Review of IRS-Authorized E-Filer 1040.com 🌟

reveurgam (60)in #review • 5 years ago (edited)

This is my review of the 2018 IRS-Authorized tax e-filer, 1040.com. My original article, Review of IRS FreeFile Companies, became too big to keep as one article. Go there for all the details of my test of the 12 providers, and links to the reviews of each.

IRS FreeFile - Should I Use It? - Plus Earned Income & Child Credits is the prologue to this series - you may want to start there. It includes a chart based on both what the IRS reported about each provider and a few changes I made based on what I discovered, as well as other info about e-filing, including the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, and my explanation of the criteria I used to test each provider.

I figured I wouldn't have any luck but most people probably won't encounter the problems I did. In any event, I suggest that you do the 1040 paper version (or you can edit the PDFs on your computer, which I think is easier) to make sure the provider you choose doesn't screw up before you e-file. Also, again, remember that I used special circumstances to test these providers - many people will not encounter these problems!

Note: "Option to donate to Presidential Election Campaign Fund:" refers to the opportunity to have $3 contributed to the election campaign, but doesn't cost you anything. It appears to come out of the taxes paid. It also pays for pediatric medical research.

Note: Customer Service Support types are those that are offered free-of-charge for free e-filing. Certain companies offer phone support for paying customers.

Note: The word "responsive" below is a programming word that means that the program changes what you see on the same page and ensuing pages. For example, if you answered "yes" to having gotten married this year, it would show you fields to enter info about your new spouse, but if you answered "no", that wouldn't appear or - if shown already - would disappear. Responsiveness is programming that is designed to make your experience more pleasing, easier and it adjusts to your screen-size (which is called "mobile first").

Given the complexity of tax laws these days, and the peculiarities of the scenario I set up, I am not surprised that every company had a problem helping me, and some either refused to or couldn't because of site limitations. All companies offered some sort of FAQ/written help section, but they varied in quality, completeness and accuracy.

THIS TEST SCENARIO DOES NOT TEST ALL POSSIBLE SPECIAL SITUATIONS, AND SOME ASPECTS OF IT ARE UNUSUAL, SO WHEN MAKING DECISIONS BASED ON THE REVIEWS I'VE PROVIDED, MAKE SURE TO TAKE THIS INTO CONSIDERATION BEFORE CHOOSING YOUR E-FILER.

1040.com

🌟

Drake Enterprises, LTD.
Franklin, North Carolina
Summary: 🛑DO NOT USE! SEE MY ARTICLE Details of Review of IRS FreeFile Provider: 1040.com🛑

Security

Security: email verified, 3 security questions, 2-factor authentication, email verification, I had 2-factor off but it still sent a code to my email each time. It'll log you off after a specific time, but won't save the form you're completing.
Claimed security certificates: digicert, TRUSTe (I confirmed both of them.)
BBB Accredited: Yes, since 1997
BBB Rating: A+
BBB consumer rating:- (0 reviews)
Trust Pilot consumer rating: - (0 reviews)
Consumer Affairs consumer rating: - (0 reviews)
Glassdoor employee rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟.5 (4 reviews)
Indeed employee rating: 🌟🌟🌟.4 (18 reviews)
Google Safe Browsing: ok

User Experience

Completion mode: Guided or self-guided, auto-filled my city, county and state from my zip code.
Forms: It makes most of the decisions for you, but you can later try to figure it out. It made several errors and doesn't support all forms. 8919 is combined with 4317.
Navigation: Menu on left, plus summary screen of major subsections, sometimes no navigation options.
Interface: Sophisticated, comfortable, sometimes responsive from screen to screen but with several errors and not always responsive on the same screen. Sometimes prevents cut & paste of info and auto-fill, and it has too many flaws that prevent the completion of forms and so your return will be screwed up.
Helpful links to info: Not many, some forms showed help in a box on the right automatically.
Guarantee: 100% Accurate ("We run our accuracy check on both returns at the same time, and we guarantee your biggest state refund and 100% accurate state calculations." - I couldn't find anything else, so I guess it means nothing.)

Test Results

Filing status: It chose the best of 3 for me.
Option to donate to Presidential Election Campaign Fund: Yes
Salary correctly indicated as employment instead of consultant income: No, I had to enter it on a W-2. While it offered many special choices to explain the W-2, none applied to this test.
Allowed me to report my full income easily: No, until I put it all on a W-2.
SS-8 filing acknowledged: No.
Leave a note to the IRS: No
Reporting missing SSI/Medicare taxes (Form 8919): No
Reporting Interest/Dividends with no 1099-INT/DIV: Yes
Reporting healthcare: Easy
Taking Additional Child Tax Credit: No
Taking EITC: No, although irs.gov says yes, the website disables it. If you click "no", it backs you out, so you must click "yes" to get to the checklist, but it still won't apply it.
Taking WI Homestead Tax Credit: No
Errors: Incorrectly auto-filled my city based on my zip code. Incorrectly stated: "This 1099-MISC is for: Line 21 of your 1040," which is the line for the amount of your refund that you want applied to next year's taxes. It incorrectly assumed I needed to fill out the business vehicle form. It didn't apply ANY credits, nor did it resolve the income problem. Even after over-riding the site's blocking of the EITC, it STILL didn't give me any refund. The Other Child Tax Credit isn't supported as Form 8812 isn't available. Combining the 8919 with the 4317 causes errors because it requires filling both forms even if you only need one. These errors prevent you from updating your state return, but you can view both completed returns from"My Account". At one point, I put in NJ as the state and, despite getting rid of the state return and adding it back after changing the state to WI, it showed my return as being for NJ, plus a return for WI was listed. I attempted to figure it all out myself, but there were so many errors on the website that I ended up giving up. Details of Review of IRS FreeFile Provider: 1040.com
IRS refund: $0, then $2,605 after entering W-2
State refund: $0, then $803 after entering W-2
Feeless states supported: Unclear
Fees: $9.99 for Wisconsin
Customer Service: 🌟The agent gave me canned responses and didn't attempt to analyze my problems or provide solutions, he simply implied I'd made a mistake. Even with prompting from me about correct customer service, he continued. I had to train him although he said he had 4 months of training. I then told him specifically what my EIC and other child credit should be, and which forms should be completed and he abruptly ended the chat and told me to email them the problem. Poor customer service and lack of knowledge of taxes, constantly defending the software. I had to figure it out myself. The agent was not professional, not able to analyze, poorly trained and not knowledgeable, lacked empathy, defensive and fell-back on pat answers.
Support types: Email, chat