Review of IRS-Authorized E-Filer TaxSlayer 🌟🌟🌟🌟

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

This is my review of the 2018 IRS-Authorized tax e-filer, TaxSlayer "American Pledge". 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.

TaxSlayer "American Pledge"

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TaxSlayer LLC
Evans, GA
Summary: Recommended for most filers. Easy to use for federal, manual entry for state, some common credits (e.g. additional child credit) aren't available, and some unusual ones I tested aren't all reportable, either.

Security

***Security: & Confidence *** email & mobile phone verification, auto-logoff after about 15 minutes
Claimed Security certificates: TrustWave SecureTrust, digicert (I confirmed both.)
BBB Accredited: Yes, since 2005
BBB Rating: A
BBB consumer rating: 🌟.2 (3 reviews)
Trust Pilot consumer rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 (4,580 reviews)
Consumer Affairs consumer rating: 🌟.4 (103 reviews)
Glassdoor employee rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟.5 (69 reviews)
Indeed employee rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟.2 (44 reviews)
Google Safe Browsing: ok

User Experience

Completion mode: Upload last year's return (PDF) to help fill in some data, especially personal info; quick file (you select forms) or "traditional" for more complex returns (guided or self-guided)
Forms: Doesn't support SS-8 & 8919, although their help files have info on the 8919 (but not the SS-8) but, in a stroke of irony, supports the OTHER SSI/Medicare tax form, 4137. Doesn't provide a way to correctly report unreported income. In order to further test the site, I reported my income on a substitute W-2.
Military are supported. Please open help, type in "Military" and then read "How do military personnel list an AP, AA, or AE address?"
Navigation: Sidebar menu, section menus can be viewed as lists or tiles, back/next buttons but the state return often lacks a continue/save button.
Interface: Comfortable, sophisticated, easy to use, responsive between screens only
Helpful links to info: Some, opens a sidebar with info on the topic. Help is not responsive: I have to scroll left/right to read it, even though I have a large screen. Sometimes there are videos but the EIC video I found didn't play, even in Incognito browsing. Other videos did work.
Guarantee: 100% Accuracy Guarantee (will reimburse you any federal and/or state penalties and interest charges.), Guaranteed Maximum Refund (will refund you the applicable TaxSlayer purchase price paid lol)

Test Results

Filing status: Filing Status Wizard or choose yourself. It incorrectly chose qualifying widower because it didn't ask if my deceased spouse was an alien.
Option to donate to Presidential Election Campaign Fund: Yes
Salary correctly indicated as employment instead of consultant income: No, it can't handle the putting the salary in the 1099-MISC but on line 1 of the 1040, or reporting the unreported income. In addition, putting my income in "other income" resulted in a note stating it'd be listed on line 21 of the 1040, which is impossible since line 21 is the "amount of line 19 I want applied to my 2019 estimated tax."
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: Yes
Reporting healthcare: Yes
Taking Additional Child Tax Credit: No
Taking EITC: Yes
Taking WI Homestead Tax Credit: Manual completion, for the rent cert you have to select cancel so you can save it.
Errors: Incorrectly auto-fills city as Milwaukee based on zip code. I had to change my birth year to 1970 to be under their 50-year age limit. 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.
IRS refund: $2,605, return not viewable if you've not yet paid any applicable state return fee.
State refund: $239, then $923 after I completed Sched. H. Return not viewable due to fee.
States supported: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District Of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Fees: $29.00 for WI.
Customer Service: 🌟🌟🌟🌟I called when it became apparent that I couldn't enter my income correctly on the 1099-MISC. After entering my basic info, I had to press 7. I spoke to John, who was quite insistent that I needed to report my income on the 1099-MISC and fill out Sched. C. After I read the special instructions for box 7 of the 1099-MISC, he continued to insist that I needed to fill out Sched. C, but then placed me on hold to check. He finally, after more discussion with me, understood the situation and was told their website cannot help me file. John was patient, professional, empathetic and helpful, although he did admit my case was giving him a headache. ;) "Please allow 24 to 72 hours for a response from our Support Team." on email. Ken was the same helping me with the Homestead Tax Credit.
Support types: Phone (you can ask the system to call you back so you don't have to wait on hold), email

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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