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0 pointsloeg1y ago0 comments

I switched from TurboTax to FreeTaxUSA this year and it was almost exactly the same (in some ways easier). The amount owed was identical. The IRS doesn't lose submissions and provides a very clear system for tracking the status of eFiled taxes.

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delfinom1y ago

"That's the secret"

Those tax prep companies like TurboTax spent a lot of marketing dollars on making it seem they are finding you secret deductions and other crap. There isn't. It's all pretty straight forward.

Some of it comes from the pre-online era where tax accountants did and still do commit fraud by falsely claiming deductions for individuals. And you eventually hear of a hundred million dollar IRS fraud arrest.

ryandrake1y ago

I did the same thing, but from TaxAct instead of from TurboTax. The big tax prep software companies have squeezed their last dollar out of me. I'm done with them.

For reference, here's what I paid for tax preparation over the years:

2010: $9.99

...

2017: $48.00

2018: $66.95

2019: $97.90

2020: $67.91

2021: $93.67

2022: $124.90

2023: $133.95 (at this point I said "Fuck this")

So from $48 to $134 (or +280%) over the course of 6 years and +1344%(!!!) over the course of 13 years. All to simply pre-fill some standard IRS forms and submit them for me. It doesn't make sense to pay for this.

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