Free tax preparation and e-filing (for AGI’s under $52,000)
#1
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Free tax preparation and e-filing (for AGI’s under $52,000)
Just a reminder, if your adjusted gross income is less than $52,000, you can do your taxes online for free, including e-file, with TaxCut, TurboTax, and a number of other programs.
Go to www.irs.gov and click on “free filing” (at the top). Through this link you’ll have a list of companies that you can choose. I personally recommend sticking with TaxCut (H&R Block) or Turbotax, but of course you can choose any of them that you are eligible for.
If you do your state taxes through whoever you choose there’ll most likely be a charge.
From the FAQ:
Go to www.irs.gov and click on “free filing” (at the top). Through this link you’ll have a list of companies that you can choose. I personally recommend sticking with TaxCut (H&R Block) or Turbotax, but of course you can choose any of them that you are eligible for.
If you do your state taxes through whoever you choose there’ll most likely be a charge.
From the FAQ:
Free File allows taxpayers with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $52,000 or less in 2006 to e-file their federal tax returns for free. That means 70 percent of all taxpayers – 95 million taxpayers – can take advantage of the Free File program.
#4
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I'd like to see the IRS just offer a way to do it online, instead of having to do it through a 3rd-party program/site.
The IRS has a web site, and computers, and obviously a way to process tax returns. Seems obvious that they should put that all together.
The IRS has a web site, and computers, and obviously a way to process tax returns. Seems obvious that they should put that all together.
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thanks for the info... however, today when trying to use turbotax online, the site told me i did not qualify for the free program due to my AGI being over 27k. what's up with that?
#6
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by TheMadMonk
The IRS has a web site, and computers, and obviously a way to process tax returns. Seems obvious that they should put that all together.
#7
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Thread Starter
Ah, I see. This article from a year ago talks about the limitations:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12...1/article.html
All of the participating companies, as a group, must make the tax software available to 70% of taxpayers. But no one individual company may cover more than 50% of the target group which is why there are the assorted restrictions.
To comply with the 50% rule, TurboTax limits it to people with an AGI of less than $27K (with a few exceptions, like active military), but they take people of any age. TaxCut doesn’t have the AGI limit of $27K (it’s $52K for them), but they limit it to people 50 years of age or younger.
As mentioned above, Turbotax has a cutoff of $27K for tax filers (with a few exceptions), in order to comply with the 50% rule.
It’s easier and cheaper to let the private companies do it. The government’s goal is to get free e-filing capability to 70% of the population. The private software developers want their gravy train to continue thus don’t want the government giving away free software to everybody, thus the compromise.
For what it's worth I wholeheartedly believe that the IRS should give free electronic filing to everybody (I have an AGI of over $52K). At least I'll just be spending $10 or $15 for software rather than $100 or more to hire a tax preparer.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12...1/article.html
All of the participating companies, as a group, must make the tax software available to 70% of taxpayers. But no one individual company may cover more than 50% of the target group which is why there are the assorted restrictions.
To comply with the 50% rule, TurboTax limits it to people with an AGI of less than $27K (with a few exceptions, like active military), but they take people of any age. TaxCut doesn’t have the AGI limit of $27K (it’s $52K for them), but they limit it to people 50 years of age or younger.
Originally Posted by Hollowgen
thanks for the info... however, today when trying to use turbotax online, the site told me i did not qualify for the free program due to my AGI being over 27k. what's up with that?
Originally Posted by Chew
I'm not sure the government has any programmers that could write a program to handle the current tax code.
For what it's worth I wholeheartedly believe that the IRS should give free electronic filing to everybody (I have an AGI of over $52K). At least I'll just be spending $10 or $15 for software rather than $100 or more to hire a tax preparer.
Last edited by Heat; 01-18-07 at 12:33 PM.
#8
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My AGI for my little family of my wife, son, and I is............
$6,700!
Thats a little more than what I spent on DVDs last year...
Okay, so its a LOT more. Hooray Freefile!
$6,700!
Thats a little more than what I spent on DVDs last year...
Okay, so its a LOT more. Hooray Freefile!
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Originally Posted by djmont
Okay, I'm being nosey now, so feel free to decline to respond... But how does anyone live on an AGI of $6700?