The IRS has announced that the IRS Free File is officially open for business. All taxpayers can use Free File in one capacity or another.
The online fillable forms are available to all taxpayers at no cost. Some of the easy math calculations are included in the forms but they don’t walk you through the form a la Complete Tax or Turbo Tax (there are also no state forms included). You can, however, find links to IRS publications. You can also e-file the forms for free. Click on over to the web site and get started.
If you’d prefer to file using tax software, Free File has that, too. Individual taxpayers or families with adjusted gross income (AGI) of $58,000 or less can use at least one of the Free File software products for free; that means that 70% of all taxpayers can use this service. There may be restrictions on some providers (there are 20 to choose from) so be sure to read carefully. To check it out, click on over to get started.
Free File software is a product of a public-private partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, LLC. You can find out more about the providers and the service at www.irs.gov/freefile.
And as a final note, I’m just spreading the word, folks. I didn’t design the policy and I definitely didn’t come up with the criteria. I don’t know why the cut off is $58,000 and not $59,000 and I don’t know why seniors are not automatically free. So it won’t hope to send me nasty notes about it. Just saying.
Two other alternatives for free tax assistance:
1) VITA (which has some restrictions on complexity)
2) AARP.
This is my second year as a volunteer with my local AARP tax site. While we have our scope of practice limited (basically, if you should be seeing a CPA or tax attorney to deal with your business or partnerships, you’re outside our scope). While AARP welcomes everyone, priority is given to seniors and low income folks.
If you do chose to use one of the free services, do understand that we don’t substitute for a paid professional (if that’s what you need). If you have a business with employees, you need a regular CPA. If your tax records fill several boxes each year, you need much more time than we have available.
Thanks.