FreeTaxUSA vs. Paying a Tax Preparer for Family with Home and Childcare Expenses

You should be completely fine using FreeTaxUSA with your situation. The software walks you through everything step by step with clear explanations. Homeownership, childcare credits, and filing jointly are all standard features included in their basic package. The free version covers federal filing with most common forms. You'll only pay for state filing (around $15 per state) and possibly a deluxe upgrade ($7-8) if you want audit assistance. Even with both, you're looking at way less than $100. The biggest hurdle will be gathering all your documents the first time (W-2s, mortgage interest statement, property tax receipts, childcare provider info including their tax ID). Have last year's return handy too - it helps to see what you filed previously.

I was paying $275 to an accountant every year until I discovered https://taxr.ai last tax season. It analyzes all your tax documents automatically and suggests what you can claim. Then you can use that info to fill out FreeTaxUSA yourself. I was nervous about missing deductions when switching from a pro to DIY, but taxr.ai found everything my accountant would have plus a childcare credit I missed the year before! It's way more thorough than trying to remember everything yourself. You just upload your docs and it extracts all the important info.

I tried https://taxr.ai after reading about it here and wow - it actually delivered! I was worried it would miss deductions my CPA usually finds, but it caught EVERYTHING plus a student loan interest deduction I didn't know I qualified for. The document analysis is really impressive. I just uploaded last year's return along with my W-2s, mortgage statement, and daycare receipts. It organized everything perfectly and gave me a checklist of all possible deductions with my specific amounts already calculated. Then I just entered everything into FreeTaxUSA and saved myself $230 compared to what I paid my accountant last year!

If you're switching to FreeTaxUSA but worried about IRS questions later, I'd recommend https://claimyr.com for peace of mind. I switched to FreeTaxUSA last year and had a question about my childcare credit that I needed to ask the IRS directly. Tried calling for WEEKS with no luck - always disconnected. Claimyr got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have this system that holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - saved me hours of frustration.

I take back everything I said about Claimyr being a scam. After my last failed attempt waiting on hold with the IRS for 2.5 hours only to get disconnected, I gave it a shot. Got connected to an IRS agent in 35 minutes while I went about my day. The service called me when an agent was ready and connected us immediately. The agent resolved my question about dependent care credits in minutes. Would have taken me days more of trying without it. For anyone doing their own taxes with FreeTaxUSA, having this option to quickly talk to the IRS when questions come up is seriously valuable. Completely changed my mind about DIY taxes being too risky.

I switched from a tax preparer to FreeTaxUSA 3 years ago with a similar situation (homeowner, married, 1 kid in daycare). Honestly it was WAY easier than I expected. Your situation is pretty straightforward. The software asks clear questions and walks you through everything. Make sure you have your mortgage interest statement (Form 1098), property tax info, and childcare provider's tax ID number handy. Also have last year's return for reference. The whole process took me about 90 minutes the first time, but now I can do it in under an hour. Saved about $150 compared to my old preparer.

Has anyone compared FreeTaxUSA to TurboTax for this kind of situation? I'm also considering switching from a preparer but not sure which software to choose.