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FreeTaxUSA

freetaxusa.com

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Re: FreeTaxUSA

#91

Post by parl_match »

Kluggy wrote: post #75
parl_match wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say that. And they're not doing that. What I said was that they stopped lobbying congress and that the market can't be grown. I said nothing about letting it "evaporate and disappear".

Allowing the creation of a federal site to do free tax returns seems like it can only lead to the evaporation of their current customers. Who would pay them $150+ when you can just go to irs.gov/taxreturn (or whatever it is) and do it for free? The lobbying was the only thing preventing that, so the stopping of lobbying seems like it is entirely giving up on the market.

> Allowing the creation of a federal site to do free tax returns seems like it can only lead to the evaporation of their current customers. Who would pay them $150+ when you can just go to irs.gov/taxreturn (or whatever it is) and do it for free?

Again, you keep saying "allow", like they have a choice. They kinda don't. Congress got really pissed at them as did the public.

> The lobbying was the only thing preventing that, so the stopping of lobbying seems like it is entirely giving up on the market.

Honestly, I would say it's not the only thing preventing it. And they're not giving up on the market.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#92

Post by silisili »

I used to love FreeTaxUSA, but switched because of integrations, specifically Robinhood and such. Does anyone know if they've made that integration or otherwise easier to import said data in the last few years?

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#93

Post by ajma »

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…

Can you explain the mistake that turbox tax makes? I'm wondering if I did mine wrong too

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#94

Post by medler »

ajma wrote: post #93
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…

Can you explain the mistake that turbox tax makes? I'm wondering if I did mine wrong too

On form 1040, under “IRA distributions - taxable amount” (box 4b), TurboTax filled in the amount of my IRA conversion. It should have been left blank.

This caused my taxable income to be increased by the amount of the conversion. Not good. My biggest mistake was not being more diligent about looking over form 1040. I feel like it should have been a pretty obvious error.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#95

Post by blep_ »

sand500 wrote: post #18

Cash app let's you file both federal and state taxes for free. It was formally Credit Karma's free tax filing program that was divested after they were acquired by Intuit.

I used it and liked it when it was Credit Karma, but I am not doing extensive data entry in a phone app. Do they have a web interface now?

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#96

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

medler wrote: post #94
ajma wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain the mistake that turbox tax makes? I'm wondering if I did mine wrong too

On form 1040, under “IRA distributions - taxable amount” (box 4b), TurboTax filled in the amount of my IRA conversion. It should have been left blank. This caused my taxable income to be increased by the amount of the conversion. Not good. My biggest mistake was not being more diligent about looking over form 1040. I feel like it should have been a pretty obvious error.

I despise that “minor clerical error in massively complex tax system with multiple forms causes significant money losing tax implications for your average end user” is even a thing in the first place.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#97

Post by lern_too_spel »

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.

The legal trouble for getting it wrong is only if you don't pay what you owe after the IRS sends a correction. Most high income people are sufficiently liquid that this isn't an issue. It's only an issue if you are heavily leveraged and micromanaging cash flow, in which case any large unplanned cost is potentially ruinous.

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#98

Post by swores »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #96
medler wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On form 1040, under “IRA distributions - taxable amount” (box 4b), TurboTax filled in the amount of my IRA conversion. It should have been left blank. This caused my taxable income to be increased by the amount of the conversion. Not good. My biggest mistake was not being more diligent about looking over form 1040. I feel like it should have been a pretty obvious error.

I despise that “minor clerical error in massively complex tax system with multiple forms causes significant money losing tax implications for your average end user” is even a thing in the first place.

I mean, I obviously agree that the complication in the US tax system is crazy, and also think that every country should do what the UK does in allowing PAYE income taxation (Pay As You Earn - most people in standard jobs have their company take the correct amount of tax from each salary payment and pass it direct to the government, the employee then doesn't even have to file taxes at the end of the year unless they have special circumstances).

But in this specific case of "minor error [...] leads to significant money losing tax implications" - it is really an error that would be possible in absolutely any "fill in your tax info situation", since the mistake they made was writing the wrong number into a "taxable income" field. That mistake can still be made even in a country whose tax system is as simple as "everyone pays X% of their income as tax, and fills in a one-field form where the only question is "what was your income for the year?". (But yeah, a simpler system would mean less opportunity for making simple mistakes, and easier to check if any have been made, for sure.)

Re: FreeTaxUSA

#99

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

swores wrote: post #98
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I despise that “minor clerical error in massively complex tax system with multiple forms causes significant money losing tax implications for your average end user” is even a thing in the first place.

I mean, I obviously agree that the complication in the US tax system is crazy, and also think that every country should do what the UK does in allowing PAYE income taxation (Pay As You Earn - most people in standard jobs have their company take the correct amount of tax from each salary payment and pass it direct to the government, the employee then doesn't even have to file taxes at the end of the year unless they h…

I think you just made the point for me, if you have a system like PAYE there’s no room for minor clerical errors for the vast majority of people since there is no opportunity to even make the clerical error in the first place. You just look at the taxes and verify they are right and off to the races. This is how most civilized nations work, except the USA
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