TaxSlayer crashing during final submission process after payment
I'm about ready to pull my hair out. Spent the whole afternoon going through my taxes with TaxSlayer, finally got to the end, PAID for the service, and now when I try to submit my return it either freezes or completely kicks me out of the system. I've tried logging back in five times with the same result. According to their Facebook page, it looks like tons of people are experiencing the same issue right now. Has anyone else run into this? I'm thinking I should maybe wait until tomorrow to see if they get their servers fixed, but if it's still not working by then, I'm considering doing a chargeback on my credit card and just starting over with another tax software. Really frustrated since I already spent $42.95 on this and wasted my entire Sunday!
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Gabrielle Dubois
This is unfortunately pretty common with most tax software platforms during peak filing season. I've been preparing taxes for friends and family for years, and I see this happen every February and early April when servers get overloaded. Your best bet is to wait about 24 hours before trying again. TaxSlayer (and most other tax prep companies) typically resolve these issues quickly once they realize there's a widespread problem. The good news is that your information should still be saved in their system, so you won't lose any work. If it's still not working after 24 hours, I'd recommend contacting their customer service before doing a chargeback. A chargeback could potentially cause complications with accessing your saved tax information, and starting over with another service would mean redoing all that work.
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Tyrone Johnson
•Do you think there's any risk of missing the filing deadline if I wait? I'm really paranoid about getting hit with penalties.
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Gabrielle Dubois
•Absolutely not, we're still well ahead of the April 15th deadline. Even if it took a few days to resolve (which would be unusual), you'd have plenty of time. If you were cutting it extremely close to the deadline, you could always file for an extension which gives you until October to submit the actual return. Just make sure you keep your confirmation email showing you paid for the service. This will be important if you need to contact customer support.
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Ingrid Larsson
I was having the exact same issue with TaxSlayer last week and was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why it kept crashing. I eventually found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that totally saved me. It's not another tax filing software - it actually helped me figure out what was going wrong with my TaxSlayer submission. The site basically analyzed my tax situation and helped identify exactly where TaxSlayer was getting hung up. Turns out there was an issue with how I entered some self-employment income that was causing conflicts in the system. After following their suggested fixes, I was able to go back to TaxSlayer and complete my submission without any crashes.
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Carlos Mendoza
•Wait how does it work exactly? Does it need access to your TaxSlayer account or do you have to input all your tax info again? Because I'm not trying to redo everything I just spent hours entering.
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Zainab Mahmoud
•I'm skeptical about trying yet another tax service when I've already paid for TaxSlayer. Does it cost anything additional? And how does it actually help with the crashes?
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Ingrid Larsson
•It doesn't need access to your TaxSlayer account at all. You just describe the issue you're having and upload screenshots of any error messages, and their AI analyzes it to identify the likely cause of the problem. It's more of a diagnostic tool than a complete tax prep service. It doesn't cost anything additional for basic diagnostics, which was all I needed to fix my problem. Basically it helped me understand that the way I entered my 1099 income was triggering a processing issue in TaxSlayer. Once I fixed that specific section, everything worked fine. It saved me from having to start over with another service.
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Carlos Mendoza
Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai that someone mentioned earlier and it actually worked! I was super doubtful but it pointed out that my issue was related to an incompatible browser extension I had running. I disabled it, cleared my cache, and TaxSlayer worked perfectly after that. Saved me from having to dispute the charge and redo everything from scratch. Their diagnostic tool picked up something I never would have thought to check!
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Ava Williams
If you're still having trouble with TaxSlayer's customer service lines (they're probably swamped with calls about the crashes), try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I had a similar issue last year with a different tax service, and Claimyr was the only way I actually got through to a human. They basically hold your place in line with the customer service dept and call you back when a rep is actually available. Saved me literally hours of hold time. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to get my issue escalated to TaxSlayer's tech team and they fixed my account within a couple hours after I finally got through to them.
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Raj Gupta
•How does this actually work? Do they just call the regular customer service number for you? I don't understand how a third party service can get me through faster.
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Lena Müller
•This sounds like a complete scam. How would some random service get you through a customer service line faster than calling yourself? They're probably just charging people to do exactly what they could do themselves. I'll just keep redialing myself.
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Ava Williams
•They use an automated system that essentially waits on hold for you, then alerts you when a representative is about to be connected. It calls the regular customer service line, but uses tech to navigate phone menus and stay on hold so you don't have to. It's definitely not a scam - it's just solving the problem of wasting hours on hold. Think of it like having someone else wait in a physical line for you. I was skeptical too until I used it. I spent three days trying to get through to TaxSlayer myself with no luck, then Claimyr got me connected in about 45 minutes. It's especially useful during high-volume periods like tax season when everyone's trying to call at once.
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Lena Müller
Ok I need to eat my words from my earlier comment. After spending TWO HOURS trying to get through to TaxSlayer this morning with no luck, I tried the Claimyr thing out of desperation. Got a call back in 37 minutes with an actual TaxSlayer rep on the line. They confirmed they're having server issues but the rep was able to manually push my return through from their end while I was on the phone. If you're still having issues, definitely worth trying instead of waiting on hold forever or doing a chargeback.
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TechNinja
Have you tried accessing TaxSlayer from a different device? I had crashes happening on my laptop but when I switched to my iPad everything worked fine. Could be a browser compatibility issue or something with your internet connection.
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Dmitri Volkov
•I actually tried on both my desktop and phone, same problem each time. The app just freezes at the same exact point in the process - right after the payment confirmation when it's supposed to submit to the IRS. Think it's definitely a server issue on their end since so many people are reporting the same thing.
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Keisha Thompson
What's the best alternative to TaxSlayer if I do end up having to switch? I'm filing a relatively simple return - just W-2 income and student loan interest deduction. Nothing complicated.
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Paolo Bianchi
•I'd recommend FreeTaxUSA. It's way cheaper than TaxSlayer and I've never had crashing issues even during peak times. Federal filing is free and state is only like $15. Their interface isn't as fancy but it gets the job done reliably.
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Keisha Thompson
•Thanks for the suggestion! I'll give TaxSlayer one more day to sort out their issues, then I might switch to FreeTaxUSA. Sounds like it would work fine for my simple tax situation and save me some money too.
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Julia Hall
I had this exact same issue with TaxSlayer two days ago! Super frustrating, especially after paying for the service. What worked for me was clearing all my browser data (cookies, cache, everything) and then trying again about 6 hours later. I think their servers were just completely overloaded during peak hours. Also, if you're using any ad blockers or privacy extensions, try disabling them temporarily. Some of those can interfere with the final submission process. I know it's annoying to have to wait when you just want to get your taxes done, but from what I've seen on social media, most people who waited 12-24 hours were able to submit successfully without having to start over. Don't do the chargeback yet - you'll likely be able to complete your return once their server issues are resolved!
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