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FreeTaxUSA Reviews Summary
FreeTaxUSA has a rating of 2 stars from 289 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with FreeTaxUSA most frequently mention state taxes, last year and customer service. FreeTaxUSA ranks 61st among Tax Preparation sites.
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Loved the process, simple and easy until its time to file and after you pay your 14.99 it errors out and say IRS systems are down and you have to mail it in, which leave me the customer confused as to what's the point and how will I receive my returns if I mail them in myself. Whole process left me uneasy.
Says free free til the end then because i was filing 2018 taxes which system allowed til the end then wants credit card which im not putting on here and then charges for state filing 14,99 like really? If i could print them i would have used diff site. I was looking to efile then when u view your return it has do not process until u give cc info or paypal info not happening. So now here i am not knowing what to do i hope no foreigners start calling me either i dont need the crap thanks for nothing
Hi Kimberley,
At FreeTaxUSA, we offer federal software that is easy to use, and 100% free. We do charge a small fee to prepare your state return. The prior year state return fee is for the preparation and calculations of the return and associated forms. We are very sorry for any misunderstanding. The IRS does not accept prior year returns through e-file so they do have to be mailed. I can also assure you the information entered will not be shared and will be kept secure. You can view our Privacy Statement at the following link: https://www.freetaxusa.com/privacy.jsp If you need further assistance with this, one of our customer service agents would be happy to look into this further. Please log into your account and click on Contact Support.
This is a shame! Will never use them again. I wish I would have viewed the reviews first. Wow.
I have not received any refund. IRS probably do this company's last.
Hello Shon,
I am sorry for any frustration you are experiencing. Your satisfaction is important to us. I would be happy to look into your issue. I can best accomplish this if you would please log into your account and click the "Contact Support" link. The IRS has reported that returns claiming certain credits will experience a delay this year. Here is a link to the IRS that discusses those delayed credits that might be of interest to you.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/refund-timing
Your mileage may vary.
There software is not designed to handle IRA contributions accurately including reporting of Basis for a non taxable IRA contribution on form 8606 Line 1.
So if their software is inaccurate here it could be in other places too.
Don't recommend using
Hello, JS! Line 1 of Form 8606 is used to report nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA. In order to claim a nondeductible contribution, you would need to first qualify for the contribution. So, if you don't see your contribution on line 1 of Form 8606, it's possible that you do not qualify - which could be for one of several reasons. We guarantee the accuracy of all of our calculations and would be happy to take a look at your return to see why your contribution is not showing on line 1 of Form 8606. Please sign in to your account and click the "Contact Support" link.
Yes I filed my taxes with you lames in 2017 you took all my hard earn money you stole from me and my daughter yall should be ashamed of yourself and I pray in the name of Jesus he will handle yall asses I needed a car food and stuff for my daughter and yall tookevery hard earn dime I made as a housekeeper we dont make $#*! but it was worth working to keep getting my daughter her needs and Bill's h and r block way better and organize then u all will ever be dont $#*! with free tax USA and I ask the irs for a transcript to nothing in file!
We're very sorry to hear of your situation. One of our customer service representatives would be happy to take a look at your account to address your concerns regarding your return. Please sign into your account and select the "Support" tab at the top of the page. We look forward to helping you resolve this issue.
Used it for the first time to file my sole member llc. Seemed pretty simple and straight forward. I e-filed my federal and state taxes, however, I incorrectly entered my date of birth. It immediately got rejected for e-file. I got an email from FreeTaxUSA to try again. I fixed the issue and it went smoothly. I liked it. The only reason I wouldn't give it 5 stars is that, it was a bit confusing when filing for my llc. I like this business though and will definitely be using FreeTaxUSA in the future.
Thanks for the review, Guy! We are always looking for ways to improve the tax-filing experience for our customers and would like to know how we can improve. Can you send details about what was confusing to [email protected]?
I've used this site for 3 yrs now, 1 with no issues. I've seen where pple say "it's not free they charged me for state " duh it says $12 or something for state. But my state was free. I've seen "it's not free I had to pay $30 and could not efile " well the whole truth of that AND IF YOU READ is that if it is a prior tax refund, that the irs no longer allowe efiled prior year tax returns so if u got a prior year, fed and state will BOTH have to be mailed in and paid a different fee then free!... I know bcuz I had to do this... H and R block prep. Person told me $300 for prior year taxes.
OoKay!
Just do your reading! They clearly list every fee that you will ever be charged! Nothing is hidden!
This year I paid nothing$0 for state and federal! By far the best I've seen yet! I seriously wish you guys would do referrals... for example... if I got 5 pple to join u i get $10 off each person or whatever. So maybe do it like in amazon gift cards...(1=$5)(2=,$10)(3=,$15)(4=,$20)(5=,$25...)... and so on cap it off at 10 referrals idk... just a thought to get some extra business. Thanks again! See yall next year hopefully.
Hi Nickkat, thanks or the great review! We have a referral program where we do weekly drawings. Login to your account and go to the View Return Status and Print Your Copy screen. If you scroll to the bottom, you can refer your friends to be entered into our weekly drawings and even a grand prize.
I have completed the FED+STATE data entries and passed the review. I paid for the ORDER filing fees of FED+STATE ($12.99) and continued with e-filings. The FreeTaxUSA software would not file my tax unless I had to pay extra fees. It is against all FreeTaxUSA advertisements and it is a scam.
Hello David,
We're very sorry if you weren't able to e-File your taxes. If you would like one of our customer service representatives to take a look to see why you were unable to e-File, or what charges have been made on your account, please let us know by signing in to your account and selecting the "Support" tab at the top of the page. We would be happy to help you resolve this.
I thought the process was much easier and definitely cheaper than other vendors. I didn't read all of these reviews so now I am a bit nervous. The return was for my daughter who has a pretty simple return but she had 2 state tax returns and both of those were filed smoothly. She is getting refunds for all 3 so I will wait to see if that part is as smooth as the filing.
Welcome to FreeTaxUSA, Kelley! If you'd like a balanced review of our software, you can visit our website at https://www.freetaxusa.com/reviews.jsp. Currently, we have over 200,000 reviews, where 99% would recommend our product to others. If you need assistance, or have questions about your daughter's returns, please contact a member of our support team by signing in to your account and clicking the "Contact Support" link. Our friendly support staff is well-versed in multiple state returns and is happy to help.
No state tax in Florida so FREE since 2016. Their services are underpriced. Today, however, the preferred lender (incentives for me) of the developer building our next house demanded W2, s for 2018 & 2017. 2018 resolved. 2017 seems hopeless. Tried various solutions from their site & Google. This includes looking for headings I'm supposed to find on their site that aren't there. Others found that do not provide promised results. Found 2017 tax returns, provided me 2018 W2, s. Attempts of contacting their "customer service" just walked me back to their site to figure it out on my frustrated own. Really arrogant of them. A "it's not me it's you" additude on their part. I've wasted time on this today that I didn't have to spare. So beware, if you ever need them they will not be there for you!
I now know that but right now I fully accept that I'll almost certainly use them this next tax year w/ great hope I won't be in an uncharted situation again. I do hate WalMart but I'm still in there on occasion? I do hope they appreciate the zing I intend by aligning them w/WM. But as FTUSA is free then it's true that I'm paying less for the customer service t I don't get from them than that that I don't get at WM. So I'll be back next year.
Hi CL, thanks for reaching out. I would be happy to follow up on this issue to make sure you receive the support you need. Can you private message your email address through SiteJabber?
I used them twice, once last year with no problems and this year I filed my taxes in early April thinking everything was fine, but never received a refund. After contacting them multiple times in a friendly manner to be sure everything went through okay, they completely ignored me. As though ignoring me was not enough, they finally started rejecting all emails with a message stating the email did not go through. I have not been able to access my account and received no help with that as well. The only way to contact them is via email. The one number I found on the internet leads you to voicemail, which was also disregarded.
We are very sorry for the frustration and would like to help. Can you private message your email address?
No problems using the program. Does not give you a lot of unnecessary tedious questions and headaches like TurboTax does.
But, According to the North Carolina Department of Revenue website it is free to file the state return with FreeTaxUSA. This was so when I did a family member's return but on mine it charged $14.99. Something is wrong with that.
Hi Christine, thanks for the review! A member of our support team would be happy to sort this out for you. Can you sign in to your account and click the "Contact Support" link?
I have used this site for the last 6 years and have been relatively comfortable with processing my tax returns. I'm usually good about getting them in mid-February however this year with the changes in the tax laws it required a bit more to do the taxes. I had done all of the preliminary work had verified that my information was correct and was ready to file however when logged in today the system was down most all of the day. I had to then find another software program that I could put all of my tax information into and file my returns before the deadline. If this is the only business that they are in is filing tax returns then make certain that you have the bandwidth to support the volume of users that you have projected. Very disappointed
Hi, Beau! Over the past 19 years we’ve taken great pride in both our software and our technical infrastructure – especially its ability to get through the rush of Tax Day. Despite our effort to plan and test for the estimated traffic level this year, we experienced our first technical failure. We feel terrible about the stress and hardship it created for our affected customers. It’s the last thing we wanted to have happen to you on Tax Day and the last thing we expected. We will continue to improve our capacity and we hope you’ll forgive the technical failure. We are communicating with the IRS and making them aware of anyone that may have been affected by our service outage yesterday. We hope to see you return next year. If you need further assistance or have questions, please sign in to your account and click the "Contact Support" link.
They allowed me to file my federal refund, but to submit my state refund the sit "went down, due to scheduled maintenance". Now I cannot submit my state return until the federal return is accepted or I have to mail in my return. The best part is they charged me for this. I was charged for their site to be shut down due to "scheduled maintenance". WARNING DO NOT USE FREETAXUSA.COM!
Hi, we are are working with the IRS and states to resolve any issues for those who might have been affected by our outage last night. We encourage you to sign in and send your return as soon as possible. If you need assistance or have more questions, we are happy to set things right. Please sign in to your account and click the "Contact Support" link.
Well, it's April 15th, Tax Day. This is the big dance. D-Day (or T-Day). FreeTaxUSA has a message on their site that says they're down for "Scheduled Maintenance." Really. Did that genius consult the calendar when scheduling maintenance for their website?
Probably that's just a canned message that means, "Sorry. We're operating out of our garage and really don't know how to run a website. We got more users than we expected and don't know when we'll be back up."
If you're an IT Director looking for a job, you should fix up your resume and send it to FreeTaxUSA because they'll probably be looking for a professional IT director after this debacle.
The marketing director is probably safe though. They did their job. Brought the people in. The infrastructure just couldn't handle it.
Going over to TurboTax now...;-)
Thanks for writing, Patrick. We have been filing tax returns for 19 years (and as many Tax Days) and have yet to experience any downtime. Our website was unable to accommodate the additional traffic on Tax Day and we are very sorry. We are working closely with the IRS and states to resolve any issues for those who might have been affected. We are committed to our valued customers and will do all we can to make sure this doesn't happen again. If there's anything more we can address, please reach out to us by sending an email to [email protected].
6 hours of site downtime on tax day! The first error message stated they were doing scheduled system maintenance on tax day. The most recent system message:
"We Are Having Technical Difficulties
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. FreeTaxUSA is currently experiencing heavy traffic but don't worry we are working on a fix now and we will be back up and running shortly.
FreeTaxUSA will return shortly.
Thank you for your patience."
The response from Customer Service 6 hours after I first emailed them:
Hello,
Thank you for your patience. Due to heavy traffic on our system, it may take you a while to login to your account. Once you can, you should be able to continue to work on your tax return. If you submitted your tax return late you may have a small late fee if you owe taxes. If you are receiving a refund, you will be okay and don't need to worry.
Regards,
Liesel
Customer Support
Backup your records as I doubt this company will be around to do 2019 taxes!
Hi Heather, thanks for writing. Our website was unable to handle the increased traffic on Tax Day and we are very sorry. We understand that this is very frustrating and would be happy to make things right. Can you sign in to your account and click the "Contact Support" link?
I used them last year, all went fine. This year, I go along, entering all the data, and then AFTER I pay them, I go to file and it kicks me out! Now every time I try to log in it just says "Request Rejected" and gives me some dumb number?! I wrote to customer support email address on the site but judging by these reviews I doubt that will do anything. I really either want them to let me in and finish my taxes or refund my dang money! This is unacceptable. You cannot screw with someone's federal taxes or their debit card information like this! I really hope someone reaches out to me ASAP. I simply cannot get back in their site and I KNOW my credentials are correct.
Hello, Ryan! We completely understand your frustration and are doing all we can to assist our customers. Can you please sign in to your account and click on the "Contact Support" ink? If you are unable to sign in, please send an email with details to [email protected].
Fast, easy and free. I got a bigger refund than I would've got from turbo tax. I filed with Free Tax USA on April 25 and its already posted on my bank account. Won't be able to spend it til April 1, but wow! That was fast!
Thanks for letting us all know about your experience with FreeTaxUSA! We're happy you found us and look forward to seeing you again next year.
Before I submitted my final tax returns, I checked the paperwork to ensure that my checking account numebr and bank routing number were correct. Unfortunately I didn't check them again after submitting the filing and found out the hard way that there was a glitch leaving off the last 5 digits of my bank account number! Now I have to wait an extra two weeks for a paper check.
Hi Leanna, I'm sorry to hear that your return was sent with the wrong bank account. The good news is that the IRS and states have procedures in place to make sure that your refund does not go to the wrong bank account and will send a paper check instead. It can take a little longer to receive your refund, but you know the refund is coming directly to you. If you are sure you entered the correct routing and account numbers, we would be happy to investigate this for you. Can you sign in to your account and click the "Contact Support" link?
Was a little worried based on some reviews, but worked out better than a few of the other tax services I've used in the past. Will definitely use them again next year.
We appreciate your balanced review, Randy, and look forward to helping you file your return next year!
From the business
FreeTaxUSA is an authorized IRS e-file provider. The company has securely filed millions of federal tax returns with the IRS. Each year, the website helps taxpayers save millions of dollars in tax preparation fees with free federal and low-cost state offers.
Each tax year, a team of tax analysts updates the software to the latest federal and state standards. The software incorporates new credits, deductions, and changes to the tax code. Once the software is updated, it goes through a rigorous testing and approval process with the IRS and each state. This ensures the software is ready for the new tax season.
FreeTaxUSA is 100% made in America. All customer service representatives live and work in the United States. When you file your taxes with FreeTaxUSA, you are supporting American families and creating American jobs.
We don’t provide tax advice, account specifics, or customer support through SiteJabber. The safest and quickest way to get support is to sign in to your FreeTax...
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Hi Jarvis, I apologize for any confusion regarding the returns. The IRS will not accept prior year returns through e-file. Even with a mailed return, you can choose to receive your refund through direct deposit. The state fee is for the preparation and calculations of the return. We charge no separate fee for the method of filing. Please message our Customer Support by logging into your account and selecting Contact Support and we would be happy to help you with any of your questions.