(intense music)
- [Robert] Hey guys, it's Robert from the College Investor,
and today we are diving in to our Credit Karma Tax review.
And now, this is year two of Credit Karma Tax.
Last year, everyone was super excited about it
because they were offering truly free filing.
Free federal, free state, free everything.
And then, people started getting disappointed,
and it started running into some problems
and bugs and poor customer service,
and really like non-existent customer service.
And, I just don't think Credit Karma
was ready for tax season and what it actually
meant to be a tax filing company.
So, here we are on year two of Credit Karma Tax,
and sadly, we think they have taken a step backwards.
And, we are pretty disappointed in what we see.
It's very nice and friendly user interface,
but we found some bugs.
I don't know if their customer service
is really up to par yet, and I don't know
if they fixed the issues from last year.
So honestly, we don't recommend
you look at Credit Karma Tax.
But, I'm gonna run through it,
just so you know what to expect, what you can see.
If you have a simple return, Credit Karma Tax is free,
but there are other options for you.
If you already qualify for free file,
doing something like H&R Block, it's free too.
So, you don't need to be stuck with Credit Karma Tax.
But, let's dive in.
You click on Tax up here at the top,
and are you ready to get those taxes done?
Let's get started.
You could tell them a little about yourself.
You can sync up your info from your Credit Karma account,
or you can type it in yourself.
I'm gonna just type it in myself here.
So, we're gonna start from scratch.
Here's my name, my address.
I don't know, county.
I'll put this in here.
I only lived in one state, my birthday, my social.
Filing status, I'm gonna do single,
just to make this easier.
Do you have dependents, no, manager, cool.
Next, nothing.
I'm not dead, I can't be claimed as a dependent.
Okay, let's add a W-2.
Now, this is pretty slick so far.
All right, whose form is this?
We're gonna say it's Anywhere Company,
and that's gonna be our 555 San Diego Avenue,
San Diego, California, 92110.
And, how much did I receive from this company?
We're gonna say that I made 59,200.
And, how much income tax was withheld?
We had 10,126, and then Social Security was 6,271.04.
How much Social Security was withheld?
Oh man, I forget this number.
Oops.
One, what do I do, 6,271.04,
and Medicare Tax was like 1,821.
All right, do, do, do, do, do.
So, we go on through here.
Anything in Box 12?
Yep, we had Elective Deferrals (mumbles).
Maxed our IRA, our 401k,
was a retirement plan.
State disability, 683.
State is California.
We're gonna go with two, two, five, five, five,
and that would be 59,200 and 3,397.
So far, so good, pretty simple.
All right, we're gonna save this W-2.
And, we're all set wit W-2s.
All right, so what else happened?
Super easy, we're gonna go and find credits and deductions.
I was self-employed.
I owned a home.
I contributed to a retirement account.
I had investment income.
I had a savings account, and...
See, the hard part is...
You know, some of this stuff doesn't come up.
So, my household of single, your W-2, so healthcare.
Everyone is required to report their healthcare coverage.
Did everyone in your household have healthcare, yes.
No penalty, next, great.
Did you purchase healthcare through a marketplace, no.
See how the health insurance impacts your returns.
It didn't, great.
All right, I was self-employed, I had a...
Oh, let's go back.
We just drove for--
Let's say we drove for Uber.
Let's do this, I drove for Uber or Lyft.
And, next.
What the heck?
I wanted to say I drove for Uber or Lyft.
Oh, I guess I have to add it, okay.
Uber.
All right, I guess I'm gonna add my address.
(mumbles)
I don't understand why it made me type Uber,
but then it doesn't put anything
in here for me automatically.
All right, principle business, driving.
I don't know, I will say transportation, and I was a...
Sure, other.
I don't know, we'll say this, all right.
Did you make any payments, no, no.
Did you materially participate, yes.
Is all your bus, yes.
Did you, yes.
No, okay.
Great, my gross income, I'll say I made $2,500.
Great.
And, the important thing is if you drove for Uber or Lyft,
to make sure that you deduct any fees, insurance.
We had insurance costs of 300.
That was my car insurance for my Uber policy.
And then, I'm gonna say 100.
And then, there should be travel.
No, it's not travel expense.
There should be mileage up in here.
Do you want to claim, no.
I do want to claim mileage, though.
Do you have, yes.
Do that are related to Uber.
I have an Acura TL.
Date placed in service, 01/01/2017, next.
This is miles driven, I drove...
We'll just say I drove 2,500 miles.
I'll use the standard mileage rate.
Was there another vehicle available, yes.
Was the vehicle available, personal use?
Do you have any, yes.
And then, yes, is that evidence written.
You use Everlance, and it's all written down.
Cool.
And, next.
(sighs) No long-term care.
Nothing, come on.
Click below to add a new--
I don't wanna add a new asset.
Perfect, done.
All right, I made $762 for driving for Uber.
Mortgage interest paid.
My mortgage interest paid was $12,000.
All right, got it.
Okay, real estate taxes paid, I paid $6,000.
Okay, scrollin' again, scrollin' again.
I didn't have any of those.
I made a, Robert's Roth traditional.
We are gonna FIRE.
So, you want a traditional if you're gonna FIRE,
Financially Independent Retire Early.
All right, dividend interest income.
This was the one that was acting funky before.
I'm glad they got that fixed.
Okay, add this.
USAA, paid me 120.
Oh, no.
It didn't like my fake number.
All right, let's do that one.
And then, we just want $120.
Perfect, it's funny that they ask that because...
Also, other software, is not asking that, come on.
Let's get through this, this is just interest.
All right, no.
Keep goin', what the heck?
All right.
And then, we scroll through it again.
We'll start with some dividend income.
And, I really wish there was a nice import here,
but there is not.
Fidelity (mumbles).
There we go.
And then, 1,200, they're all qualified dividends.
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness, these four.
Ya could have put--
So it's funny, like you put all this on 10 pages,
but you make me scroll, scroll, scroll here.
All right, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.
HSA contributions, yeah, we did our HSA contributions.
Who has an HSA?
I have an HSA.
Did (mumbles), yes.
I contributed...
(mumbles)
All right.
Let's just go check this because this
is where we found some things.
No, that's nothing there.
And then, no, and then--
These sections don't apply to you, but they do.
And, this is the whole thing.
I donated to charity, I had tax payments,
and then uncommon income,
which is your prior year's state tax refund,
non-qualified dividends.
Some of that stuff might, and other tax items.
Oh, these are the other stuff.
So, you know as you can see, it's pretty easy to use,
but it is a little trickier to navigate.
It's not self-guided, you have to like kinda scroll
through and see everything that you covered.
So, it's not hard.
And, I do like it, it is free.
But at the same time, there's just better free,
if that makes any sense to you.
So if you're already qualifying for free,
you know, check out H&R Block.
And, you know, the self-employment stuff in here
is a little jenky, you know, and like I said,
I don't know if they've caught all the bug
that they had is past ones.
California isn't accepting state tax returns yet,
which is a notice on the bottom.
It's just slightly cut off in the video.
So, that's kind of a bummer.
And so, I just feel like Credit Karma Tax
still has a ways to go before you really
use it to file your return.
A lot of people had problems last year
and Credit Karma was just not up to the tasks
of helping these people get the results they wanted.
So hopefully, that's changed in 2018.
I would love to know your experience.
If you used Credit Karma Tax, let me know.
If you tried to use it and it didn't work out,
share it in the comments as well
that way, we can let others know
and other people can be aware of what is
going on with Credit Karma Tax.
It's a very popular program.
A lot of people are interested in it.
So, it's important to share.
All right guys, hopefully you found this video useful.
You got to kinda dive in and see what Credit Karma Tax
looks like, what it's all about.
And, let us know how it worked out for ya.
All right guys, thanks.