Before trying Free Tax USA, I tried Turbo Tax, & Tax Act. Both of those tried to get me to upgrade to their "premium" $57+ product, even though I make less than $33,000 per year and should not be charged any fee. I then tried Free Tax USA. Last year, I used the free edition of Turbo Tax, even though I made more last year.
Free Tax USA worked great. It did not try to get me to upgrade, even though I had close to $10,000 in dividend income. I am also an author with royalties (less than $1,000). It handled that correctly too.
I live in Nevada, so did not need to file a state income tax return. If there were glitches with the software in the past, then I suspect they were all fixed, because I did not see any. I used Turbo Tax last year, and they had a glitch in that my tax was not properly calculated. I had to pay a small amount for interest and fines because of that.
This is actually a very fine product that may not have quite all the bells and whistles of its competitors, but offers solid performance and ease of use.
According to other reviews I have read about, the federal filing is free. They make their money on the state return, which at this time is only about $15. They also have a deluxe version that costs $7, which includes a limited audit assist feature, unlimited amendments, and priority customer support.
The product is updated every year and tested by the IRS & each state before it is approved for use. Millions have used it to file their returns since 2001.
It will handle most major tax issues like self-employment income, rental real estate, capital gains transactions, the various types of K-1 related income sources, affordable care act, etc. It also handles many uncommon tax situations as well.
On the other hand, it currently does not handle (taken from their website - https://www.freetaxusa.com/supported_forms.jsp):
1. Foreign employment income (Form 2555)
2. Non-resident alien returns (Form 1040NR)
3. Customers or preparers living outside the United States when they file their taxes
4. At-risk limitations (Form 6198)
5. Installment sales (Form 6252)
6. Tax for children with more than $2,100 in investment income (Form 8615)
7. Prior year minimum tax credit (Form 8801)
8. Archer MSAs (Form 8853)
9. Casualty or theft gain or loss for business and income producing property
10. Additional tax on excess contributions to IRAs
11. Donations of high value property over $5,000 such as collectibles, equipment, or real estate.
Thanks for letting us know about your experience with FreeTaxUSA! We appreciate your thorough review of our site. We're happy you found us and look forward to seeing you again next year.