Can I File Taxes Electronically for Free (charge, income, buy) - debt, loans, credit cards, banks, insurance... - City-Data Forum

selhars · 01-22-2012, 11:47 AM

If you don't qualify for the IRS FREE FILE, is there anyway to file electronically for free?

....nevermind...

I may have found the answer from and older USA Today article Free File Fillable forms.
It would have been nice if the IRS site had had this info handy....or at least made it more clear, and promoted IT like they promote the heck out of Free File.

Has anyone used this fillable free form? How easy is it?

Thepreacherswife · 01-22-2012, 09:10 PM

The free fillable forms, in my experience were a pain in the ass and persnickety if you don't use IE as your browser. Maybe they've gotten better since they were introduced. I use TaxAct online and it's free to file your federal form if you go with their basic version, and the basic version has all the available e-file forms. If you know your way around the tax return and know which forms you need, you're golden. They will occasionally try to get you to buy the deluxe version, but I haven't found a need for it. If you e-file state there is a charge, but I can e-file directly with my state for free through the DOR.

selhars · 01-24-2012, 02:10 AM

Anyone else have any experiences/tips about using the IRS free fillable forms.

Any concerns about the info being on a third-party Web site? (The fillable forms site is not the IRS.)

eggalegga · 01-24-2012, 09:47 AM

I use Free Tax USA to file federal for free. I've used their site for several years now. I use my State's online software to file my state return electronically for free as well. I use IE9 and I'm running on Windows 7.

Mike From NIU · 01-24-2012, 10:02 AM

I used the free fillable forms a couple of years ago, and it worked fine. I remember there were a few quirks (it seemed to be fairly inconsistent on when it would sum numbers v. you manually adding), but I had no problems with either the website or the forms.

Again, if you know what you're doing, it's cheap and not that time-consuming.

selhars · 02-23-2012, 08:12 PM

Well...even though I hate using a third party Website for my federal form, I just filed my taxes electronically for the first time -- both fed and state. And the process wasn't that bad. I'd already done them on paper, so knew the numbers and just copied them over.

The fillable forms I used -- NOT the free file service that has an income limit -- really are just like filling out the regular forms. I also had gone to the website and gone through the demo a oouple of times over the past few weeks to make sure that when I finally sat down and did it, I'd be fairly familiar with the process. But as I said it wasn't that bad.

I think I'll be filing electronically from now on. MOSTLY for security reasons and not sending tax info through the mail. Although I've never had a problem in over 30 of filing taxes. I'm getting more and more ID theft paranoid

MadManofBethesda · 02-24-2012, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by selhars

I think I'll be filing electronically from now on. MOSTLY for security reasons and not sending tax info through the mail. Although I've never had a problem in over 30 of filing taxes. I'm getting more and more ID theft paranoid

I guess I'm just an old fart, because I'm more concerned about the security of filing electronically, especially through third parties. I always send my tax forms to the IRS via certified mail; in fact, I just did so a couple of days ago.

selhars · 02-24-2012, 02:38 PM

Electronically -- it's SUPPOSED to be encrypted...and supposedly the third parties don't KEEP the information past filing season....they just "forward it." But I KNOW it's stored somewhere.

But I'm paranoid about this -- trust me -- there's a reason the powers that be want us to file electronically -- and it's NOT for OUR convenience.

Believe it or not, I didn't know you could send in the paper returns by certified mail. I didn't think you could get someone to sign for it. I thought returns were sent to an office or P.O. Box where there was no one to actually sign for it. Now that I know that I may indeed go back to paper filing for the fed. My state returned is filed directly with the state -- no intermediary.

Plus although I've never had an issues sending in a paper return does mean someone at the IRS has to re-enter by hand, all the numerical info from the form you send in, and that could lead to errors.

This year is done...and I've got a year to think about NEXT year. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I guess.