I’m in the USA and we’ve been able to file our federal taxes for free online for like a decade, I’m not sure what these people are talking about. What’s new here is that this is the IRS’s official tool.
Previously we had to use an outside service – but it was – and still is – free for normal people/people with normal taxes (eg I have 3 kids and a mortgage and I use it every year). State taxes are another story – that’s usually about $20. And that probably hasn’t changed; state taxes have nothing to do with our IRS.
Except for the last several years it’s becoming harder to file for free. TurboTax’s free service developed some worse and worse dark patterns every year, where it was very easy to click the wrong thing and end up being charged. Iirc the fact that they provided a free service at all was to keep control of the market and prevent the IRS from stepping in with a service like this. ProPublica did some good investigations on this.
Higher tax bracket Lemmings, note that Donate icon in the upper right of their excellent reporting. Reporters probably risking their lives with the stuff they uncover about the most powerful people.
I’m in the USA and we’ve been able to file our federal taxes for free online for like a decade, I’m not sure what these people are talking about. What’s new here is that this is the IRS’s official tool.
Previously we had to use an outside service – but it was – and still is – free for normal people/people with normal taxes (eg I have 3 kids and a mortgage and I use it every year). State taxes are another story – that’s usually about $20. And that probably hasn’t changed; state taxes have nothing to do with our IRS.
Except for the last several years it’s becoming harder to file for free. TurboTax’s free service developed some worse and worse dark patterns every year, where it was very easy to click the wrong thing and end up being charged. Iirc the fact that they provided a free service at all was to keep control of the market and prevent the IRS from stepping in with a service like this. ProPublica did some good investigations on this.
Beat me to it.
Higher tax bracket Lemmings, note that Donate icon in the upper right of their excellent reporting. Reporters probably risking their lives with the stuff they uncover about the most powerful people.