Free File Alliance

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 $54,000 or less, but participating companies have their own requirements and restrictions. [ [http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/consumersmarts/archives/134732.asp "File your taxes free, but read carefully"] , "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", March 20, 2008]

Filers who pay state income tax may still pay additional fees of $10-30 to electronically file their state income tax returns. [http://www.thestate.com/local/story/330449.html "SC ends free tax service"] , "The State", February 28, 2008] [ [http://taxes.about.com/od/preparingyourtaxes/tp/freefile.htm "Top 10 free tax preparation programs"] , About.com]

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 [http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/ IRS site] :

*CompleteTax (interview style):::No RALs or other add-on products.

*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

* Tax preparation

References

External links

*http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html IRS Free File Home
*http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp?free Members of the Free File Alliance
*http://taxes.about.com/od/preparingyourtaxes/tp/freefile.htm Reviews of top Free File programs