Free File Alliance
Encyclopedia
The Free File Alliance is a group of tax preparation companies that have partnered with the Internal Revenue Service
to provide free electronic tax filing services to U.S
tax payers meeting certain guidelines. The IRS stipulates filers must have an adjusted gross income
of $58,000 or less for tax year 2010, but participating companies have their own requirements and restrictions.
Filers who pay state income tax may still pay additional fees of $10-30 to electronically file their state income tax returns.
In 2007, Alliance members agreed to remove controversial ancillary offerings such as refund anticipation loans from the program.
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
to provide free electronic tax filing services to U.S
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tax payers meeting certain guidelines. The IRS stipulates filers must have an adjusted gross income
Adjusted Gross Income
For United States individual income tax, taxable income is adjusted gross income less allowances for personal exemptions and itemized deductions. Adjusted gross income is total gross income minus specific items laid out in the tax code...
of $58,000 or less for tax year 2010, but participating companies have their own requirements and restrictions.
Filers who pay state income tax may still pay additional fees of $10-30 to electronically file their state income tax returns.
In 2007, Alliance members agreed to remove controversial ancillary offerings such as refund anticipation loans from the program.
Limitations
The free services often limit their software's ability to handle complex tax situations. Following is a list of the different Free File Alliance tax sites and their limitations in addition to those listed at the IRS site:- CompleteTax (interview style):
-
- No RALRefund Anticipation LoanA refund anticipation loan is a short-term consumer loan secured by a taxpayer’s expected tax refund, and designed to offer customers quicker access to funds than waiting for their tax refund...
s or other add-on products.
- No RAL
- FreeUSATax (interview style):
-
- No 1099-MISC forms.
- TurboTax Freedom Edition (interview style):
-
- No 1099-B forms - sale of stock, mutual funds, etc.
- Liberty Tax Service (line-by-line style):
-
- No Form 8824 - Like kind exchanges and section 1043 conflict of interest sales.
- No Form 2439 - Notice to Shareholder of Undistributed Long-Term Capital Gains.
See also
- IRS Free File
- Tax preparationTax preparationTax preparation is the process of preparing tax returns, often income tax returns, often for a person other than the taxpayer, and generally for compensation. Tax preparation may be done by the taxpayer with or without the help of tax preparation software and online services...
- IRS e-file
- Income tax in the United StatesIncome tax in the United StatesIn the United States, a tax is imposed on income by the Federal, most states, and many local governments. The income tax is determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income as defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and...
External links
- About the Free File Alliance by the IRS.
- http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp?free Members of the Free File Alliance
- http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html IRS Free File Home
- http://taxes.about.com/od/preparingyourtaxes/tp/freefile.htm Reviews of top Free File programs