So TurboTax for Tax Year 2023 has gotten even shittier (Quelle surprise!): supposedly one license code lets you (or traditionally let you) prepare up to five tax returns, and maybe it still does. Last year, I bought the version sold at Costco that came with a disc so I could first install it on my machine, enter the license code for that install, make a mountable ISO so my sis could put it on a USB stick and install it from there on her laptop using the same license code. After all, I was just doing two tax returns and she was just doing one.
It turns out, for TY 2023 it requires every installation (yes, even from a disc) to not only enter the license code as before, but also create an Intuit account, and guess what–only one Intuit account per license code.
Well, they can f*ck right off with that because I’m passing the TurboTax copy/license I bought to my sis, and did my federal and state taxes with freetaxusa.com instead. Federal AND state filing is free, the state return only costs 15 bucks and the “deluxe” version which lets you amend more than once or twice and gives you priority for chat help is another 8. Oh, and I could even do my Portland Arts Tax return in there, which Intuit has never offered even though said tax has been around for at least a decade.
I was just about to recommend FreeTaxUSA.com, which only sounds sketchy. There was a John Oliver segment at one point about why they’re not allowed to advertise. (tl;dr: Turbo Tax lobbyists) We ended up using an accountant this year since my partner’s business taxes are more confusing, but I’ve used FreeTaxUSA several years in the past.
Same–happy with FreeTaxUSA for a handful of years now. TaxAct was great before them but pushed the price from $25-100 (we have to include some business income.)
The only time I thought there was a bug in FreeTaxUSA, it was my fault, and the $7 I paid for support that year was quick to help me see that.
I also switched from TurboTax to freetaxusa this year and the process was smooth as silk. It imported my prior year’s tax return without a hitch and it was so easy I couldn’t believe I waited this long to make the switch.
Hey, thanks for posting about the switch. I’m in the same boat and hearing that there is an import fills me with hope. I have to do a business but otherwise my taxes are pretty straightforward.
I feel no loyalty to TurboTax and I’m even a little annoyed they charged my twenty-something son because he had a small amount of interest income or something in an investment account his grandmother gave him. Maybe I shouldn’t care, but it just really chapped my butt that they did that. He’s not making a lot of money and if we were still using paper forms like I did in my twenties, it would have been free.
If that was directed at me, no problem. Someone turned me on to it last year when I had to file an extension for my Mom’s return. Intuit made it so ridiculously inconvenient it was stupid: with their software you have to actually print the bleeping extension form and send it in with a check via USPS “because reasons” as if we were back in the Eighties or something. With FreeTaxUsa it was easy-peasy and free.
My gf has been doing our taxes for many years now. All I have to do is buy the software, and she does the rest. And she won’t use anything but TurboTax because she’s so comfortable with it. Too late for this year since we’ve already received our refunds, but maybe now I can get her to switch.
Also, thanks @Papageno for starting this thread. I was not previously aware of this freetaxusa.com thing.
Well, someone’s got to put out the word. Apparently they can’t advertise because they’re prevented from doing so by some regs/law that Intuit paid good money for (I don’t know how that works but I read it somewhere).
If you use TurboTax, this story will tell you how to recognize when they’re subtly asking permission to give your income and other data to their partner companies, and how to tell them no.
I have always used H&R Block’s software (Deluxe + State). It runs about $40 on Amazon and includes one State tax program along with the Federal. It also includes 5 free Federal e-filings, so I can do my own taxes, my son’s taxes, my mother-in-law’s taxes and my mom’s when she was alive all included in that $40.
Best of all, though I thankfully have never needed it, filing with their software comes with a guaranty that if there’s an issue or an audit, you can get actual live H&R Block tax professional support for free. I figure if they’re confident enough in the software to offer that kind of backup for free, then it must be good enough to handle my tax needs, none of which are super complex.
Thank you for the advice on freetaxusa.com. And for the H&R Block software recommendation. I’ve used TurboTax for about 15 years and have seen its quality decline and its price rise. It’s always been a no-brainer for me since it imports 80% of what I need each year including my wife’s small business. But this year they charged for “managing” direct deposits of refunds, for the first time. Seriously?
Like Geico and USAA on insurance, these yokels are taking advantage of old-people’s inertia. I saved more than half on insurance in the last year and I don’t plan on dealing with Intuit’s f*ckery any more.
They train you to click next next next on all the stupid fake prompts so I almost clicked on this as well, but I got suspicious and read all of it thankfully.
Next year I will definitely try out FreeTaxUSA. I saw they supported all the forms I need for free minus state, so that will be almost $200 savings next year.
I’ve been an H&R Block user since it was called TaxCut. It’s great. No nonsense. No ads. They back it up as you say. The free filings, and it does State super easy too. I have never felt compelled to switch.
Can’t speak for @DTG but I’m guessing that they’re suddenly trying to get their beak wet when you have a refund coming and all they’re doing is transmitting your bank’s/CU’s routing number and your account number to the tax authority to make the transfer (which in my experience they’ve never done before). It’s not like they’re giving you a “refund loan” (at usurious rates, natch) for the week or two it might take for the money to come in.
Yeah, sorry I was away. They did charge me a $20 or so fee for the refund processing. That was annoying but I was in a hurry and the refund was relatively big so I just did it. I won’t again.
Another shout-out for freetaxusa.com. My daughter called me Saturday around 1pm doing it all last-minute. She is a grad student now and had two state taxes to file in addition to Fed. She went to TurboTax and they wanted something like $150…which I assume did not include 11th-hour add-ons. She kind of panicked. I told her about freetaxusa, and 3 hours later she called and said all three returns were good for $30 including both state returns.
