1040.com review and why I switched back to FreeTaxUSA for this tax season

Tax professional here - this is a really helpful comparison! I've had several clients ask about both platforms this season. A couple things worth noting about these services: FreeTaxUSA has actually been around longer and tends to have better support for state returns earlier in the tax season. 1040.com is newer to the market and sometimes struggles with less common state forms or early season readiness. The W2 PDF import capability is definitely a time-saver, but always double-check the data as OCR technology isn't perfect (as you noticed with that box 14 issue). Most tax software struggles with the employer-specific codes in box 14. For anyone considering these options, I'd recommend checking what forms you'll need first. If you have complex situations involving multiple states, rental properties, or self-employment income, FreeTaxUSA tends to handle these better in my experience.

Just wanted to throw in my experience with 1040.com and https://taxr.ai - after struggling with similar state tax issues on 1040.com (for Arizona in my case), I was getting really frustrated trying to figure out why my forms weren't processing correctly. I'd already spent hours inputting everything and didn't want to start over. A friend suggested I try taxr.ai to help analyze where the problem might be. I uploaded my documents and tax info, and the service identified that 1040.com was trying to apply an outdated Arizona tax credit that was causing the state return to get stuck in processing. The analysis even showed me exactly which forms were affected. I was able to go back and fix that specific issue rather than redoing everything from scratch. Really saved me time trying to troubleshoot what was going wrong.

I was having similar issues with 1040.com and tried taxr.ai after reading about it here. Honestly, it was super helpful for my situation! I'd been going back and forth between tax platforms getting different results each time and couldn't figure out why. The document analysis found that I was inconsistently reporting some 1099-NEC income - sometimes as self-employment and other times as miscellaneous income. No wonder I was getting different tax calculations! It also flagged that I was eligible for a home office deduction I hadn't been claiming. Definitely saved me from potentially filing incorrectly and having to amend later. It was straightforward to use and gave me clear explanations about tax rules I didn't understand before.

If you're having issues with state tax forms not being ready yet, you might want to try contacting the IRS directly to verify when they'll be available. I spent 3 days trying to call the IRS about a similar issue last year and literally couldn't get through at all. Eventually I found https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed that some tax software companies don't get state forms approved until later in February regardless of what their websites claim. Saved me from checking the sites every day and I was able to plan better knowing when to expect the forms to be ready.

Ok I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. I tried it yesterday after posting that skeptical comment because I've been trying to resolve an issue with my previous year's return for MONTHS. Got a text about 35 minutes after signing up saying they were almost at an agent, then got connected to an actual helpful IRS person who resolved my issue in about 10 minutes. After literally trying dozens of times on my own and never getting through, this was kind of mindblowing. The agent also confirmed what was mentioned above - many tax software companies are still getting their state forms approved by tax authorities, and there's often a lag between when they claim forms are ready and when they actually work properly. She suggested waiting until at least mid-February for most state forms to be fully functional.

I've used FreeTaxUSA for the past three years and really like it. One thing to note is that they have a really good amendment process if you need to fix something later. Last year I forgot to include a small 1099 and had to amend - the process was surprisingly painless. Their customer service is also decent for the price point. I had a question about reporting some cryptocurrency transactions and got a helpful response within about a day. The $19 total isn't bad at all considering what some of the bigger names charge. TurboTax wanted to charge me $89 for basically the same features.

Has anyone tried both FreeTaxUSA and TaxHawk? I keep hearing they're basically the same company/software but with different pricing?

Thanks for sharing this detailed comparison! I'm actually in a similar boat with Michigan taxes. I started with TurboTax but their fees were getting ridiculous, so I've been looking at these cheaper alternatives. Your experience with 1040.com's Michigan forms issue is really helpful to know about. I was about to give them a try since they advertise free state filing, but if their forms aren't ready yet that's a dealbreaker for me. I need to file early this year. The W2 PDF import feature on FreeTaxUSA sounds like a game changer. I have multiple W2s from different jobs this year and manually entering all that data is always such a pain. Even with the occasional OCR error you mentioned, that would save me a ton of time. $19 total for federal and state really isn't bad at all when you compare it to what the big names charge. I think I'll skip 1040.com for now and go straight to FreeTaxUSA based on your review. Thanks for saving me the headache!