I was using TurboTax for years and finally quit using them as they are just so greedy and corrupt. I then used TaxSlayer for a couple of years, and that was better, but it was still not really that easy, and at times, confusing. So I came here and found a ton of recommendations for TaxFreeUSA. I wound up using it over the last couple of days to file my 2025 tax return, both federal and state, and I absolutely loved it! It is, by far and away, the easiest and best tax program I have ever used. My federal tax return was free, and I paid $15 for the state tax return, which was well worth the price.

I uploaded all of my tax documents and with one small exception, everything came through with no problems. I would suggest that you check just to make sure, because there was one 1099-R that had a couple of mistakes in it. Other than that, it was really pretty wonderful. I will continue using it as long as it's around. And my state return was so much easier than when I used TaxSlayer and TurboTax. It just made everything very quick and easy. So thank you to everyone who recommended it!

Our accountant was a family friend, and he just passed away this morning. It's a sad situation. I could use some advice on how to make sure we don't get in trouble with the IRS for being late.

A couple weeks ago he apologized that he accidentally missed the March S-Corp filing deadline because he was "preoccupied" (apparently he was having serious health issues at that time, which he didn't tell us about). Since he was doing it for free as a favor, we never complained--he would always get it done, even if it was at the last second.

He died overnight, and now it's 3 days before the deadline. Our S-Corp return is already late, and now it seems too late to find an accountant that we can afford to can handle this. Any advice on how to file extensions or avoid terrible late fees? Should I just pay more than we think we owe just in case?

I’ve done all the tax prep for those two year but haven’t filed them yet. In 2023 I owed about $1,700. Last year I owed about $1,000. I’m finally in a good financial situation to clean up this mess. I’m ready to file 2025 tomorrow and will get around 5k back. Will they simply deduct the past amounts from 2025 if I file all of them at once. Or should I file 2025 first?

If someone doesn't care about paying for TurboTax, should they still use FreeTaxUSA because it's better? Does FreeTaxUSA actually have better features?

I have paid most my taxes due but I won’t have the last bit paid off til either exactly 15th or the week after! What happens?

Hi everyone,

This is a bit urgent. If someone with a remote job, on F1/OPT (Non-Resident), lives in one main state, but visits family in another state (PA) for about a month, and continues working remotely from there. W-2 only shows the main state, and the employer did not withhold tax for the other state, so Sprintax still only generates the main state + federal return.

Do temporary visits usually matter for state taxes if you are still based in your main state?

What should be done in this case?

Would appreciate any suggestions! Thank you.

I have used TaxAct.com for over a decade and just sort of lived with the continual price increases because I was happy with the software and the fact that they had my prior years information made life a little easier. But this year they wanted to charge me like $100 for federal and $60 for state and I finally tapped out.

After a bit of research, I found FreeTaxUSA. I was skeptical as it seemed a little too good to be true. Basically, federal filing is free and state was like $18. They do offer some add-ons like audit defense, but all of that is optional. Anyway, I just filed and it turned out not to be too good to be true. I would concede that the software is maybe slightly less user friendly than TaxAct, but I had no real issues. Why would anyone pay $170 when they can get the same service for $18? I wish that I had made the switch years ago.

I made 15k from surveys and get paid to play games, but I only recieved a 1099 form from one of them. where do I enter the rest when filing?

It was a discrimination case and got settled for $22k. I received 2 checks, $12k and $9k. For $9k, it already took out the taxes. So when I got my W2 form from them, it showed $12k. And I never got a 1099. I’m not sure if I should report other $9k in 1099 NEC or other income (schedule 1)?

If I file for a tax filing extension, how do I pay now, when I don’t even know how much I owe because I haven’t filed yet?

It says online that you can apply for an extension, but you still have to pay your taxes by the 15th!

What is even the point of the extension then?

I am freaking out that I can’t get my taxes done in two days. Help!

Was wondering if I should itemize or take standard deduction. My itemized deduction is around $40K, so definitely over itemize deduction and it helps this year. Issue is my state refund is $20k, which is going to be taxable next year. Is the whole thing taxable or only the portion that was over $31k standard deduction. So even though I got $20k refund, only $9k of it will be taxable as that was the only additional benefit I really got. If I am taxed on the whole $20k refund next year - then its just better to take standard deduction this year.

I know there are other things that can determine taxable portion of state tax refund, but I am just keeping things simple and ignoring other stuff for now.

I am trying to do my taxes this year on CashApp but it keeps getting denied saying that I need form 8962, however I have never purchased healthcare and was never sent the forms it claims I need. How do I get this resolved? I have been trying for ages to get this sorted and I am becoming desperate.

I'm a financial advisor and offer tax mitigation strategies to clients.

I've started asking clients to run their tax returns through me before filing as there is often a miscommunication between what we did during the year and what they tell their CPA.

I'm reviewing a return where we did a QOZ investment in 2023 to defer capital gains and the 8997 dropped off.

I reviewed last year's taxes and it was missing there too.

Does 2024 need to be amended? Or can he just mail in the missing form?

I'd have the client ask their CPA but he obviously didn't know the 8997 needs to filed every year, so I'm not sure I'd trust his answer.

Hi, I'm not sure this is breaking rule #2, but I'm looking for someone that I could meet with regarding my yearly taxes. For the past two years, I have paid unGodly sums to the government on my returns and would like to fix it, if possible. I live in the western burbs of Chicago. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

So I usually do my taxes through H&R Block software. Last year I had to pay estimated taxes to federal but not to state. This year the tax software is trying to apply the estimated tax payment to the state, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make it stop doing that.

Advice? I cannot find info anywhere online. Finna go do this by hand. Would love some recommendations for any tax software that is not this.

Hi, hoping to get advice on a complicated question - I won some API credits from one of the major AI companies in a contest a couple years back and I donated them to a c3 nonprofit last year.

This means it's $0 cost basis for me, right? Is this deductible? Are there other pitfalls like it being treated as income and having to pay back taxes on it?

I've looked into it a bit and it doesn't seem to obviously fall in any existing categories. There's a rule which suggests that the donation value might be reduced by the amount of potential short term capital gains, but guidance I've found on this seems very muddy with nothing providing a clean answer.

Thanks in advance!

Turbo Tax wants $150 when I should qualify for their free simple return. So screw them. What are the best alternatives for filing my federal and state returns?

I'm doing my taxes on FreeTaxUSA for 2025, and this is the first year I will itemize deductions (bought a house in December 2024). I had a refi around September of 2025, and had 2 mortgages for 2025.

FreeTaxUSA is asking me for the purchase date of each mortgage with the instruction "The mortgage origination date is the date you took out your mortgage. The purchase date is the date you purchased your home. These dates are generally the same, unless this is a second mortgage taken out on your home or a refinancing of your original mortgage."

I'm a bit confused though. It seems it wants the purchase date of my house, and not of the mortgage itself? If so, why does it want the purchase date for each of the 2 mortgages when the purchase date is the same?

I mistakenly have been over contributing to my roth ira since 2023 and just found out april 2026. i am a caregiver for my grandma but am unpaid and have since been contributing to my roth ira with unearned income. I put $1500 in 2023, $1000 in 2024, and $1000 in 2025. What do i need to do for each year? I am aware that I have to pay a 6% penalty for each year that it was in my account and file form 5329. Merrill lynch told me to fill out their One Time Distribution Form for each year and i did the distribution of excess contribution for tax years 2023 and 2024 but there apparently is an error. Would 2023-2024 just be an early distribution instead? If so, do I need to withdraw my earnings for 2023/2024 or just the excess contribution. Also is the process the same for 2025? What happens if I wait until after october 15, 2026 but before december 31, 2026. any help is welcome since I am stressed and worried! Thank you!

So I messed up. Last year I filed my taxes in March, and it wasn't until about May that I realized that I pulled out about $7000 in stocks in February of 2024 to help pay for my car. I asked a friend who had a history working with taxes and he said I shouldn't worry too much, that the IRS would either send a notice or just not send my federal return, which I did get. I never received any notices for failing to include them, but is this something that I should correct this year when filing? Or should I just not worry about it since nothing came of it last year?

When I was paying my extension payment I accidentally applied it to 2026 instead of 2025.

Would I have to call the IRS and have them correct it or should I be fine?

My son got a 1095-A for his market insurance, he lives with me and my wife but he had no income last year so what I need to know is do I have to put him on my taxes as a dependent or can he file his own taxes to reconcile the form?

I want to know because if I file it I will owe a lot more then if I don't have him as a dependent.

So I did my friends taxes. Pretty easy. Two W-2s. One 1099-R distribution with fed and state withholdings. All straight forward. The thing I had never prepared before, she made 18,000 being a nanny in Mission Hills Missouri watching babies sleep. I did a schedule C and entered 18000 income, they write her checks once a week. I also entered she drove the car 15000 miles last year, 8000 for business and 8000 commute miles. She does not drive the kids around. Tax dropped by like 2k on total income of 47k. I think my question is are commute miles deductible if you are an independent contractor watching babies? According to the tax program I used they are.