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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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Roger Svensson Santa Barbara, CA

Schedule D for Ca. Tax preparation doesn't allow adjustments so your gains & losses are not accurate. Also this problem gets worst since often times the capital loss carryover for state of Ca. is different than the Fed. & you cannot show it on their software. They recommend using "another" company to do your Ca. state taxes which means you will have to do your federal over again with that "other" company. It is a nightmare!

6 years ago

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DAVID J Chicago, IL

Seems to have similar interface as taxactonline which no longer offers free returns if you need slightly more complicated forms such as schedule E or HSA deduction. I could not find a miscalculation or error as I ran a couple of tax situations through this software. However as with all 'free' yax softwares you need a good basic understanding of taxes. I suggest only more sophisticated users consider this free service.

9 years ago

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Laureen Colorado Springs, CO

Free tax USA deducts the online option from checking account first without giving customers the satisfaction on making an option to mail in the state taxes, then you are left with trying to figure out how to get a refund for the $ 14.99

2 years ago

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Anne Sainsbury Payson, UT

I've been using FreeTaxUSA for the past 3 years now, and it wasn't until this year that I felt like I was getting ripped off. My refund was almost as much as it cost me to pay for my taxes to be completed. I think there are a lot of questions that are not asked. However, if you want something done and have it done quickly, this is definitely the way to go!

5 years ago

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Kevin Adams Silver Spring, MD

As an alternative to E-File this system is almost identical and it is free of charge. All I have to do is make sure that I am filing the right form for the current year or previous year and it is also faster to get my refund once submitted. Saves me time and money.

4 years ago

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Nathan D. Warrendale, PA

My parents helped me do my taxes on my own for the first time in 2006 with FreeTaxUSA.com. The website looked a little dated but served it's purpose. I could typically file my Federal taxes for free and pay a $36 fee to file state.

5 years ago

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Karen Torino Tallahassee, FL

FreeTaxUSA is okay to use. The interface is not as good as some other sites but it can get the job done. Could be a bit more user friendly, and the prices are not competitive.

3 years ago

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Juan Beaver, PA

Freetax usa is a decent place to do your taxes free. I used them one year and the interface is pretty basic and simple but i switched to another software they had more options.

5 years ago

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Derek Barlow Broken Arrow, OK

Not very easy to work with. Accuracy isn't there

3 years ago