{"id":7230,"date":"2024-11-03T10:01:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T10:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/how-to-get-free-tax-filing-through-the-free-file-alliance\/"},"modified":"2024-11-03T10:01:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T10:01:34","slug":"how-to-get-free-tax-filing-through-the-free-file-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=7230","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Free Tax Filing Through the Free File Alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"ScoreCard<\/p>\n

Filing taxes in the United States could be free and simple for everyone \u2014 if only tax prep companies weren\u2019t lobbying to keep it so complicated.<\/p>\n

The Internal Revenue Service and your state tax collectors already have access to most of the information you painstakingly report in a tax return because your employers and banks are required to provide it.<\/p>\n

We could, in theory, have a return-free system, where the IRS sends you<\/i> that information and how much it believes you owe, and you don\u2019t have to file anything unless you disagree with it.<\/p>\n

But we like a challenge, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Instead of this straightforward public service, we have the next best thing: A private system that helps the majority of Americans file a federal tax return for free.<\/p>\n

Except most of us don\u2019t use it \u2026 because we don\u2019t know it exists.\n<\/p>\n

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7 Ways to Make Money if You Hate People<\/h3>\n

Do you avoid people too? In the past, there was almost no way around working with people if you wanted to earn a living, but things have changed.<\/p>\n

Our team has compiled a list of creative ways<\/a> you can fatten your bank account this month, without having to put up with people.<\/p>\n

Enough small talk. Here are some ways<\/a> to earn extra cash, without all of the social stuff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Free File Alliance MUST Let You File Taxes for Free<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Free File Alliance<\/a> is a public-private partnership between a group of tax software companies and the IRS. Seven companies are part of this agreement as of January 2023, according to its recent press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The agreement says these companies have to provide the majority of Americans with a free way to prepare and file their taxes online. It also bars the IRS from providing its own free filing system \u2014 like that dreamy no-return scenario mentioned above.<\/p>\n

The problem, predictably, is that no one advertises the free services.<\/p>\n

The government has no budget to market it, and the for-profit tax preparers have no incentive to let you know about their free options \u2014 and every incentive to funnel you toward a paid option. And they use every opportunity, as ProPublica has reported<\/a> repeatedly.<\/p>\n

The result is that most filers have no idea the option exists, and hardly anyone takes advantage of it.<\/p>\n

(BTW, we<\/i> are happy to tell you all about those free tax filing services.)<\/p>\n

In 2020, the Alliance touted \u201csoaring\u201d participation <\/a>\u2014 a 28% \u201cjump\u201d from 2.3 million filers in 2019 to 2.9 million in 2020. Sounds great, except more than 130 million taxpayers qualified for free filing through the program. That\u2019s a participation rate of about 2% of eligible filers.<\/p>\n

How to Get Free Tax Filing Through the Free File Alliance<\/b><\/h2>\n

This part is, in fact, easy once you know about it.<\/p>\n

To qualify, you have to earn below a certain income limit, which changes each year.<\/p>\n

For tax year 2022 (what you\u2019ll file starting in 2023), anyone with an adjusted gross income of $73,000 or less qualifies for free filing through an IRS partner.<\/p>\n

The most popular services, TurboTax and H&R Block, have left the Alliance in recent years, and this year\u2019s participating companies are a collection of mostly lesser-known online tax preparers:<\/p>\n