What's up with IRs-approved e-filing sites?

[frugalone]

this is the third year I'll be e-filing my taxes. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread...until today, when I was getting ready to finish my return and noticed two things:

1. The software (FreeTaxUSA) made an error (I think) on my 2017 return; and
2. The same software is saying I owe the state nearly $500.

So I went to a different, IRA listed site and ran through the whole return thing. I don't owe the state anything.

However, one thing I'm noticing with ALL of these sites is that they want money. I didn't pay any fees for completion for the past couple of years. What's more, the fees vary widely (wildly?) and different sites have different protocols (i.e. "if you are under 66" vs. "if you are 60 or under."

What's even weirder is that the IRS site says these sites are supposed to be free for me.

Can anyone explain to me what's going on? And if anyone here is an accountant, can you please tell me if these software sites can be trusted? I don't even know what to think about last year--was it a real mistake or wasn't it? How can one site tell me I owe $500 and the other, nothing?

[frugalone]

Not only that...I just started filling out yet a third return, and this particular site is disregarding a large amount of interest income I received from a savings bond.

What on earth...?

[Tradd]

I've been using TurboTax online for 5-6 years at least. No problems but I have a very simple return.

[Float On]

I tried the TurboTax. Ended up having quite a few fees on it with everything. Decided to find a new accountant (our's died) and will pay probably double what our friend charged but there were things on Turbo that I wasn't quite sure about. Now if the way they figure it comes out similar to what Turbo does...I'll chalk it up to a valuable lesson and try myself next year...but I'm hoping I was wrong because Turbo said I'd owe $1800 sometime.

[SteveinMN]

The tax code is so complicated that you can't hand the same records to different real live accountants and expect them all to come up with the same return. So I have no expectation that software (written on the run because Congress and deadlines) will be any more (or less) capable. If one site shows unexpected results and it doesn't take forever to put the information into another one, I'd try another to verify or to get a return I thought was more accurate.

I have no real answer for the should-be-free question other than to suggest that there may not be that much of a linkage between the IRS and these (presumably) for-profit sites. I would assume that entering your birthdate should be enough to flag that the return should be free, but there may be other criteria of which I'm not aware. Since the tax-filing sites are not the IRS, I would not expect them to be bound to what the IRS promotes. The old saying on the Internet is that if the product is free, you are the product, so maybe paying to file the return is not a bad idea. If anything, it might give you some leverage on getting the sites to perform as they should (correct calculations, support, etc.). I'm certain, though, that relationship is buried in the fine print of the weasel words in the Terms of Service.

[sweetana3]

We have used Turbotax for over 20 years. All additional "fees" are separate and optional. Husband gets irritated over fees to file State returns so he prints out and sends it in on paper. We dont pay for audit insurance because I know it is pretty useless.

Turbotax has saved us significant money at least twice. Once when we changed states and had two partial year state tax returns and the other when it found a very unusual deduction I would not have known about. In addition, we paid for the California program when we got a taxable inheritance from a trust and neither of us, both finance specialists, could figure out how or what to file and we knew California is audit happy.

Of course, it takes patience and proper input to get a correct answer. Not easy.

I spent a couple of filing seasons electronically inputting tax returns for IRS employees and the issues were crazy.

[frugalone]

OK, reset that panic button.

Apparently, I entered interest from a EE savings bond in the wrong place on my return, and that caused the software to calculate that I owed over $400. As it turns out, I only owe $7.

I'd say my return is pretty simple--we don't itemize, for instance. Maybe I'll give TurboTax a try, since several of you recommended it.

Thank you for listening and for your advice. Now, I'm going to try once more to file, without paying any fees to anyone...

[catherine]

TurboTax user here, too. Love it. I've used it for years.

Glad you found the "human error" responsible for the discrepancy!

[frugalone]

TurboTax user here, too. Love it. I've used it for years.

Glad you found the "human error" responsible for the discrepancy!

I shouldn't be surprised. I'm the kind of person that just doesn't do well with numbers. My sister once got me a shirt that says "English Major--You Do the Math!"

[iris lilies]

We Just got back our tax documents from our CPA.


Now, what I am going to say is going to be shocking to several of you. I think Jp1 will want to bookmark this comment to throw back in my face later, and he would be right. And before I make my statement I would like to point out, in my own defense, that I don’t grouse about the amount of income tax I pay because I dont really know whatbis “fair.” In the past, my complaints were about the growth of the federal government, their irresponsibility, their stupidity in providing certain programs and etc.

here it is: we owe under $500 to the feds this year. Total. That is it. Oh, and plus we got free health insurance all year. Paid $0. What the actual fk.

I honestly do not feel this is a fair citizen contribution to reside in this great country.

But back to my regularly scheduled snark: thank you DJ Trump for these tax cuts. And, as
DH pointed out, we are doing almost as well with the feds as we would if we were Guatamalan refugees.