US Tax Filing Alternatives

I started using Free File Fillable Forms. It's a refreshingly simple site run by the IRS that lets you fill out all the standard tax return forms in your browser and file them directly. It helps with a few small things, like doing basic math for you e.g. when a particular row is supposed to contain the sum of several other rows, but that's pretty much it. At the end of the filing season, they delete all accounts and data contained on the site, so I mean technically somebody could still

There is a official service called "free fillable forms" that you can use to file your taxes digitally. The UX is... a bit rough... but it works and is an alternative to preparing your taxes from scratch on paper.Alternatively, there a number of other tax software companies that do not actively lobby against tax simplification and consumer interests. TaxAct is one example I've seen mentioned on HN, but there are others.The problem is that "no-brainer" decisions lik

Doesn't turbotax provide just that? I did my taxes with them last year and never left the browser.

Use Freetaxusa.com instead. Much cheaper. Faster and better. Plus they don't use their profits to purposely complicate tax laws.

I use freetaxusa as well (well their paid version from same company). It is slower than paper, but it saves progress.

This is basically a govt created turbo tax tool but for every govt form ever.. nice.

Software can do it all for you. Not my problem that the IRS can't handle my 10 million page tax return...

You don't need software to file taxes. You can download the forms (1040, etc.) from the IRS website (and your state IRS's website), fill them in, print them out, and mail them to the IRS. It costs a few (literally a few) dollars for the postage and a certificate of mailing from the USPS as proof that you had the forms sent out by the deadline.The forms are not super straightforward but not incredibly complex either. For most normal people with a W-2 or 1099/self-employed income

just want to chime in to say that it's around that fast in the US as wellMost people will just have to enter their W2, choose the standard deduction, and then click submit. There are free tools that do this already like FreeTaxUSA.That said, I have 2 gripes with the current system:1. companies like TurboTax lobbying to prevent the government from building their own tool... if TurboTax is genuinely better then people will still use it even if the govt builds a tool.2. the tax cod

the tax difficulty in the US is overstated, we have plenty of services that will let you do it for 20 minutes for free. the most popular one is obnoxious and tries to upsell you often, but there are alternatives and you don't need to pay