I am amazed at the long string of negative reviews here. They are unwarranted. I used free1040taxreturn.com to file two federal returns for 2013, one on behalf of a friend and my personal return. The refund of my friend was received via direct deposit. I just filed my return on 4/1/14, not long enough ago to have received my refund. In both cases, I filed for free. So, let me address this point since many of the reviews say it's not free. First, you MUST go to free1040taxreturn.com FROM irs.gov. If you just go directly to free1040taxreturn.com, it will not be free. Assuming you go to free1040taxreturn.com the proper way, you will not be charged to file the federal return. This is true for all the free e-filing services that have an agreement with the IRS; they must be accessed by the taxpayer from irs.gov to create the account on the e-filing website and complete the tax return.

If you identify a state in which you reside and that state requires an income tax return, then free1040taxreturn.com will charge a fee for filing the state return. If you identify your state and you do not want to file your state tax return via free1040taxreturn.com, you might find that the site seems to not let you complete the filing of your federal return; it appears to insist you can't go ahead and file your federal return without paying the fee to file your state return. Here's a trick that works. When prompted to click the drop down box showing a list of states, select "None of the above", the last item on the list. Then, you will be able to file the federal return for free and not be compelled to file a state return. If you had already passed that screen and you had selected a state, go back to that screen and change the selection to "None..." Of course, if you want to file your state return with them, then simply select your state and proceed.

Another comment in one of the reviews said "YOU CANNOT PRINT YOUR RETURN OR EVEN VIEW WHAT YOU ENTERED!" Not true! You can view your tax return on the site and you can save and/or print it; it is a PDF form. Until finally completed and accepted by the IRS, the form(s) will have a watermark to indicate they are not for mailing to the IRS. Once the federal return has been electronically filed and accepted by the IRS, the completed forms will appear on the site without the watermark. Last year, I used FileYourTaxes.com and the only printout I could get after completing the entry of data was a summary sheet showing key data elements such as total income, total deductions, AGI, taxable income, etc., but no tax form could be printed. So, free1040taxreturn.com is better in this regard. In addition to viewing and/or printing forms on free1040taxreturn.com, you can always go back through the screens and review data you entered. When you sign on to a previously started session, you have the option starting where you left off or starting at the beginning and going through the screens again. The reviewer that made the comment quoted at the beginning of this paragraph obviously was not very adept at navigating the site.

I wish I had read everyone's reviews on this site before I filed my taxes through them. I normally file with H&R Block but my life is more financially complex & I didn't want to pay a bunch of service fees. Just like the others, I assumed that if the IRS was linking to a tax return website that it would be a safe & secure site. I filed my taxes with free1040taxreturn.com the day taxes were due. I got emails saying my tax return was successfully filed and that the IRS had accepted my return. I happened to owe the IRS money this year so when I filed I entered my account information when prompted. I never had any issues in the past with H & R Block so I honestly didn't give my experience with free1040taxreturn.com any further thought. Stupid me. A couple months later in June, I got an email saying my tax return was rejected by the IRS and that I should log in and fix whatever I did wrong. This is part of the question I sent to "support & contact us":

Subject: Rejected or Accepted
Question:
Why is it that my Tax Return shows that it was accepted on your website but I just got an email saying that my husband has not corrected and resubmitted his return?

Answer:
This is probably because he registered under his ssn with another return which did not get completed because he is listed as the spouse on this return.

I don't even know who wrote this response to me but it's a bunch of nonsense. I've filed our taxes jointly the last few years with no issue and the answer I received seems to have been written without any thought. After I received this response, I got another email in October saying my tax return was accepted by the IRS and the money I owed was withdrawn that same day from this site. Ok fine, I thought. This has finally fixed itself. I was wrong! I just got a statement from the IRS dated 11/1/11 saying that I owe them the full amount plus a non-payment penalty! WTF?! I wrote another message to "support & contact us" asking where my money is if it's not in my account and the IRS doesn't have it but I'm still waiting to hear back from someone.

I honestly feel like I've been scammed. And by an IRS recommended site no less! If I had known that I'd have so many issues with this site I would have paid the $60 in service fees and kept my information with H & R Block! I'm appalled and extremely frustrated that this company takes so much personal information and they don't even offer a real person for us to speak to if we have any problems. This company with mystery people behind it now has my personal information, my bank account info AND money from my account and yet the IRS somehow has nothing from me. Total and utter B. S! STAY AWAY FROM free1040taxreturn.com!