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The IRS is now accepting 2019 tax returns, which are due by April 15, 2020. As usual, most Americans are eligible to file for free through the IRS Free File Program—and, as usual, most Americans don’t know this.
If your adjusted gross income for 2019 was $69,000 or less, you’re eligible for the IRS Free File Program. This program is a partnership between the IRS and the commercial tax software companies that make applications like TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct, FreeTaxUSA, and Tax Slayer. Under some situations, these companies let you use their software for free.
Here’s the critical thing to understand: The free tax-filing software available through the IRS Free File Program is different from each tax-filing program’s standard free edition! In other words, TurboTax’s Free File Program edition and TurboTax’s Free Edition are different. If you’re eligible for the Free File Program and you start a tax return through Free File, you can use all the features you want, and you won’t see any upsells asking you to spend money. If you start with something like TurboTax Free Edition—which isn’t the Free File Program—you will have to pay extra for specific forms and other tax situations. With IRS Free File, you can use all the forms and complicated features of the tax software all you want.
To get started, head to the IRS Free File website and look through the offers. Different applications have different requirements for their offers. For example:
H&R Block lets you file a free federal return if your income is $69,000 or less, and your age is between 17 and 51. If you qualify for a free federal return, you also get a free state return.
TurboTax lets you file a free federal return if your income is $36,000 or less, no matter your age. You also get a free state return if you qualify for a free federal one.
Feel free to look through the offers on the IRS’s website. The IRS also offers a tool that will ask about your situation and recommend only matching offers. Based on our experiences, we’d choose TurboTax if you’re eligible for that and H&R Block if you’re not. Both are easy-to-use, well-reviewed tax applications.
Note: To take advantage of the IRS Free File offer, you must start your return by clicking from the IRS Free File page or via the “IRS Free File Program delivered by [Tax Software Name]” page on the tax software’s website.
People who aren’t aware of how the IRS Free File Program works end up using the more limited “free” versions of applications like TurboTax and often have to spend money when they’d be eligible for IRS Free File. Thankfully, in 2020, the IRS made some reforms for this tax filing season. The IRS no longer lets tax software companies hide their IRS Free File pages from search engines like Google.
If you aren’t eligible for the IRS Free File Program, you can still do your taxes online for free.
Credit Karma offers free tax-filing software with no upsells. You can’t even pay for an upgrade—Credit Karma Tax is completely free. Like with Credit Karma’s free credit score monitoring service, Credit Karma Tax makes money by showing you offers for financial products like credit cards and loans based on your financial situations. It includes both federal and state filing—all free.
If you don’t have to file a state return, you might also look at FreeTaxUSA. It lets you file a federal return for free, but requires payment for a state return.
Note that Credit Karma Tax doesn’t support more complicated situations like part-year state returns, multiple state returns, and nonresident state returns. It also doesn’t support forms like Form 1116 for the Foreign Tax Credit and Schedule K-1 for Estate and Trust income. Be sure to read the list of forms and situations Credit Karma doesn’t support before you choose to use it.
In 2020, Credit Karma’s tax software has been around for a few years, but it’s still new compared to its competitors. To double-check Credit Karma’s work, you might want to run your numbers through a paid software product like TurboTax before filing with Credit Karma. You can double-check Credit Karma’s work with TurboTax without paying anything, as you only pay TurboTax when you file. If TurboTax and Credit Karma Tax’s numbers match, you can have confidence in Credit Karma Tax’s numbers.
RELATED: How to View (and Monitor) Your Credit Report For Free
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