#Why isnt turbotax deluxe free for free#
#Why isnt turbotax deluxe free software#

#Why isnt turbotax deluxe free software#

If you choose to use FreeTaxUSA or if you don’t require any of the features excluded by TurboTax or H&R Block, it’s possible to get to use the online software free of charge. In the meanwhile, Intuit is currently facing investigations over its practices leading people to pay for what is legally a free service. TurboTax and H&R Block both offer a free edition with limited features. But the IRS isn’t addressing those sorts of tricks with its new restrictions, so it’s quite possible Intuit and other tax prep companies will have plenty of other ways to make their money. And TurboTax had also deliberately targeted students and low-income users with the paid version of their service, moving necessary forms like student loan interest deduction into the “Deluxe” tier. Some of the links in the free version of TurboTax would link to the paid version, tricking you into paying more than you should. You couldn’t access the free version from at all. When ProPublica published their groundbreaking report in April, they found that TurboTax’s main page didn’t even link to the page that lets you file for free. The new addendum also requires all these tax preparation companies to give their truly free options a specific badge: “IRS Free File program delivered by ,” so you can tell them apart from other versions which might sneakily require you to pay. In return, the IRS agreed to not make its own free filing software, something that the tax preparation companies thought could be a big competitor to their business. The Free File program initially said that filing software had to allow lower- and middle-income taxpayers to be able to file for free. TurboTax Free Edition Online price starts at 29 per user/month, on a scale between 1 to 10 TurboTax Free Edition Online is rated 4, which is lower than the average cost of Business tax software. Tax industry lobbying was how the IRS’s Free File was initially created, with the IRS agreeing to leave it up to those companies. But in the United States, Intuit has spent millions each year lobbying against these simpler systems which would eliminate the need for their services. The government uses data it already has on your income to fill out your taxes. In several other countries, filing your taxes is a lot easier. They’ve also eliminated a restriction against the IRS making its own filing software.

#Why isnt turbotax deluxe free for free#

On Monday, the IRS released an addendum to its Free File program - the agreement with tax preparation companies intended to keep tax filing free - that now prohibits these companies from hiding the pages that allow you to file for free from Google and other search engines. Now, ProPublica reports that the IRS is taking steps against this. This made it harder for users to find the free versions online, and many people ended up paying to file their taxes when they really didn’t have to. They, along with H&R Block, went so far as to keep the free versions from showing up in search engine results. Earlier this year, ProPublica published a report showing how Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, was misleading users into paying to file their taxes - something that’s supposed to be free in the first place for many.