Taxes - today (4/4) is the last day for promo turbo tax free basic/deluxe version and free e-filing

Kidsandliz went on a bit of a rant said Sat, Apr 4th 2020 at 2:46pm ET

I finally read old junk emails. Turbo tax has a promo going on that ends tonight (4/4 no idea which time zone) where you can file your state and federal taxes for free (provided they can be done by the basic or deluxe program and you only need to file in one state) and they will also e-file them for you for free.

I have used turbo tax before. Just did mine this free way. One thing that is confusing is that initially they offer you the “basic” version for free and if you want audit support, etc. they want to charge you $30 and they call it the “deluxe” version. If you click on the basic (the forms and e-filing are free) they still run you through turbo tax deluxe for free if you have deductions. What you will find that they ask you if you have a number of different categories of deductions. If you then click on the deductions you will have they then essentially run you through turbo tax deluxe. If you have no deductions then they run you through the basic program.

You are limited to one state return for free (so won’t work if you have to file your state taxes in two states). So if turbo tax basic or deluxe meets your tax needs, you don’t need to fill out two state tax forms then you can have the online program fill out everything and then e-file your federal and state forms for free for you.

At the very end you can print your tax forms. You get an email confirmation that they have been submitted.

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Limewater said Sat, Apr 4th 2020 at 4:21pm ET:

Note: This only applies to a “simple tax return.” According to the description, you have to be taking the standard deduction, and you can’t have 1099-MISC income or anything.

I’ve been pretty happy with freetaxusa. They’re free to e-file federal and adding a state is under $15, even for a more complicated return.

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Kidsandliz said Sat, Apr 4th 2020 at 4:24pm ET:

Actually it will do a part year for free too. I guess if you wanted to do the other state(s) besides the one that is free you’d need to pay for it or do it by hand.

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msklzannie said Sat, Apr 4th 2020 at 8:59pm ET:

I’ve been using H&R Block and filing fed and state free. To qualify for free, you have to be in a certain age range and income range. You also have to follow the link from your state’s Department of Revenue website.

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DoctorOW said Sat, Apr 4th 2020 at 9:28pm ET:

I had really good luck with TaxSlayer. Was going to use Turbotax but the website was so broken that I had to fine something else. Taxslayer was nice enough to be exactly $0 and nothing taken from my refund so it’s pretty nice.

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danoinct said Sun, Apr 5th 2020 at 12:16pm ET:

I used Creditkarma, and didn’t pay a dime for my Federal or State filing. No maximum income limit on the free filing option, either. I recommend it!

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