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FreeTaxUSA

freetaxusa.com

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Re: FreeTaxUSA

#51

Post by gumby »

parl_match wrote: post #46
pie_flavor wrote: post #31

These guys are the punchline of the joke that is the 'Intuit lobbies the federal government to make taxes hard' narrative. Free for most people, super cheap for everyone else, and the process is a breeze. It is a direct improvement on all axes compared to mainstream tax software for like 95% of the population.

It's not just a narrative, it was a discrete reality for years and years. Intuit stopped actively lobbying the federal government relatively recently. They did this for a few reasons, not just the smoke and bad PR it was getting them, but also because you can't grow a market that you have essentially captured. Source: my company got acquired by intu and their new CEO was very and frequently open about their past bad…

> CEO was very and frequently open about their past bad behavior and how it was no longer relevant in today's market.

Sounds like:

Not “open about how the past bad behavior was bad and regretted and not how business should proceed going forwards.”

But “open about how bad behavior was useful until it succeeded utterly and thus other bad behavior could be useful in future and would be welcomed.”

Sounds like the Intuit we all know!

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#52

Post by jjulius »

LordDragonfang wrote: post #44
sand500 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California let's you file state taxes for free through the state: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/ways-to-file/online/calfile/inde...

Yeah, but for almost everyone on this forum who makes enough to even file taxes, the time that would be spent re-entering everything is probably more valuable than the $15 charge.

>Yeah, but for almost everyone on this forum who makes enough to even file taxes...

That number is $12,950, FWIW.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#53

Post by jmharvey »

JohnMakin wrote: post #41

It's already the same thing on at least HRBlock website for many years - federal is free, state is a fee, and some extra stuff they sell.

I've used TurboTax, H&R Block, and TaxAct software in the past, before switching to freetaxusa a few years ago. The major difference is that Freetaxusa isn't constantly trying to upsell you into different products, or starting you out on a "free" tier and then 80% of the way through saying actually, you need the paid version, or you need to pay extra to efile, or something like that.

Free Federal, $15 state, that's it.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#54

Post by radicality »

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 wouldn’t be surprised if I made the same mistakes :S Been so far always using TurboTax, and I distinctly remember the backdoor Roth IRA gave me so much headache.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#55

Post by gavinhoward »

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.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#56

Post by parl_match »

gumby wrote: post #51
parl_match wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just a narrative, it was a discrete reality for years and years. Intuit stopped actively lobbying the federal government relatively recently. They did this for a few reasons, not just the smoke and bad PR it was getting them, but also because you can't grow a market that you have essentially captured. Source: my company got acquired by intu and their new CEO was very and frequently open about their past bad…

> CEO was very and frequently open about their past bad behavior and how it was no longer relevant in today's market. Sounds like: Not “open about how the past bad behavior was bad and regretted and not how business should proceed going forwards.” But “open about how bad behavior was useful until it succeeded utterly and thus other bad behavior could be useful in future and would be welcomed.” Sounds like the Intuit…

That is the subtext, yup. They bought us at the height of the pandemic, and I did not leave for another year or so (due to societal instability). They seemed fine to work for but the writing was on the wall.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#57

Post by quickthrowman »

huytersd wrote: post #40
gimbalpirate wrote: post #5

This provides exactly the same service as every $150+ overpriced tax filing product you've ever paid (ie been scammed) for. Highly recommend. Hopefully the new IRS software will make even this obsolete.

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.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#58

Post by teraflop »

Alupis wrote: post #30
teraflop wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite everything, there's a (short) list of unsupported forms here: https://www.freetaxusa.com/forms-federal I found this out one year because they don't fully support Form 8283, which I needed in order to handle a deduction of a cryptocurrency donation to charity. But apart from that, they've been great. And your main point is correct in that they don't upcharge for any of their supported forms.

It appears they now support Form 8283 Section A.

Right, they only support section A, which means you can donate publicly traded securities but not other assets over $5,000.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#59

Post by Kluggy »

parl_match wrote: post #46
pie_flavor wrote: post #31

These guys are the punchline of the joke that is the 'Intuit lobbies the federal government to make taxes hard' narrative. Free for most people, super cheap for everyone else, and the process is a breeze. It is a direct improvement on all axes compared to mainstream tax software for like 95% of the population.

It's not just a narrative, it was a discrete reality for years and years. Intuit stopped actively lobbying the federal government relatively recently. They did this for a few reasons, not just the smoke and bad PR it was getting them, but also because you can't grow a market that you have essentially captured. Source: my company got acquired by intu and their new CEO was very and frequently open about their past bad…

so they're going to just allow their captured market to evaporate and disappear because it can't grow anymore?

That makes so little sense to me

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#60

Post by 303uru »

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.

Having used four different CPAs in the past to file taxes, I spent far more money to spend about the same time working on it. I was audited three times, have never been audited since using FTU.
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