FreeTaxUSA has a rating of 1.86 stars from 289 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about FreeTaxUSA most frequently mention state taxes, last year, and customer service problems. FreeTaxUSA ranks 49th among Tax Preparation sites.
This company responds to reviews on average within 11 hours
Finally a free tax site that is legitimate! I found no hidden fees or expenses! I do a simple return and this site is perfect for me! They do offer other products for tax returns a bit tricky but their prices were a so reasonable compared to other sites that offer that type of products. The first year I didn't have state taxes so it was completely FREE to file! I now live in a state that I do pay taxes,and exactly as they promised 14.99 no more! Awesome job 👏
They've somehow decided to send cashiers checks instead of direct deposit, through some 3rd party, although I set my refund for DD (and all of my banking info is correct). A $30 "check reissuance fee" has been taken from my refunds, on top of $40+ they've already taken--and of course I haven't received my refunds although they were posted on 2/22. Absolute scam, this is criminal.
They've somehow decided to send cashiers checks instead of direct deposit, through some 3rd party, although I set my refund for DD (and all of my banking info is correct). A $30 "check reissuance fee" has been taken from my refunds, on top of $40+ they've already taken--and of course I haven't received my refunds although they were posted on 2/22. Absolute scam, this is criminal.
FreeTaxUSA website says state return is free if AGI less than $45,000, but it lies. My AGI is $42,000 and it's telling me I have to pay $15 to file state. The IRS website is promoting FreeTaxUSA as a tax filing site that has free federal AND state returns for all states. Just another situation where a tax site says you can file free but then asks you to pay once you've filled out all the forms.
Hello T.D.! Iam very sorry for the frustration you ran into. If you accessed our website from the IRS link and are experiencing any problems, please reach out to Customer Support for assistance. You can contact support by signing into your account and click on Support. We look forward to assisting you!
There is a reason Free Tax USA gets a 2.5 star rating - uber confusing site! Despite many time wasting messages to their CS no one suggested or explained state tax could be free and I do NOT need to pay $15 for filing my state return! Very confusin product site with their varous options and upgrades. They could save staff payroll by having phone support! It's too complex a subject and does not lend itself to electroinic CS - it just wasted our and your time! Two different log in requirements for their deluxe, pro, or free service! Would NOT refund my $15 in spite of my bad experience!
Products used:
CA state tax return prep
Hello Rob. We apologize for the frustration you have experienced and for any confusion. We do offer a Free file version, due to IRS regulations an account must be created from the IRS link or your states website. Our Federal return is always free. We do also offer several upgrades so our customers can speak to customer support through Live Chat or over the phone. However, we reply to our customers via email very quickly as well at no additional upgrade. We would be happy to look further into this. If you have contacted us through our Customer Support team, please direct message us your email address here so we can look into the issues you experienced and help come to a resolution. Our Customer Support team strives to provide an excellent Customer Support experience and we would like to help make this right. For further questions, please contact us at support@freetaxusa.com.
There products are uber confusing! Two different log in requirements for their deluxe, pro, or free services?! Very user unfriendly! I unwittingly paid for state returns by using their upgraded version despite multiple messages to CS - no one pointed out the uber confusing structure and that I could file state for free on their free site! Not even a HQ number, or contact to voice complaints! And of course no phone support whatsoever on their free version. Different CS reps respond to you making for more confusion to an already UBER confusing product ( and subject in general) They could afford to staff up less if they actually had phone support. The multiple emails back and forth are VERY time consuming
For customer and CS rep! They refused my request for a refund, even after pointing out the totally confusing nature of their structure and user unfriendlyness of it and lack of CS.
I paid the $14.99 upfront and that was a mistake. I tried to login to the account and it's giving me an issue with that. My federal taxes wasn't filed and the fee was to file my state taxes but that didn't happen. It's too much. Don't use this site please
Hello Jacqueline. We are sorry for the frustration this has caused. That is correct, our software does offer a free Federal return and has a small fee of $14.99 for the state return. Customer Support would be happy to provide further assistance in logging back into the account and helping determine why the return was not filed. Please email them at support@freetaxusa.com
I used freetax this year and after receiving notice that irs had accepted I tried to get back in to the site to check on it, since no arrangement had been made to pay what was due to the irs and after two hours of changing user name, password and getting codes to supposedly get in.Im still unable to get to access it. I have now left my phone number and they are supposed to call back but after all the issues I have my doubts on
Hello James. I am so sorry to hear you are having a hard time getting into your account. We are committed to helping our customers gain access to their accounts. Please email support@freetaxusa.com so that our Customer Support team can help you gain access to your account.
Filing late in a hurry, took a chance on this software. It seemed to work, all data entered, preview looked ok. I just needed it to print so I can mail it. It prints an empty form.
Wasted an hour with this garbage. Not free, charges $15 for state. Says it will print but it wastes paper and ink on an empty form. This site would get a lower review if allowed.
Hi Mark, we are sorry to hear of the inconvenience you have experienced with our website. Federal is always free and there is a fee for the state return, just as it states on our website. It sounds like you may need an update to your Adobe program for the return to print. Please reach out to our Customer Support team through your account and they will be happy to further assist you.
It was easy to use could not put my paperwork up to print it. Can't get in touch with anyone. I do not know if it was filed or not. They have all of my personal information which I do not like since they aren't responding.
Hi Jennie! I understand your concerns. Customer Support will be happy to help you. You can contact us by signing into your account and sending a message by selecting 'Support' at the top of the page. Customer Support will contact you within 24 hours. You can find the status of your return by going to the 'Final Steps' menu and selecting 'Check Status/Print Tax Return'. You will also be able to print your return from this screen. Please be assured that the information entered in your account is safe. You can view how we keep your information safe at this link: https://www.freetaxusa.com/safe.
Filing maybe free but if you want your refund, they charge you. My refund was $65 but if you the refund you have to pay FreeTaxUSA so I never got my refund
Hi Ham! We do offer a 'refund transfer' option if you prefer not to pay our fees up front. This does have a fee of $19.99. This is completely optional and not required. However, we would love to look into this and see why you did not get any of your refund. Could you please send us a message with your email address (the one on your account) so we can look into this?
This company screwed up my taxes by not informing my resident state (Ct,) of taxes I paid while working in a neighboring state.(NY) The result was an overpayment of $4,215 to Ct. There was no live person I could talk to to resolve the issue. I had to negotiate with Connecticut tax authorities to fix the problem-a long drawn out process. I had been using TurboTax in previous years with no problems. Their (Turbotax) system automatically stops the whole process if there is missing or incorrect data. Do not use this company to file your taxes!
Hello Daniel. We're sorry to hear you did not have a good experience using our software. We care about our customers' experiences and strive to create a software that assists customers in getting their maximum refund. Our software does provide a place to enter credit information for taxes paid to another state. In many circumstances, we also provide an alert reminding our customers to double check that section. Our Customer Support agents can be reached by selecting "Support" while logged into your account, but we would also be happy to look into this further if you would like to private message us your email address.
I used this as it was suggested for veterans as a free tax site. Now reading reviews after, I should have double checked. They're telling me one of my questions is incorrect. I've double checked. When I go in they ask if I want to upgrade as the upgrade can figure it out for me. It already cost me 15$ for the free service. Like 15 isn't a big deal but it's the point. State that ahead of time. Now trying to strong arm me into paying more, I'm going to request a refund and go elsewhere
Hello K.R. We are very sorry that you have had trouble with our service. Our Customer Support team would be happy to help you with the alert you are receiving. You can contact our support team from within your account for no additional fee. Please log into your account and select "Support" to send us a message.
I have done my taxes for years on turbo tax. Last 2 yrs I used Free tax USA. Both times delayed my refund. 1st time banking info incorrect. I asked for direct deposit to prepaid they were providing. The account # on my tax form was not the same as the direct deposit form they made for you to get the card. 2nd time I was told my Ss info on w-2 was incorrect. Well I know u entered it correctly when filing. I paid close attention. The amount that they put on my return was not what I entered. How do I know? BECAUSE I DOUBLE CHECKED WHEN FILLING OUT. THE AMOUNT THAT WAS ON ACTUAL FROM WAS AN AMOUNT NOT EVEN ON W-2. WHERE DID I GET THAT AMOUNT I GUESS I PULLED OUT OF MY $#*!!
Hello Charlene, I am very sorry to hear that your refund was delayed multiple times. I certainly understand that is extremely frustrating. We would be more than happy to help you figure out the issues with your tax returns. Please contact Customer Support within your account and we will look into these issues for you.
They charged me for state tax returns, then only after being charged, informed me that efile was not available and I have to print it out and mail it. Guess what? Printing it out and mailing it is free! What the $#*! did I just pay for? They will tell you it's for "preparing" my documents, but I sure feel like I'm the one who did all the typing. All I wanted them to do was efile for me. That's the whole point of these efile sites, right?
We need a public tax filing site, no more of this private bull$#*!.
Hello Daby. I am very sorry to hear of your frustration. We value you as a customer and want to do all we can to make the tax filing process as smooth as possible. We do try to make the inability to e-file prior-year returns clear to customers on the prior-year launch pages with the statement 'Please Note: Prior-year tax returns must be mailed.' and again as you start a prior year return in the software with a notice stating 'Important Note: The IRS e-file system is no longer available. You can still mail your tax return(s) to the IRS and your specific state.' Many of our customers find value in the simplicity and ease our software provides in helping them self-prepare their prior-year tax return(s) even when the IRS e-file system is no longer available. Our federal return is always free. However, prior-year state returns are currently $17.99 each. We sincerely appreciate your feedback.
This is the second year I used this site. Last year worked ok, but this year it will not let me show that my Schedule C net is not subject to Self-Employment tax. I am a notary, and that income is exempt from SE tax. Also, it computed deprecation on my car incorrectly. I am a retired tax professional, so I don't need tax help, but you can't even get hold of them regarding technical problems with their website.
Products used:
Tax preparation software
Hi Scilla! I am so sorry for the frustration that you are experiencing with our site. We do have a way for our software to exempt notary income from SE tax. I am also very sorry that you are having trouble getting a response from our support team. I would like to personally look into this and see what has been happening. Could you please send us a private message with your email address (the one on your account) so I can get this figured out?
Their software sent my refund to a closed account and it ended up costing me 1/4 of my total return then they chat back via message that i did something wrong and sent it to.the old account?! Zero accountability and I'm filing complaints with the attorney General DO NOT USE FREE TAX USA THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY BECAUSE OF THEIR FLAWED SOFTWARE THEN BLAME IT ON YOU! BUYER BEWARE PAY WHAT TURBO TAX CHARGES AT LEAST YOU WONT GET RIPPED OFF LIKE I DID!
Tip for consumers:
Buyer beware they will not refund you !!
Products used:
Free file
Hello Mario, we are truly sorry for the frustration you are experiencing. Our Customer Support team has received your messages and will continue to correspond with you through your secure account. We are committed to helping you resolve this issue.
The live chat explains how to tap menu for income to find easy attach info. It works once. But if you need to take a break. And go back to that method the tap menu income no longer contains attach 1099 MRC on it. This is no matter how many times you try this. Very annoying. And your e return will not go in without these attachments even tho your credit card has already been billed as if! More than annoying. Maybe no longer free Turbo has sent them a virus so you go to thinking Maybe you get what you pay for?
Hi Pamela! We apologize for the frustration you are experiencing. It sounds like you are needing to link a 1099-MISC to the return information. We would be happy to further assist you. Please log into your account and contact Support and our Customer Support team would be happy to assist you and guide you through the steps.
My first and last time filing with them. Because of the absolute mess that is the IRS backlog (they still have not processed my 2020 and 2021 tax year returns because I mailed paper as I have for 44 years), I decided it best to do electronically. For additional ease, I paid to have the state done at the same time. Within moments of completing and logging off I received a text that both were rejected. I twice corrected what they insist is an error (Previous year AGI and/or PIN---- which I have recorded and verified) only to keep getting the same exact rejection. I paid for nothing. I want my money back.
Products used:
Free tax usa filing for irs and state
Hi Debra, thanks for writing and I'm sorry for any frustration you had with submitting your return electronically. Please note that if you filed your prior year return by mail, you should enter $0 as your prior year AGI. The IRS e-File system does not generally update with mailed information.
Once you have entered or corrected your information, please re-submit your return again to the IRS. There are no additional fees for re-submitting. If you have any additional questions, one of our customer support representatives would be happy to sort this out for you. You can contact them by logging into your account and clicking on the "Contact Support" link or by sending an email to Support@TaxHawk.com.
I did my taxes on April 6th and so far nothing is even showing up on the wheres my refund page. I can't find anywhere to contact someone either. It says my returns have been accepted and there's no issues like as of April 10th. Its now almost been 2 months and I want some answers. This is ridiculous and obviously a scam. Someone needs to reach out to me asap in regards to this please and thank you very much.
Hello Lila, we are sorry for any frustration this has caused. Our customer support would be happy to look further into this. Please contact Support from within your account, so they can give more information regarding the return. If you are having trouble signing in, they can also be contacted by email at: Support@FreeTaxUSA.com.
I usually pay hundreds of dollars for our taxes to be done every year and never fails there's more than a few people sharing how much money they saved "doing my own online... It's super easy..." So I used freetax USA highly recommended from the IRS too! Its been over 5 months and still no refund. Ive gonna letters about id verification and refund is being reviewed, I reached out to freetax USA for help since I thought I added it on just in case turns out they have no idea and can't help. Never use this company horrible and you'll be left in the dark and it's seriously affecting me mentally because I've put my family in a financial bind and the burden of using this company is making me suicidal. God awful feeling knowing I've caused my family to struggle because I trust a company to complete my simple 1040 return.
Tip for consumers:
My state taxes and federal were both affected by this company... I followed every direction to the T
Hi Elisa, I am so sorry to hear of the struggles you are facing. Once a return is accepted, the IRS determines the order, processing, approval and timing of the refund disbursement. If you were sent an ID verification, the IRS sends those and you will need to contact them to verify the identity and to determine why they are sending the verification. It sounds like you contacted us and did not receive assistance. I would like to follow-up with you on this, will you please private message me your email address so I can review the assistance and see what can be done? Thank you for being our customer this year. I look forward to further assisting you.
We used this income tax lady and this is the site that she used. Because I keep on asking her what's going on our 2020 income tax return that we still have not received, she called me today being rude and calling herself a Christian that she supposed to mean something to me and told me that she will never works with me anyone and hang the phone up on me. Ms. K is very rude and unprofessional but to her I am the unprofessional. This lady called me and was yelling at me because of me asking questions smh
Hi Guerfalone, I am so sorry that you had a bad experience with your tax preparer. Our software is able to be used by individuals as well as paid tax preparers, however, we do not hire the paid preparers and they are not affiliated with our company. If you have had problems with your paid preparer, please work with them or you can report them to the IRS by going to the following link: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/make-a-complaint-about-a-tax-return-preparer
I used them to prepare a prior year return. They were easy to use, but for some reason they couldn't find my credit union by name. Of course tax forms require a lot of private info, including financial information, such as the name of that credit union. That same day someone tried unsuccessfully to login to my credit union account. I can't prove they were involved. But maybe.
In retrospect, their site has some bad online reviews, including at your site.
Tip for consumers:
I can't prove it, but the information I provided may have been used for an attempted identity theft.
Products used:
(Free) Tax file.
Hi Mitch! We take the security of our customers' private information very seriously. Please see our security information at the following link: https://www.freetaxusa.com/privacy.jsp
We would be happy to pursue this issue more from within your secure account. Can you sign in and click “Contact Support”?
Last year I opted to use FreeTaxUsa for the first time because I missed TurboTax's free file window. Honestly I would have SAVED money if I chose to pay for TurboTax.
FreeTaxUsa took an unrelated code and stuck it as an additional tax, this got missed by both me and my advisor, and resulted in me having to pay over 5 grand, I almost didn't make rent that month because of it and I have yet to recover. Now I'm facing a nationwide recession without any savings.
Use at your own risk, check *EVERY* stupid little box because they *WILL* try to scam you! I'm still trying to fight to get those stolen funds back!
Tip for consumers:
Would have been nice if this website was stricken from the IRS’s list of trustworthy tax services, because it’s actually a scam
Hello Everett. I assure you that our software is not a scam and we strive to provide a trustworthy and accurate filing option for our customers. We are a self-prepared service and although our software will alert you to possible errors, it is up to the customer to verify that the information entered is accurate. The software will not add things to the return that the customer has not entered. I am sorry for the situation you are in and would like to have a Supervisor review your account to see how we can assist you. Please private message me your email address so that one of our supervisors may reach out to you.
On a positive note, FreetaxUSA is pretty easy to use, only if you don't have but a few documents. There is basically no support. You have to email your question, wait for a response and hope you asked the right questions. The generic response is not helpful. The find extra deductions is lame. First and last time I will use. Paid for the deluxe should have just done the free, with the same outcome. I've used TurboTax. For years, this year they have made filing more difficult so I thought I would try something else. Lesson learned.
Hi Lucy, we are truly sorry you did not receive the Customer Support you had expected. We aim to provide an excellent service for our customers and are sorry we have not met your expectations. Our Deluxe support package includes communicating via live Chat. We would love to see what we can do for you and to see how we can improve. Will you please log into your account and select "Deluxe Support" to begin a chat with us or send us a message. We look forward to hearing from you.
I'm a penny pincher. So when they asked for the $15 for state taxes before even seeing my return, I was optimistic. Doing my taxes prior or turbo getting an idea i heard this was better, only for them to tell me i owed my state over $1300. At this time obviously incorrect and a waste of $15. Also they have no customer support number.
Hello Jamin, I am sorry to hear of your frustration. Our customer support agents are happy to help in assisting with your state filing and we do guarantee our calculations. We would love to look into this more for you. Please sign in to your account and select the "Contact Support" link in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
I helped my grandson do his taxes on this website. When we were done, I said well he would get a $63 return. Next thing you know we're being told his refund will be $22 because they took $41 for the state taxes which we never approved having done And they never even processed the Pennsylvania State return after they took the money and we still have not gotten his tax refund. Stay as far away from these people as you can because they rip off artist and they will never get back to you after you contact support.
Hi Nancy, we're sorry to hear you did not have a good experience using our software. We do not require that state taxes are paid for or filed through our website. They are added or removed from your order on the "Filing" > "Order Products and Services" page before filing. If you have contacted our support team already and are not satisfied, we would be happy to look into this directly. Please private message us your email address.
I spent several hours entering all my information to learn after I completed my return that I needed one more form and they did not have it. I was unable to complete my return with them because their software did not support the form. The software was fairly easy to use, but not having the adequate forms is not acceptable. If your tax return is easy this might be an ok software tax platform, but if you have anything additional, I would NEVER use this software.
Hello Gregg, we are sorry to hear we were not able to support your situation this year. Our software supports many situations and levels of complexity, without increasing the cost. Our software provides a list of all our supported forms for Federal and State on our homepage. If you have any questions, we are happy to have you reach out to our Customer Support team by signing into your account.
FreeTaxUSA is an authorized IRS e-file provider. The company has securely filed millions of federal tax returns with the IRS. Each year, the website helps taxpayers save millions of dollars in tax preparation fees with free federal and low-cost state offers.
Each tax year, a team of tax analysts updates the software to the latest federal and state standards. The software incorporates new credits, deductions, and changes to the tax code. Once the software is updated, it goes through a rigorous testing and approval process with the IRS and each state. This ensures the software is ready for the new tax season.
FreeTaxUSA is 100% made in America. All customer service representatives live and work in the United States. When you file your taxes with FreeTaxUSA, you are supporting American families and creating American jobs.
We don’t provide tax advice, account specifics, or customer support through SiteJabber. The safest and quickest way to get support is to sign in to your FreeTaxUSA account and click on the ‘Contact Support’ link. You can also click on the ‘Support’ link at the top of the FreeTaxUSA.com homepage.
FreeTaxUSA is an online tax preparation website owned by TaxHawk, Inc. The company was founded in 2001 by a certified public accountant and a team of professional software developers. Their combined experience in tax preparation, programming, and internet technology has made FreeTaxUSA one of the fastest growing tax websites online today.
Hi Matt. I am sorry for your frustration. It sounds like you chose the option to pay for your state tax preparation using our pay with refund option. There is a fee associated with this as well as a disclosure page stating that if the 3rd party bank is unable to deposit the funds for any reason, they will send you a check for the balance, less the fee of $30 for having to resend. All of this was agreed to when choosing the pay with refund option. I am happy to look into this further if you send us a message with your email address.