What are the best free options for filing 1099 taxes from gig work in 2025?

FreeTaxUSA is 100% legitimate despite the name - I totally get why it sounds sketchy though! It's actually been around since 2001 and is an authorized IRS e-file provider. The federal filing is completely free for any tax situation (including 1099s and self-employment), but they do charge $14.99 for state filing. If you want totally free, you might qualify for the IRS Free File program depending on your income. With $42k and dependents, you should be eligible. Go directly through the IRS website (irs.gov/freefile) to find participating providers that won't charge you. Another solid option is Tax Slayer, which has a self-employed version for around $55 (less than TurboTax). If you're comfortable with spreadsheets and want to learn more about taxes, there's also the totally free Credit Karma Tax (now part of Cash App Taxes, but you could try making a new account).

Just wanted to share my experience with taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which saved me TONS of time with my 1099 filing last year. I was in the same boat - had 5 different gig platforms I worked for and was drowning in forms and receipts. The cool thing about taxr.ai is it can actually scan all your 1099 forms and receipts automatically and organize everything for you. I literally took pictures of all my docs, uploaded them, and it extracted all the important numbers and categorized my deductions. Then I just exported everything to FreeTaxUSA (which is definitely legit, btw). It saved me like 6+ hours of manually entering numbers and trying to figure out which expenses went where. Definitely check it out if you have a lot of different 1099s or business expenses.

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and I'm honestly shocked at how well it worked. I was super skeptical about uploading my tax docs, but decided to try it with just one 1099 form first to see what happened. It literally pulled all the numbers perfectly and even caught a box that I would have missed (the state withholding amount was different than what I expected). I ended up using it for all my gig work documents - 3 different 1099s plus a bunch of expense receipts. The export to FreeTaxUSA worked perfectly too. Saved me at least 3-4 hours of manual data entry and double-checking. Definitely using this again next year!

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and I'm honestly shocked at how well it worked. I was super skeptical about uploading my tax docs, but decided to try it with just one 1099 form first to see what happened. It literally pulled all the numbers perfectly and even caught a box that I would have missed (the state withholding amount was different than what I expected). I ended up using it for all my gig work documents -

For anyone struggling to reach the IRS with questions about 1099 filing, I'd recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was trying to figure out if I could still qualify for free filing with my particular mix of W-2 and 1099 income, and kept getting the "due to high call volume" message for DAYS. Someone on another thread suggested Claimyr and it was kind of amazing - they have this system that basically waits on hold with the IRS for you, then calls you when an actual human picks up. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Got my questions answered in like 20 minutes once connected instead of spending hours redialing and waiting on hold. The IRS agent actually recommended a specific Free File provider that worked best for my situation.

I need to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After posting my comment, I decided to check it out more thoroughly because I was also struggling with a 1099-K issue that I couldn't resolve online. I gave it a shot and it actually worked exactly as described. Got connected to a real IRS agent in about 40 minutes (without me having to sit there listening to hold music). The agent confirmed they were getting tons of calls about the 1099-K threshold changes and helped me understand what I needed to do with my reporting. Saved me literally hours of frustration, and I was able to get the right info to file my taxes correctly. Sometimes I'm too quick to assume something is a scam!

One option nobody's mentioned yet is TaxHawk - it's basically the same company as FreeTaxUSA but with a slightly different interface. Federal is free and state is $14.99 just like FreeTaxUSA. I've used it for 3 years with multiple 1099s and Schedule C. I like that they don't constantly try to upsell you on stuff you don't need. The interface is basic but gets the job done, and their help content is actually really clear for self-employment questions.

Watch out for the Free File income limits! I got burned last year thinking I qualified but my AGI was like $200 over the limit and ended up having to pay. The 2024 filing limit should be around $73k but check the IRS site to be sure. Also, if you go with FreeTaxUSA, search for coupons! I found a 25% off code that brought the state filing down to about $11. Every little bit helps when you're on a tight budget.