Is free1040taxreturn.com Legit?

Worst tax return service ever

1st of all, is not free as stated, 2nd, forget about customer service, no way to communicate or get in touch with them, my 2020 return never made it to the IRS and now I'm screwed. Please, do not use them never ever, web page is not user friendly at all. WORST TAX SERVICE EVER! Tip for consumers:Avoid this web page for tax returns, NOT GOOD AT ALL !!!!! Products used:tax return service Service Value Returns Quality

I am amazed at the long string of negative reviews...

I am amazed at the long string of negative reviews here. They are unwarranted. I used free1040taxreturn.com to file two federal returns for 2013, one on behalf of a friend and my personal return. The refund of my friend was received via direct deposit. I just filed my return on 4/1/14, not long enough ago to have received my refund. In both cases, I filed for free. So, let me address this point since many of the reviews say it's not free. First, you MUST go to free1040taxreturn.com FROM irs.gov. If you just go directly to free1040taxreturn.com, it will not be free. Assuming you go to free1040taxreturn.com the proper way, you will not be charged to file the federal return. This is true for all the free e-filing services that have an agreement with the IRS; they must be accessed by the taxpayer from irs.gov to create the account on the e-filing website and complete the tax return. If you identify a state in which you reside and that state requires an income tax return, then free1040taxreturn.com will charge a fee for filing the state return. If you identify your state and you do not want to file your state tax return via free1040taxreturn.com, you might find that the site seems to not let you complete the filing of your federal return; it appears to insist you can't go ahead and file your federal return without paying the fee to file your state return. Here's a trick that works. When prompted to click the drop down box showing a list of states, select "None of the above", the last item on the list. Then, you will be able to file the federal return for free and not be compelled to file a state return. If you had already passed that screen and you had selected a state, go back to that screen and change the selection to "None..." Of course, if you want to file your state return with them, then simply select your state and proceed. Another comment in one of the reviews said "YOU CANNOT PRINT YOUR RETURN OR EVEN VIEW WHAT YOU ENTERED!" Not true! You can view your tax return on the site and you can save and/or print it; it is a PDF form. Until finally completed and accepted by the IRS, the form(s) will have a watermark to indicate they are not for mailing to the IRS. Once the federal return has been electronically filed and accepted by the IRS, the completed forms will appear on the site without the watermark. Last year, I used FileYourTaxes.com and the only printout I could get after completing the entry of data was a summary sheet showing key data elements such as total income, total deductions, AGI, taxable income, etc., but no tax form could be printed. So, free1040taxreturn.com is better in this regard. In addition to viewing and/or printing forms on free1040taxreturn.com, you can always go back through the screens and review data you entered. When you sign on to a previously started session, you have the option starting where you left off or starting at the beginning and going through the screens again. The reviewer that made the comment quoted at the beginning of this paragraph obviously was not very adept at navigating the site.

You Get What You Pay For (with actual emails)

Before I start with the review, I was able to file my IL state taxes, free of charge, on the IL.Gov website; most states probably have that. I filed my federal and state through this website for the first time. It is a bare bones site with minimal help if you are stuck. Federal taxes went fine, but the state was a nightmare. This conversation was not like a regular email back and forth. The customer can email them and they will respond, but you can't respond back after that; you need to go to the contact us screen, which is separate from where you get their response and start your issue from scratch again or hope the same person gets this new email. If you are wondering, there is no phone contact number. The issue was regarding my Parcel Number which this site referred to as a "property identification number". After the return got rejected I received an automated message stating I needed to enter my property identification number and county. I contacted the site via email and it was a nightmare. I kept telling them I was entering the info being asked for and their response was "Please read the entire screen completely and carefully". That was after my third email. I would add my entire email to see demonstrate how thorough my email was, but there is not enough room (anyone can message me or comment me and I can get it to them.). After I wrote another long email stating that I did not appreciate his 8 word response to me and if he can clarify what exactly I need to do, he wrote "You need to read the screen completely and carefully, there is no issue with the software." That was my forth email over the course of about a month or two so I was done. I emailed him back stating that I would like a refund because I now need to spend money to have someone do my states taxes (that was before I learned that IL.gov has free software) his response was "The rejection notice tells you exactly why your return was rejected and on what screen to make the corrections. See the area in the support center to request a refund of fees paid." I applied for a refund explaining what I told the other person - in reality the person that issues refunds is probably the same person I was emailing about the issue - and the refund was denied with this written "The rejection notice clearly tells you why it was rejected and what to fix and where." I am not a tax expert, but I was able to get by with the state's software, so it is not too difficult. Actually the state software was a little better than free1040taxreturn's software.