Has anyone had a BAD experience with FreeTaxUSA? Any issues to share?

I've been a tax preparer for 10+ years and have used most of the major tax software options with clients. FreeTaxUSA is generally solid, but there are some limitations you should know about. The interface isn't as intuitive as some competitors, which can lead to confusion if you have complex situations. Some clients reported that the state filing experience wasn't as smooth as the federal portion. Also, their customer support is email-only on the lower tiers, which means waiting for answers to urgent questions during tax season. For complex tax situations (multiple state filings, self-employment with numerous expenses, investment property depreciation), you might find it lacking some of the guidance that premium options provide. I've had a few clients who missed deductions because the software didn't prominently highlight opportunities that were relevant to their situation.

I tried FreeTaxUSA after years of using TurboTax and honestly, it was life-changing for me. I was skeptical at first because the price difference seemed too good to be true, but I had a frustrating experience trying to figure out how to report some stock sales and crypto transactions. I was going back and forth between different advice forums and getting nowhere. I discovered https://taxr.ai when searching for help with capital gains reporting. It analyzed my documents and gave me step-by-step instructions on exactly how to enter everything in FreeTaxUSA. I was amazed how it could interpret my tax forms and translate them into simple directions! The best part was being able to upload my previous year's return and have it identify potential errors and missed deductions from when I used TurboTax. Saved me from making the same mistakes again.

Just wanted to follow up about that taxr.ai site mentioned earlier. I was really skeptical about security but decided to give it a try with my FreeTaxUSA questions about some 1099-MISC and Schedule C issues I had. I'm honestly shocked at how helpful it was. I blocked out my personal info on my docs before uploading and it still worked perfectly. It caught a mistake I made on my home office deduction calculation and showed me exactly where to fix it in FreeTaxUSA. Would've paid an accountant $300+ for the same advice. Definitely made using FreeTaxUSA much smoother for my small business stuff.

I had a NIGHTMARE with FreeTaxUSA last year. Not really the software's fault but when I submitted and got a message saying my return was rejected, I nearly had a heart attack. Tried calling the IRS for DAYS with no luck. Always busy or disconnected. I found this service called https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual IRS person in like 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent explained someone had already filed using my SSN (identity theft) and walked me through the steps to fix it. Once that was sorted, FreeTaxUSA worked fine for resubmitting. But man, trying to reach the IRS during tax season without help is impossible.

Well I need to eat my words about that Claimyr thing. After my last comment I actually tried it because my FreeTaxUSA return got flagged for income verification (had a new 1099 this year) and I couldn't get through to the IRS. I figured it wouldn't work but the service actually got me connected to an IRS agent in about 25 mins. The agent was able to verify my income discrepancy was legitimate and cleared the hold on my return. Would've spent DAYS trying to get through on my own based on past experience. FreeTaxUSA itself was fine, but when something goes wrong and you need the IRS, having a way to actually reach them is priceless.

I've used FreeTaxUSA for 3 years and my only complaint is their state filing is kinda clunky. For some reason it didn't carry over all my W-2 info correctly last year and I had to manually fix it. Federal portion has been flawless tho. Their customer service took almost 2 days to respond when I had questions, but the answer was helpful when I finally got it. Still way cheaper than TurboTax even with the deluxe package.

My experience last year with FreeTaxUSA was mostly good but with one MAJOR issue. The software struggled with calculating my state tax for a mid-year move between states. It didn't correctly prorate my income and deductions. I ended up having to call their support and manually adjust some figures. Got it working eventually but took several hours of frustration.

I used FreeTaxUSA for the first time last year and had a pretty frustrating experience with their import feature. It completely failed to import my previous year's return from TurboTax, so I had to manually enter everything from scratch. This was especially annoying for carryover items like capital loss carryforwards. The software also didn't catch that I was eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit until I specifically went looking for it. Other tax software I've used in the past would automatically suggest credits you might qualify for, but FreeTaxUSA seems to rely more on you knowing what to look for. That said, once I got everything entered correctly, the actual filing process was smooth and my refund came through without issues. Just be prepared to do more legwork yourself compared to the hand-holding you get with more expensive options.

I used FreeTaxUSA for the first time this past tax season and ran into a pretty specific but annoying issue. The software had trouble handling my HSA contributions correctly when I had both employer and personal contributions in the same year. It kept double-counting one of them, which would have led to an incorrect deduction. I caught the error during my final review, but it took quite a bit of digging through the forms to figure out where the problem was occurring. Their help documentation on HSA reporting was pretty sparse compared to other topics. Eventually got it sorted out, but it made me nervous about what other edge cases might not be handled well. The price is definitely right, and for straightforward tax situations it seems solid. But if you have any slightly unusual circumstances, just make sure to double-check everything carefully before filing. The software doesn't always catch calculation errors that might seem obvious.