Free File Alliance
The Free File Alliance is a group of tax preparation companies that have partnered with the Internal Revenue Service to provide free electronic tax filing services to U.S tax payers meeting certain guidelines.[1] The IRS stipulates filers must have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $62,000 or less for tax year 2015,[2][3] but participating companies have their own requirements and restrictions.[4]
Filers with state income tax returns may still pay additional fees of $10 to $30 to electronically file those returns.[5]
In 2007, Alliance members agreed to remove controversial ancillary offerings such as refund anticipation loans from the program.[1]
Limitations
The free services often limit their software's ability to handle complex tax situations. Some of the Free File Alliance tax sites and their limitations are:[2]
- CompleteTax (interview style)
-
- No RALs or other add-on products.
- FreeTaxUSA (interview style)
-
- No Form 8615 - Tax for children with more than $2,100 in investment income
- No Form 8824
- TurboTax Freedom Edition (interview style)
- No 1099-B forms - sale of stock, mutual funds, etc.
- Liberty Tax Service (line-by-line style)
-
- No Form 8824 - Like kind exchanges and section 1043 conflict of interest sales.
- No Form 2439 - Notice to shareholder of undistributed long-term capital gains.
- HR Block
- Free state return up to $55,000; not all states included.
- TaxACT (interview style)
- Adjusted Gross Income: $51,000 or less, and
- Age: between 18 and 57, and
- Live in any state or U.S. Citizens and resident aliens with foreign addresses
- Free Extensions
See also
References
- 1 2 "Free File Alliance Explained". freefile.com. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
- 1 2 "Free File: Do Your Federal Taxes for Free". www.irs.gov. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
- ↑ "About". freefilealliance.org. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
- ↑ "File your taxes free, but read carefully", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 20, 2008
- ↑ Perez, William (August 5, 2016). "Reviews of Free Tax Preparation Programs". thebalance.com. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
External links
https://www.freefilefillableforms.com, operated by the Free File Alliance