![]() Your online federal tax-filing options include: To subscribe, please go to /specialoffer. R ead more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.The cost of TurboTax’s software depends on which version you use (which, in turn, depends on your tax situation). The TurboTax model involves building a brand name, using the "free" promise as a way to attract loyal consumers and getting them to pay when their taxes turn out to be more complicated.īut are our lives really that unusual or complicated because we own a home or have children? Or we lost work during the pandemic and needed to file for unemployment?Ĭontact Susan Tompor v ia Follow her on Twitter tompor. And you cannot use the TurboTax Free Edition if you had sold stock in 2021, had rental property income, freelance income or income as someone who is self-employed or an independent contractor. The same's true if you have a 1099-G for reporting taxable income received from unemployment compensation. What if you're going to try to deduct mortgage interest - and not take the standard deduction? You're not able to use the TurboTax Free Edition. TurboTax Free Edition, according to the company, can help tax filers whose tax situations include W-2 income, limited interest and dividend income, those opting to take the standard deduction, as well as those who claim the earned income tax credit, child tax credit, and report student loan interest. Again, pay attention to words like "simple return." TurboTax Free Edition, according to the company, is available the entire season. ![]() This product offers help from a tax expert along the way. Tax filers using TurboTax Live Basic, for example, could file a simple return and pay nothing if they filed through March 31. TurboTax has a list of options that very easily could be confusing. The latest fuss focuses on deceptive ads that, according to the FTC, "then compound the deception with more false claims and buried disclosures." TurboTax was the second big name to drop out. H&R Block exited Free File in October 2020.īig names, like Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block, faced much criticism in 2019 after a ProPublica investigation detailed how the companies limited the "Free File" reach by making free options more difficult to find online and instead figuring out a way to steer eligible taxpayers into products that weren't free. TurboTax had officially released the news in July 2021 when, frankly, many people were not thinking about taxes. I wrote a column in January to alert taxpayers that TurboTax stopped participating in the IRS Free File program at IRS.gov this tax season. Much of the confusion, I believe, is because some things that were free last year aren't free this year. TurboTax said it expanded its free offer this year, allowing filers with simple returns to file completely free of charge using its different services. Last tax season, the company said earlier, more than 17 million people filed their taxes with TurboTax and paid nothing, which was more people than in any year in company history. More: Michigan releases key tax forms for those who were jobless last yearĮarlier this year, TurboTax announced a new "$0 Any Way" offer, which the company said will apply to about 60 million filers with a simple tax return. There are no income restrictions. More: Michigan jobless claimants won't get key tax form until end of February More: Jackson Hewitt Online launches $25 flat fee others pitch free More: Want to file your tax return for free? TurboTax opts out of major program But you must spend time online trying to figure out what's not free before trying to do your taxes on . Pay only when you file."Īt various times, discounts might be available. But each icon has a button that says "Start for free.
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