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FreeTaxUSA

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5.1

Overall Score

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: April 26th, 2024

FreeTaxUSA has been in business since 2001, giving it several years of experience in the tax preparation industry. The company states it has helped file over 43 million tax returns with the IRS. FreeTaxUSA specializes in simple free federal returns, but the company also has other great options for a more complex tax situation and a paid option if you need to file a state tax return.

FreeTaxUSA's most significant perk is that it has great price options for both federal and state taxes. The company offers smaller benefits that help a customer's process. For example, it offers suggested deductions for standard and itemized deductions. To do this, you answer simple questions with FreeTaxUSA to automatically find new deductions. The company also provides the following securities: TRUSTe, SecurityMetrics, Norton, and SSL.

Read on for more information about the company, or scroll down to read verified FreeTaxUSA reviews.

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The Good

  • Federal Price
  • State Price
  • Features
  • Supported Forms
  • Income Disclosure

Federal Price

FreeTaxUSA's Federal Edition is completely free of charge. With this product, people can easily file taxes directly with the IRS. What's also nice about this plan is that it comes with the fastest refund when people go through a free e-file and direct deposit.

No matter how challenging or complicated your federal return may be, it is completely free, and the company promises that it will be free regardless of any upgrades you may need for more complicated returns.

The Simple plan, which is ideal for first time customers, offers step-by-step guidance through the tax filing process, and allows you to get your max refund as fast as possible.

The Premium plan (also free) is for those who own homes, make contributions to an HSA, or have earned income credit.

The Advanced plan (also free) is for those who have investments, own a small business, or have K-1 income.

The Deluxe Edition (available for a fee) is an affordable way to get a product that has all of the benefits of the Free Edition product and includes audit assistance, live chat support, and unlimited amended returns. The price for this product is $6.99. With the Deluxe plan, you can file an unlimited number of amended returns for free. If you want to purchase the ability to file amended returns without purchasing the Deluxe plan, it will cost you $14.99 if purchased separately.

State Price

Like the federal option, the state filing option with FreeTaxUSA comes with the fastest refund when people go through a free e-file and direct deposit. The cost to file a state return is $14.99.

Features

FreeTaxUSA offers some convenient features to make your life as a taxpayer easier. For example, if you are a returning user, your account from the previous year rolls over for free, and you can access backup versions of previous tax returns that you have filed using FreeTaxUSA's tax software.

If you are a new user but have previously used a tax preparation software such as TurboTax, H&R Block, or TaxAct, you can easily import your previous tax return from one of those companies to your account on FreeTaxUSA.

In addition, FreeTaxUSA offers some features that you can choose to pay for, but are not included in its free federal plan or paid state plan. These include purchasing a mailed printed return, which you can do for $7.99, or purchasing a professionally bound tax return, which you can do for $14.99.

You can choose to pay with a credit or debit card for no additional fee, or you can elect to have the cost of filing your return (if you are on a paid plan) deducted from your tax refund before your refund ever gets to you. This option, while convenient, costs an extra $19.99.

Supported Forms

The list of supported forms offered by FreeTaxUSA is very comprehensive and even the most complex tax issues can be addressed with these options. Even though the company doesn't include every possible tax form, this covers a majority of the most popular ones. Some of the forms U.S. residents can access for free include

  • 1040, 1040EZ, 1040A, 1040Z
  • Schedule A, B, C, D, E, EIC, F, and more
  • Form 1099-A, 1099-B, 1099-C, 1099-DIV, and more
  • Form W2
  • Unemployment
  • Self-employment Income

The greatest benefit to FreeTaxUSA is the company's focus on free federal filings. FreeTaxUSA has helped millions of people file their federal returns completely free. The company also provides a lot of form options and gives automatic prompts for deductions throughout the filing process. These are great features that help the client.

Income Disclosure

FreeTaxUSA has a simple yet appreciated income disclosure on its website. It states that the company is able to provide a free federal tax filing service to clients because it makes its money from charging to file state returns and for other optional services that people can choose to purchase. Thus, even though filing a federal return with FreeTaxUSA is completely free, the company is still reliable and has your best interests in mind.

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The Bad

  • Accuracy Guarantee
  • No Audit Protection
  • Lack of Customer Support

Accuracy Guarantee

Even though FreeTaxUSA says it has a 100% Accuracy Guarantee for its federal tax filing, it does not protect against user error. If you input your financial information incorrectly, you will be responsible for these discrepancies.

No Audit Protection

FreeTaxUSA doesn't offer audit protection or alerts for missing data to its clients.

Lack of Customer Support

FreeTaxUSA does not have a phone number for clients to contact customer service. You can only contact FreeTaxUSA via email, live chat, or social media if you have questions. You can reach out to FreeTaxUSA via Twitter (@FreeTaxUSA) or email (support@freetaxusa.com).

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The Bottom Line

FreeTaxUSA has a large number of options for clients and provides a simple free tax return. This free tax return also allows for any level of complexity at the federal level without requiring customers to upgrade or pay anything. Also, the company's tax software automatically suggests deductions to clients during the filing process, which is extremely helpful.

However, the company doesn't have free audit protection, and the customer support lacks phone service. FreeTaxUSA doesn't have a phone number to contact to ask questions while filing, which is very important. Overall, FreeTaxUSA has some great features, but if you don't have in-depth knowledge about tax prep, this may not be the best company for you, as it doesn't have many options in the process.

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Star Rating

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4.2

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91 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

63%

4 grade

15%

3 grade

10%

2 grade

2%

1 grade

10%

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Jehanzeb Zafar

Pathetic company. Don't use their software. I spent hours preparing a federal and state return. At the time of payment, I saw my card got declined. I checked with bank and they confirmed there was no attempt from merchant and therefore error is on merchant's end. Then I tried four more credit cards from different banks on two different machines, it didn't work. I contacted support and was surprised and upset to see their answer: "I apologize, at this time we cannot determine why your credit card will not authorize. If you wish to file a tax return, you will need to find another service to do so. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience." Not only they were unable to help, they posed as if error was due to my credit card when the problem is in their portal. Now they suggested me to spend all that time again using another software. Instead of bypassing the payment requirement for me and letting me file, they are sending me to find some other software????? That's absurd.

8 years ago

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Elaine Reney

I used FreeTax USA online filing last year for taxes. Federal was fine but when it carries my info over to my State if Calif return, the info was incorrect. Unfortunately I didn't see it this way, and filed. Even though I got my Fed return, State delayed for 4 months and I didn't get my EITC credit.I contacted customer service about this issue with their program, and all I got was letters , explaining they fixed issues, and how programs have bugs until told about......A bunch of no good people that wouldn't help me even amend....When I tried to go back into my account to amend state, there program stated "it could not recognize my personal info"... Now in still trying to gain access to amend last year's taxes....

8 years ago

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Nina Davis Hattiesburg, MS

Have used FREE TAX USA for 7 years. No problem until this year. Got Return Adjustment Notice from my state. The amounts recorded for state wages and withholding tax was doubled. I know I did not enter those amounts. Have never made that kind of money with my company. Have yet to get return call from customer service. GOOD BYE FREE TAX. Would rather pay than end up with a big surprise!

8 years ago

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Gail Marshall Medina, OH

I need a copy of my 2015 federal tax return.......i have tried everything to retrieve.....with no luck....in case you ask.....yes i have my username and password........and it continues to tell me that I am not correct......when I know that I am correct.......so your customer service really needs some fine tuning done to help with this type of problem.....and not 24 or 48 hours later....thank you

8 years ago

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peanutlee 33 Grand Rapids, MI

Filed my 2012, 2013 & 2014 returns without a hitch, including my student education refund & tuition credits. Not so much with the 2015. Once I reached that section, the automated prompts told me I was limited to a $1000, and would not allow me to itemize from my 1099 & 1098s, even though there was an option to change/edit new information. Complete ripoff. I knew my education credits were more than $1000, but Freetax changed things this year. They've lost a customer. Went over to IRS Freefile, and got it all done in less 30 minutes....and with my itemized school 1099s.

9 years ago

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rachel Staten Island, NY

i will pay extra and use turbo tax. free tax usa had gotten me in trouble with the irs to where i owed them almost $700. turns out i do not owe them anything. also i did my boyfriends taxes using free tax usa and the irs rejected his tax return. i now how to figure out the ends and outs to fix this crap. this has never happened before when i used turbo tax. i do NOT recommend free tax usa. stay away.

9 years ago

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Siddharth Jain Birmingham, AL

I received a letter from IRS a year after filing taxes through freetaxusa.com that i still owe money becuase I received extra education credits that year. Thanks to freetaxusa unclear instructions. Now I owe $660. Never using that website again.

8 years ago

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William Noyes West Covina, CA

Assuming not one mistake is made you may pass\ If one miss typed error is found,assistance is refused. Spend a few bucks more and have a PRO do your taxes. There is NO help at this place! William Noyes

9 years ago

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Review Source

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Craig Orem, UT

I had a horrible experience with FreeTaxUSA a number of years ago. The overpriced service also came with the additional price of mistakes by the preparer that had to be corrected the following year. I would never recommend them to anyone looking for tax help!

5 years ago