Everyone has to file their taxes and nothing is worse than having to owe money at tax time AND have to pay a fee to do it! Well, for certain tax situations you can file your taxes for free!
Basically if you have a fairly simple tax return (only use the 1040 type forms) then you can file your federal taxes for free. The TurboTax Online Free Edition offers free federal tax filing.
Here are some of the features of TurboTax Online Free Edition
- Audit support center – Step by step guidance in case the IRS contacts you about your tax return.
- Saves your work – You can finish the return in as many different sessions as you wish. TurboTax will remember your work from previous sessions.
- Upgradeable – If the free edition is not sufficient for your tax filing needs then you can upgrade at any time to one of the pay versions of TurboTax without losing any of your work.
- Live tax answers – Live answers available from TurboTax experts.
- Free tech support
- Error checker – A feature called “Smart Check” will verify your return for possible mistakes.
- Up to date – TurboTax is always up to date with the latest tax laws.
- Refund real time – You can always see your tax refund adding up as you fill out the forms.
Give it a try and let me know what you think of this software!
Another option if you don’t like TurboTax is H&R Block at Home (formerly TaxCut) Free Edition. This program is similar to TurboTax in that the software is free and you can file your federal taxes for free as well.
Check out a more comprehensive review of all the editions of TurboTax.
6 replies on “How To File Your Federal Taxes Online For Free”
I would love to be able to make my tax filing process as stupidly fast as possible but unfortunately it doesn’t even make sense for me to file early because some of the T5 investment slips arrive in the mail to my home after taxes are to be filed! It sucks because I’ve had to make amendments to my taxes two years in a row so I guess I’ll wait it out as long as possible to avoid another amendment – and an additional tax service fee to pay. Nice thread
Is there a free CND version too?
[…] Mike presents Free Online Tax Filing […]
[…] of the great things about the online version is that you can complete your tax return for free and you don’t pay until you efile.? This is a convenient way to try out the software before […]
I’m curious too, is there anything free out there for Canadians?
You can also use FreeFile which is a partnership between the IRS and Free File Alliance, they allow you to file for free online but you must have made $57K or less to use it. Also, you may qualify for myfreetaxes.com which is sponsored by Wal-Mart and Beehive, their goal is to help low income taxpayers file Federal and State taxes (they offer online and in person services).