Comparing Cashapp Tax (formerly CreditKarma) vs FreeTaxUSA for rental property owners
I've been using TurboTax for years but finally decided to break up with Intuit this tax season. Wanted to share my experience using both FreeTaxUSA and Cashapp Taxes (formerly CreditKarma) since I have a slightly more complex situation with a couple rental properties, depreciation tracking, and various rental expenses. Both platforms got me to the exact same refund amount, which was reassuring. But the experience between them was pretty different. FreeTaxUSA was WAY easier to navigate between sections. You can jump around using tabs and links to specific areas you need to edit. With Cashapp, I found myself clicking through endless questions just to modify one field that was at the end of a sequence - super annoying when you need to make a simple change! The biggest difference was that FreeTaxUSA successfully imported my previous year's TurboTax data, including all my rental property depreciation schedules. Only had one small number that was slightly off. Cashapp doesn't seem to have this import capability beyond basic personal info. For rental owners, FreeTaxUSA generated a detailed Depreciation and Amortization report similar to what TurboTax provides. This is crucial for audit protection and future tax filings. I couldn't find anything like this in Cashapp, though their support claimed something similar should be available but couldn't tell me where to find it. Anyone else try both? Other experiences with rental properties on either platform?
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Kaitlyn Otto
I'm a CPA and I've had several clients switch from TurboTax to these alternatives over the past few years. Your experience mirrors what I've heard from most people. FreeTaxUSA is definitely more user-friendly for rental property owners. The navigation system makes a huge difference when you need to review or update specific sections. The depreciation schedule import is a major advantage - manually entering all those assets and their depreciation history is tedious and error-prone. The depreciation report is absolutely essential for rental property owners. Without proper documentation of your depreciation schedule, you could face major headaches if audited or when you eventually sell the property. You need to keep track of your adjusted basis. One thing I'd add - FreeTaxUSA also tends to handle state returns better for rental properties, especially if your rentals are in different states than your residence. The state+federal bundle is still reasonably priced compared to TurboTax.
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Axel Far
•Do you know if FreeTaxUSA handles the new 1099-K reporting thresholds well? I have a rental but also sell stuff online occasionally, and I'm worried about how that's gonna work this year with the $600 threshold instead of the old $20k.
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Kaitlyn Otto
•FreeTaxUSA handles the 1099-K reporting very well. They have a specific section for marketplace sales that walks you through reporting that income correctly, including expenses that offset your sales. They also clearly explain what qualifies as business income versus personal property sales. For rental property owners who also have occasional online sales, the software does a good job keeping these income streams properly categorized on the appropriate schedules. Just make sure you're entering the 1099-K information in the correct section and not mixing it with your rental income.
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Jasmine Hernandez
I've been using taxr.ai alongside FreeTaxUSA and it's been a game changer for managing my rental documentation. I was skeptical at first but when I tried https://taxr.ai it actually made sense of all my rental receipts and statements - saved me hours of manual entry. Their AI analyzes all your tax documents and helps identify additional deductions for rental owners. What's cool is that it integrates with tax software so after it organizes everything, you can just follow the clean report when entering info into FreeTaxUSA. I found some deductions I would have missed for my water heater replacement and new flooring depreciation.
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Luis Johnson
•Does it actually work with scanned receipts? I've got a shoebox full of rental expense receipts and hate typing everything manually. Also, does it know the difference between repairs (fully deductible) and improvements (depreciated)?
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Ellie Kim
•I'm a bit skeptical. How does the AI know which expenses are for the rental vs personal? I've used "AI tools" before and they usually just create more work fixing their mistakes than if I'd just done it manually.
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Jasmine Hernandez
•Yes, it works great with scanned receipts! You just upload photos or PDFs of receipts and it extracts all the relevant information. It's surprisingly accurate at pulling dates, amounts, vendors, and even categorizing expenses correctly. The AI is actually very good at distinguishing between repairs and improvements. It follows IRS guidelines to categorize items that maintain your property (repairs) versus items that add value or extend useful life (improvements). It flagged my roof replacement as an improvement requiring depreciation while correctly marking my furnace repair as an immediate deduction.
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Ellie Kim
Wow, I have to eat my words about taxr.ai! After posting my skeptical comment I decided to give it a try with my rental documents. I was honestly blown away - it correctly sorted almost all my expenses and even caught that my new dishwasher should be depreciated while the plumbing repair was an immediate deduction. Then I plugged everything into FreeTaxUSA following their report and it was so much faster than my usual spreadsheet method. Found about $780 in additional deductions I would have missed too!
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Fiona Sand
If you're struggling with getting IRS answers about rental property questions, I highly recommend Claimyr. After waiting on hold for 3+ hours trying to get clarity on passive activity loss limitations for my rentals, I found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is ready to talk. I was skeptical but after trying it, I got through to a real IRS agent who answered my depreciation recapture questions in detail. Literally saved me a day of waiting on hold and the agent was actually super helpful with my rental property questions.
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Mohammad Khaled
•Wait, how does this actually work? Do they have special access to the IRS or something? Seems weird that a third party could get you through faster...
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Alina Rosenthal
•Yeah right. The IRS never helps with anything. I've literally never gotten a straight answer from them about rental property depreciation rules. This sounds like a scam to get your personal info.
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Fiona Sand
•They don't have special access - they use an automated system that essentially waits on hold for you. When they reach a live agent, they connect the call to your phone. It's basically like having someone else sit on hold so you don't have to. Nothing about this is a scam. I was extremely skeptical too, but it absolutely works. The IRS agent I spoke with spent almost 20 minutes explaining the passive activity loss rules for my situation and helped me understand exactly how to handle depreciation recapture when I sell a rental. This was information I couldn't find clearly explained anywhere else.
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Alina Rosenthal
I need to apologize about my Claimyr comment. After posting that, I was still stuck on some depreciation questions that were affecting my FreeTaxUSA filing. Got desperate and tried Claimyr, and I'm shocked to say it actually worked! Got connected to an IRS agent within about 40 minutes (instead of the 3+ hours I usually wait). The agent walked me through exactly how to handle the depreciation on a rental property I converted from personal use. Totally worth it and saved me from potentially making an expensive mistake on my return.
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Finnegan Gunn
Has anyone had issues with the state return portion of Cashapp Tax? I tried using it for my rentals that are in a different state from where I live and it seemed confused about how to handle the income allocation. Ended up switching to FreeTaxUSA and it handled the multi-state situation much better.
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Miguel Harvey
•Yes!! Cashapp was a disaster for my multi-state situation. I have rentals in Colorado but live in Texas. It kept trying to make me file resident returns in both states and the support was clueless. FreeTaxUSA correctly set up non-resident return for the rental state.
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Finnegan Gunn
•I had exactly the same experience! The software seemed to get confused between resident and non-resident state filing requirements. It kept prompting me to enter information that wasn't relevant to my situation. FreeTaxUSA immediately recognized that I needed a non-resident return for the state where my rental was located. The questionnaire was much more straightforward and accurately allocated income to the appropriate states. Their state filing support is definitely superior for rental property owners with multi-state situations.
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Ashley Simian
Does anyone know if either of these can handle depreciation recapture if you sell a rental? I might sell one of my properties next year and I know that's a tax nightmare with the different rates for regular gains vs depreciation recapture.
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Oliver Cheng
•FreeTaxUSA handles it pretty well. I sold a rental last year after owning it for 9 years and it walked me through calculating the recaptured depreciation at the 25% rate separate from the long-term capital gains. Just make sure you have good records of all the depreciation you've taken over the years!
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