Best Free File Options for Self-Employed Photographers and Gig Workers?

Thanks for these suggestions! I've heard of FreeTaxUSA but wasn't sure if it could handle equipment depreciation properly. Do you know if it walks you through calculating depreciation for different types of equipment? My camera bodies depreciate differently than my lenses and lighting equipment. Also, is Cash App Taxes reliable for self-employment stuff? I'm a bit hesitant to trust a newer service with something as complicated as my taxes.

FreeTaxUSA does walk you through depreciation for different equipment types. When you enter business assets, it lets you categorize them properly (5-year property for cameras, 7-year for certain equipment, etc.) and guides you through selecting the right depreciation method. It's not as hand-holding as TurboTax, but it has all the functionality. Cash App Taxes is actually pretty solid for self-employment. They've been doing taxes since 2016 (when they were Credit Karma Tax), and they handle Schedule C well. The main limitation is they don't support certain complex situations like foreign income or multiple state filing. But for straightforward self-employment in one state, many of my clients have had good experiences with it.

That sounds interesting. Does it actually file your taxes for you or just help organize everything? And how does it handle things like equipment depreciation that the OP mentioned?

I'm a bit skeptical of new tax tools, especially AI ones. How do you know it's categorizing everything correctly? Is there some kind of guarantee if you get audited because their system messed something up?

It doesn't file your taxes for you - it's more of a preparation tool that organizes everything before you use a filing service. You upload your documents, and it extracts and categorizes all the information so you're ready to enter it into whatever filing service you choose. For depreciation specifically, it was really helpful. It asked questions about when I purchased my equipment, what type it was, and then calculated the correct depreciation schedule. It even showed me the options between Section 179 expensing and regular depreciation so I could decide what worked best for my situation. Regarding accuracy, I understand the skepticism! What gave me confidence was that it shows you its reasoning for each categorization and lets you review everything. It references specific IRS publications when making recommendations. They do offer audit support if anything they recommended causes issues, but I haven't needed to use that. I still double-checked the important stuff but found it was right about 95% of the time.

Wait, so this service somehow gets you to the front of the IRS phone line? How does that even work? The IRS phone line is like, impossible to get through on.

Sounds like a scam tbh. Why would I pay a third party when I can just keep calling the IRS myself? And how would they have any special access that regular people don't?

It doesn't put you at the front of the line - it basically automates the calling and waiting process. Their system repeatedly calls the IRS using their algorithm to time it right, waits on hold for you, and then when they finally get through, they connect you directly with the IRS agent. You don't have to sit there listening to hold music for hours. You certainly can keep calling the IRS yourself! That's absolutely an option if you have the time and patience. For me, I had already wasted hours trying over several days and couldn't get through. I was about to miss a filing deadline and was getting desperate. They don't have special access - they just have technology that handles the calling and waiting process.

H&R Block's truly free version doesn't support Schedule C or self-employment income. You'd need their Self-Employed version which runs about $85 for federal filing plus another $37 per state. I switched from them to FreeTaxUSA last year and saved a ton of money. H&R Block isn't terrible, but they're almost as expensive as TurboTax for self-employment stuff.

Thanks for the info! That's disappointing but good to know before I waste time starting with them. Seems like FreeTaxUSA is the winner for most people in this thread.

I've thought about going the direct form route, but I'm a bit intimidated by figuring out depreciation schedules on my own. Did you find good resources for learning how to do that part correctly? I'm comfortable with the general Schedule C stuff but some of the more technical aspects make me nervous about doing it without software guidance.

I found Publication 946 from the IRS really helpful - it explains all the depreciation rules. There are also some free online depreciation calculators that can help you determine the right amounts. I created a spreadsheet that I update each year for tracking my business assets and depreciation. The first year was definitely the hardest, but now I just update my spreadsheet annually. I actually feel more confident now because I understand exactly what's happening rather than trusting software to make the right choices for me. If you're comfortable with spreadsheets, it's totally doable with a bit of research.