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I’ve had frustrating experiences with TurboTax due to its overly complex interface, aggressive data collection under the guise of saving money (which it doesn’t

I’ve had frustrating experiences with TurboTax due to its overly complex interface, aggressive data collection under the guise of saving money (which it doesn’t deliver), and a convoluted pricing structure that rivals the IRS’s own complexity. I hope this initiative is good enough to enable domain experts and good people to build transparent, user-friendly alternatives to challenge TurboTax’s market grip. Has anyone encountered promising tools or approaches that tackle these pain points?

willis936 1y ago
DirectFile was quite good for the one year I was able to use it and addressed your concerns. Don't worry, that's since been taken care of. https://apnews.com/article/irs-direct-file-tax-returns-free-trump-4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab https://apnews.com/article/irs-direct-file-tax-returns-free-...
- j_bum 1y ago
  Just a heads up, your URL 404’s
  - willis936 1y ago
    Thanks. Fixed. I stripped what I thought was a tracker without testing.
    - Scoundreller 1y ago
      The fun part is you can change the text before what you thought was tracking to anything you want: http://apnews.com/article/apnews-declares-trump-stupid-4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab http://apnews.com/article/apnews-declares-trump-stupid-4bb0b...
      - culi 1y ago
        This is true about a lot of sites and I'll often remove the unimportant part when saving or sharing urls for brevity sake. E.g. https://apnews.com/article/4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab https://apnews.com/article/4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab This is true for most news websites as well as online shopping sites
- hedayet 1y ago
  I can totally see the minds running TurboTax spending a lot of money to make this happen.
  - awkwardpotato 1y ago
    Intuit spent $3.8 million on lobbying against Direct File in 2023, HR Block another $3 million. In total, the tax prep industry has spent $93 million lobbying against the Free File program since 2003 (through 2023, couldn't find a more recent source). https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/02/turbotax-maker-intuit-spent-millions-in-record-lobbying-blitz-amid-threats-to-tax-prep-industry/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/02/turbotax-maker-intu...
    - cinntaile 1y ago
      It's sad to see how little money needs to be spent to make the lives of millions of tax payers more miserable.
      - sharts 1y ago
        Just goes to show how cheap our politicians really are. In both heart and bank.
        mrguyorama 1y ago
        Not "our politicians", republicans Democrats keep trying to make taxes in America better, including prominent democrats literally calling for the investigation of Intuit's bribery here. Then people elect republicans.
        stogot 1y ago
        Independent analysis of official state reports contradicts you. It’s easier to look at states than to analyze which federal rep submitted which amendment or rider https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/worst-run-states-big-spending-democrats/ https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/worst-run-stat...
babelfish 1y ago
FreeTaxUSA is legitimately fantastic!
- chamomeal 1y ago
  I love em, I don’t know why anybody uses TurboTax. Good product, generous freemium model with transparent pricing
- wildzzz 1y ago
  I've used freetax for the past couple years. My then-girlfriend's tax situation got more complicated when she accepted tuition money from a trust fund. TurboTax wanted her to pay for the small business edition to covered the necessary forms which happened to cost more than her refund. I threw everything into freetax and only had to pay for the state filling.
somehnguy 1y ago
TurboTax’s advertising is borderline fraudulent in my opinion. Freetaxusa.com (no affiliation) is just as good and legitimately free.
- eclipticplane 1y ago
  Note: Freetaxusa.com has not done a good job with Form 3921 (ISO grant exercises) and AMT carryover. If you have exercised ISO grants or later sold stock purchased in years in which you paid AMT, do not use freetaxusa.com. You will lose more in tax costs vs. finding a real CPA willing to go through your nuanced math.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
Spooky23 1y ago
The H&R Block software is better imo.
plun9 1y ago
Cash App Taxes
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
insane_dreamer 1y ago
I used Cash App Taxes last year (after years of H&R Block and TurboTax before that), and it worked great and covered all my needs which are more complex than the average tax filer. 100% free.
- wildrhythms 1y ago
  I file in multiple states and unfortunately Cashapp taxes said it doesn't support that use case the last time I tried. Freetaxusa worked great though.
nulbyte 1y ago
I used Free Fill Fillable Forms last year for both federal and state. I honestly don't know why I didn't try them sooner. It sounds daunting, filling out your own returns, but it was quite painless for my situation.
- ehremington 1y ago
  combined with excel1040 this is the way to go imho

willis936 1y ago

DirectFile was quite good for the one year I was able to use it and addressed your concerns. Don't worry, that's since been taken care of. https://apnews.com/article/irs-direct-file-tax-returns-free-trump-4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab https://apnews.com/article/irs-direct-file-tax-returns-free-...

j_bum 1y ago
Just a heads up, your URL 404’s
- willis936 1y ago
  Thanks. Fixed. I stripped what I thought was a tracker without testing.
  - Scoundreller 1y ago
    The fun part is you can change the text before what you thought was tracking to anything you want: http://apnews.com/article/apnews-declares-trump-stupid-4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab http://apnews.com/article/apnews-declares-trump-stupid-4bb0b...
    - culi 1y ago
      This is true about a lot of sites and I'll often remove the unimportant part when saving or sharing urls for brevity sake. E.g. https://apnews.com/article/4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab https://apnews.com/article/4bb0bca02fab9b3d06ae6f45ac67b7ab This is true for most news websites as well as online shopping sites
hedayet 1y ago
I can totally see the minds running TurboTax spending a lot of money to make this happen.
- awkwardpotato 1y ago
  Intuit spent $3.8 million on lobbying against Direct File in 2023, HR Block another $3 million. In total, the tax prep industry has spent $93 million lobbying against the Free File program since 2003 (through 2023, couldn't find a more recent source). https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/02/turbotax-maker-intuit-spent-millions-in-record-lobbying-blitz-amid-threats-to-tax-prep-industry/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/02/turbotax-maker-intu...
  - cinntaile 1y ago
    It's sad to see how little money needs to be spent to make the lives of millions of tax payers more miserable.
    - sharts 1y ago
      Just goes to show how cheap our politicians really are. In both heart and bank.
      - mrguyorama 1y ago
        Not "our politicians", republicans Democrats keep trying to make taxes in America better, including prominent democrats literally calling for the investigation of Intuit's bribery here. Then people elect republicans.
        stogot 1y ago
        Independent analysis of official state reports contradicts you. It’s easier to look at states than to analyze which federal rep submitted which amendment or rider https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/worst-run-states-big-spending-democrats/ https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/worst-run-stat...

babelfish 1y ago

FreeTaxUSA is legitimately fantastic!

chamomeal 1y ago
I love em, I don’t know why anybody uses TurboTax. Good product, generous freemium model with transparent pricing
wildzzz 1y ago
I've used freetax for the past couple years. My then-girlfriend's tax situation got more complicated when she accepted tuition money from a trust fund. TurboTax wanted her to pay for the small business edition to covered the necessary forms which happened to cost more than her refund. I threw everything into freetax and only had to pay for the state filling.

somehnguy 1y ago

TurboTax’s advertising is borderline fraudulent in my opinion. Freetaxusa.com (no affiliation) is just as good and legitimately free.

eclipticplane 1y ago
Note: Freetaxusa.com has not done a good job with Form 3921 (ISO grant exercises) and AMT carryover. If you have exercised ISO grants or later sold stock purchased in years in which you paid AMT, do not use freetaxusa.com. You will lose more in tax costs vs. finding a real CPA willing to go through your nuanced math.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

Spooky23 1y ago

The H&R Block software is better imo.

plun9 1y ago

Cash App Taxes

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

insane_dreamer 1y ago

I used Cash App Taxes last year (after years of H&R Block and TurboTax before that), and it worked great and covered all my needs which are more complex than the average tax filer. 100% free.

wildrhythms 1y ago
I file in multiple states and unfortunately Cashapp taxes said it doesn't support that use case the last time I tried. Freetaxusa worked great though.

nulbyte 1y ago

I used Free Fill Fillable Forms last year for both federal and state. I honestly don't know why I didn't try them sooner. It sounds daunting, filling out your own returns, but it was quite painless for my situation.

ehremington 1y ago
combined with excel1040 this is the way to go imho