax mess, I heard about that. Thanks for the info!

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#89

Post by jareklupinski »

gavinhoward wrote: post #55

I am a (fairly) close relative of an employee and a happy user. Feel free to ask me questions, and I'll pass them onto her! Also, FreeTaxUSA is not only great for users, but they are fantastic to employees. My relative got to go on a cruise this summer, and she claims their pay has more than kept up with inflation.

i'm curious: the first time i heard the name FreeTaxUSA.com i thought "it must be a scam", slightly because of the name, until someone else i trust mentioned it and said they used it and i finally looked into it

is this rare/uncommon/common?

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#90

Post by gavinhoward »

jareklupinski wrote: post #89
gavinhoward wrote: post #55

I am a (fairly) close relative of an employee and a happy user. Feel free to ask me questions, and I'll pass them onto her! Also, FreeTaxUSA is not only great for users, but they are fantastic to employees. My relative got to go on a cruise this summer, and she claims their pay has more than kept up with inflation.

i'm curious: the first time i heard the name FreeTaxUSA.com i thought "it must be a scam", slightly because of the name, until someone else i trust mentioned it and said they used it and i finally looked into it is this rare/uncommon/common?

It is common, and my relative does not like it either.

If they have a weakness, it is their marketing. It's uniquely incompetent.

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