Review of IRS-Authorized E-Filer Free1040TaxReturn.com 🌟🌟

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

This is my review of the 2018 IRS-Authorized tax e-filer, Free1040TaxReturn.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.

Free1040TaxReturn.com

🌟🌟

Free Tax Returns.com, Inc.
Federal Way, Washington, Incorporated in Nevada
Summary: 🛑Not recommended due to numerous errors, limited forms support, and hostile customer service.🛑

Security & Confidence

Security: Email verification, there is a single security question, and it'll log you out if you're inactive for several minutes (but saves progress).
Claimed Security certificates: TRUSTee, GoDaddy, Authorize.net (Authorize.net said the cert is not configured correctly.), SecureTrust (I confirmed the rest of them.)
BBB Accredited: No
BBB Rating: B+
BBB consumer rating: 🌟 (7 reviews)
Trust Pilot consumer rating: - (0 reviews)
Consumer Affairs consumer rating: 🌟 (24 reviews)
Glassdoor employee rating: - (0 reviews)
Indeed employee rating:- (0 reviews)
Google Safe Browsing: ok

User Experience

Completion mode: Semi-guided
Forms: It makes most of the decisions for you - not always correctly. You can click "not apply" for pages that you don't need. It handles IRS and state intermixed. Automatically allows direct deposit into up to 3 accounts. It does not support all forms.
Navigation: drop-down menu, back/next buttons, no tabs, section menus, etc.
Helpful links to info: Sometimes
Interface: Clunky, unsophisticated, not responsive. There is no way to select things that it missed or screwed up on.
Guarantee: The Free Tax Return.com, INC. Guarantee
100% SAFE AND SECURE: "If the Free Tax Return.com, INC. online tax program makes a calculation error in the preparation of your tax return, we will pay for penalties and interest assessed by the IRS, resulting from the error. Free Tax Return.com, INC. will not pay any additional taxes incurred, because of the error."

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: In a vague way, yes, via a checkbox. Refiled using W-2, couldn't use substitute W-2.
Allowed me to report my full income easily: No
SS-8 filing acknowledged: No
***Reporting missing SSI/Medicare taxes (Form 8919): No
Leave a note to the IRS: No
Reporting Interest/Dividends with no 1099-INT/DIV: You have to decide to do it.
Reporting healthcare: Not easy
***Taking Additional Child Tax Credit: No
Taking EITC: No
Taking WI Homestead Tax Credit: Not supported
Allowed me to report my full income easily: Yes, but not correctly. It does NOT support the form 8919, which is required for mis-reported income that wasn't taxed and, thus, doesn't mention the SS-8.
Errors: several , filling out forms I didn't need (8965, Sched. 3) while skipping others I did (8919, Sched. 4), didn't allow me to get the EITC or file as having had health care the whole year. It removed the correct capitalization of my surname. Unable to file with the given tax situation. After using the W-2, it completed the EIC but ignored line 3, but still didn't do the Form 8919 and Sched. 4. It didn't calculate or allow access to the WI Homestead Tax Credit.
IRS refund: $249, then after using the W-2: $2,605.
State refund: $0, then after using the W-2: $239
States supported: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV
Fees: $0
Customer Service: 10% of a 🌟 Responses came within 30 minutes. Their response to my request for help was "You need to contact the IRS," which is horrible customer service! Their next response: "We are not blowing off anyone. We are not the ones who misfiled your information and we have no control over that only the IRS does," was even worse. When you get a response, there is no way to respond directly - you must return to the support form and enter a new message.
Support types: Email only

If you see any incorrect or incomplete, or you want to comment or give feedback, please leave a comment. I had a problem with the editor blitzing some of the content when I saved it. This series of articles took me 1.5 weeks of solid work for more than 12 hours on most days. Please show your appreciation!

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