Free1040TaxReturn

WARNING: THIS IS A SCAM WEBSITE.

Like everyone else, I clicked on the company's link from the IRS website and used them to file my taxes. I cannot believe the IRS still has them listed because not only do they fail to submit taxes, but they steal sensitive information.

Right away you should put fraud alert on your credit. Make sure your computer has no spyware. Change your passwords on a safe computer and change your checking acct info and credit card info. Carefully check all of your accounts daily and warn your bank.

free1040taxreturn.com is a BIG ripoff-DON'T USE IT! - First, it's not FREE... nothing on it is free so the web name is totally fradulent. They charged my debit card for $24.95, unauthorized! When I sent an email to inquire... they said it was for "audit protection"... when I try to go into their site and enter all my info for a refund, I keep getting emails back that says I didn't state the reason... totally bogus. (I have kept a copy of these emails for proof) I also entered everything for my federal and state returns... but they never filed my state taxes... they said it was because I didn't file both at the same time... that is incorrect (their software is poorly written by the way). I asked SEVERAL times for a refund for my state... can't seem to get a straight answer. They also won't send emails to my email account (so they can't be detected)... you have to login to their site... no phone numbers or live people are available. DON'T USE THIS SITE FOR YOUR TAXES!
Debbie Shelton, Dana Point, CA

Do not use this website! I thought everything was going well until the date my refund was due to be deposited into my account came and went. Now, the IRS is saying they are mailing my refund although I clearly chose to have it electronically deposited. I thought maybe (but doubtful) that I chose to have it mailed so I went back to the free1040taxreturn.com website to review and print my return and YOU CANNOT PRINT YOUR RETURN OR EVEN VIEW WHAT YOU ENTERED! OMG WHAT A NIGHTMARE. Now, I am in limbo not having access to my already filed return and not knowing if I will ever get my refund or even be able to print it out. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE!

Before I start with the review, I was able to file my IL state taxes, free of charge, on the IL.Gov website; most states probably have that.

I filed my federal and state through this website for the first time. It is a bare bones site with minimal help if you are stuck. Federal taxes went fine, but the state was a nightmare. This conversation was not like a regular email back and forth. The customer can email them and they will respond, but you can't respond back after that; you need to go to the contact us screen, which is separate from where you get their response and start your issue from scratch again or hope the same person gets this new email. If you are wondering, there is no phone contact number.

The issue was regarding my Parcel Number which this site referred to as a "property identification number". After the return got rejected I received an automated message stating I needed to enter my property identification number and county. I contacted the site via email and it was a nightmare. I kept telling them I was entering the info being asked for and their response was "Please read the entire screen completely and carefully". That was after my third email. I would add my entire email to see demonstrate how thorough my email was, but there is not enough room (anyone can message me or comment me and I can get it to them.). After I wrote another long email stating that I did not appreciate his 8 word response to me and if he can clarify what exactly I need to do, he wrote "You need to read the screen completely and carefully, there is no issue with the software." That was my forth email over the course of about a month or two so I was done. I emailed him back stating that I would like a refund because I now need to spend money to have someone do my states taxes (that was before I learned that IL.gov has free software) his response was "The rejection notice tells you exactly why your return was rejected and on what screen to make the corrections. See the area in the support center to request a refund of fees paid."

I applied for a refund explaining what I told the other person - in reality the person that issues refunds is probably the same person I was emailing about the issue - and the refund was denied with this written "The rejection notice clearly tells you why it was rejected and what to fix and where."

I am not a tax expert, but I was able to get by with the state's software, so it is not too difficult. Actually the state software was a little better than free1040taxreturn's software.

PLEASE READ BELOW:

FileYourTaxes: Interview-style software interface has screen after screen of long questions to answer. This quickly felt very tiring.
Average1040: I'm suspicious that they force users to input their bank account information.

I READ THIS REVIEW AND THE REVIEWS ON THIS SITE TOO LATE. I JUST USED THIS SOFTWARE FIGURING IT WAS FINE AS IT WAS AN IRS RECOMMENDED SITE. I CHOSE IT AS ONE WHO WOULD ALSO DO MY STATE TAXES. HOWEVER, MY STATE TAXES WERE NOT DONE BECAUSE I INADVERTENTLY DID NOT CHECK SOME BOX. NO PROBLEM I THOUGHT BECAUSE IT SAYS IN THAT CASE, JUST LOG ON AGAIN, CLICK THE STATE, BOX, ANSWER A FEW MORE QUESTIONS, AND YOU'RE ALL SET. HOWEVER, THE FEW MORE QUESTIONS NEVER APPEARED. ALL I WOULD GET OVER AND OVER AGAIN IS THE MESSAGE, 'CONGRATULATIONS YOUR 1040 IS COMPLETE." I TRIED TO CONTACT THEM. IT TELLS YOU YOUR ANSWER WILL APPEAR TO THE 'RIGHT" BUT THERE IS NO "RIGHT" SECTION ON THE SCREEN FOR THEIR ANSWER EVEN TO APPEAR IN! AND AFTER 50 MINUTES, STILL NO ANSWER. I'M VERY WORRIED NOW, SINCE I DID GIVE THEM MY CHECKING ACCOUNT NUMBER. DAMN IT ALL! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NOW. CHANGE MY CHECK BOOK NUMBER AS SOMEONE ELSE SUGGESTED I GUESS. THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WROTE IN.

A PROFESSIONAL REVIEWER RATES THIS SITE AS FOLLOWS:. Other Free File Programs
FileYourTaxes: Interview-style software interface has screen after screen of long questions to answer. This quickly felt very tiring.
Average1040: I'm suspicious that they force users to input their bank account information.

I UNFORTUNATELY READ HIS AND ALL THESE OTHER REVIEWS TOO LATE. I ALSO THOUGHT AN IRS RECOMMENDED SITE WOULD BE FINE. I WAS UNABLE TO FILE MY STATE TAXES AT ALL. IT TELLS YOU TO CLICK ON "STATE" BOX, ANSWER SEVERAL MORE QUESTIONS AND YOUR STATE TAXES WILL BE DONE. I THOUGHT, GREAT! BUT SAID QUESTIONS DO NOT APPEAR. ALL I GOT WAS A SCREEN CONGRATULATING ME THAT MY 1040 IS COMPLETE. I GO TO THEIR HELP SECTION TO INQUIRE, AND IT SAYS THAT MY ANSWER WILL APPEAR IN SOME ANSWER SECTION TO THE RIGHT, BUT THERE IS NO ANSWER SECTION TO THE RIGHT THAT I CAN ASCERTAIN. SO I SIT THERE FOR 50 MINUTES WAITING FOR MY ANSWER TO APPEAR SOMEWHERE ON THE SCREEN, BUT IT NEVER DOES. I THEN LOOK FOR A 'HOME' BUTTON, BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO GET BACK TO THEIR MAIN SCREEN. NOW I'M VERY SUSPICIOUS. I'M CONTACTING MY BANK AND THE IRS (though fruitless evidently). THANKS SO MUCH TO THE OTHERS FOR WRITING IN.

The site has FREE plastered all over their face page, where one is to choose which return. You enter the sight, give them your valuable private info (SS#, name, adr, PIN for returns plus the other number that the IRS issues, then you start the return. The return itself isn't the worst I've seen but one gets all the way to the end, and you select "file return" and the next page shows a range of prices, the two main ones, for Fed. And State returns are $49.95 and $24.95, respectively. So if you don't want to pay those "FREE" prices, don't even start the return. I tried it out of curiosity since I know how TurboTax works so thought I'd compare one of the lesser known companies: thus free1040taxreturn.com.

After finding I'd have to pay, I went back looking for "my mistake" -- because, surely this couldn't be correct -- having to pay for a FREE return! No mistake and, more importantly at this point, NO WAY OUT unless you want to just save so you can leave the site and return for more punishing nonsense.

Some of you have given some good information; the posts are from 2010-11, though, and I didn't see any info on the whois.com data, where site registrars give all the information on the domain owner. Here's the website, in case anyone wants a shortcut to know who this CROOK is:
http://www.whois.com/whois/free1040taxreturn.com
It will show all that's known about the domain. This is what's shown for both Administrative and Technical Contact:
Wayne, Donavon *******@free1040taxreturn.com
FreeTaxReturn.com, INC
50 West Liberty Street Suite 880
Reno, Nevada *******
United States
*******482

Can anyone say CLASS ACTION SUIT?
At the very least they should be reported to the IRS, but since I'm writing this on 5/21/13 -- a couple weeks following the big IRS scandal, we are likely small pests to them good for only stomping on to vent their rage at being caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

I'm glad that people took the time to provide these warnings to others.