(harmonious chord)
- Hey guys, it's Robert from The College Investor,
and today we are gonna dive into FreeTaxUSA 2018-2019,
and I'm gonna show you why I call them
the best bargain tax software this year.
This also applies to TaxHawk which is their partner company.
They kind of are the exact same website
with different branding.
So, I don't really know, but they're the same company,
and we're gonna dive in and I'm gonna show you
why they are the best bargain tax software company.
The thing is is so TaxHawk and FreeTaxUSA
are some of the cheapest options available
if you have to pay to file your return.
Their federal pricing is zero dollars for simple filers,
but you still pay a state tax.
They don't have a totally free version
like you're going to find with
H&R Block or TurboTax or TaxSlayer,
and their deluxe version, if you need audit assistance,
starts at $6.99 for federal filers.
So it's some of the lowest pricing
you're gonna find out there which is awesome,
but with low prices also comes
pretty bare bones tax software.
But if you know what you're doing
and you don't need that much guidance for your tax return,
well, FreeTaxUSA could be the tax software for you.
They do have pretty easy navigation, pretty easy inputs
and they've been iterating and improving it a little bit
year after year after year,
but it doesn't have a ton of guided navigation.
So this tax software is the best
if you know what you're doing
and you just want something that's really cheap
and pretty effective at getting the job done.
So, without me continuing to go on, let's dive in.
I'm gonna share my screen with you right now
and you can see what FreeTaxUSA and TaxHawk
look like for 2018-2019.
Okay, so looking at FreeTaxUSA,
you come to their homepage
and this is what you got going on.
You got your
Do it right. Do it for free.
Start your 2018 taxes.
Federal, zero. State, $12.95.
It is definitely bare bones.
And now, I just wanted to show you this
really quick on video.
So this is FreeTaxUSA and then we're gonna go to TaxHawk,
and it's like the same thing, $12.95,
and then we go back to FreeTaxUSA,
and we go to TaxHawk
and FreeTaxUSA
and TaxHawk.
Anyways, they are like the same company.
I don't know why they change it up
just a little bit like they do, but they do.
But we're gonna talk about FreeTaxUSA.
We're gonna use their interface.
It's exactly the same with just different branding.
So when you click start your return, this is what you get.
You jump right in
and you have your taxpayer information here.
This is the 2018 edition,
so we got Dave Strong, he's a manager.
You enter your information here.
It's pretty bare bones.
That's okay, though.
We're gonna be...
I'm gonna do head of household just so that we have,
we can see with the dependents.
I do have a dependent.
The one thing I really like about this is
how easy it is to input everything.
They really make it...
2017...
Does your dependent live with you, yes.
Child at home.
Is your dependent (mumbles), yes.
So, it's super easy.
Their interface is great.
It just doesn't have a ton of navigation.
It doesn't have a ton of help and support,
but, I mean, it's just...
It's super easy to get through and rock and roll with this.
We don't need to upgrade to deluxe.
We talk about this on the blog,
but for $6.99 you can get
audit assistance and priority live chat,
but if you just wanna keep it cheap...
Let's continue to our income.
So we're gonna do, we're gonna edit many company,
and that's all good.
Let's enter our stuff here.
51,350
and 5-8-5-0.
This is gonna be 68,799.
And remember, this is all coming off the W2, guys,
so I'm trying to make this up as we go,
but you guys will have this on your own W-2s.
We had a 401k contribution and that's 879.
That's a retirement plan,
(mumbles)
And that's gonna be 688.
Then you have your state information
down here at the bottom if you have a state return.
One, and this is gonna be 51,350.
And this is gonna be 1513.
All right, let's hit save and continue and rock and roll.
As you can see, they do it a little different,
so they have my federal return at that right now.
It'll be $2,000 more once I get to the credits.
Yes, if any state...
That is gonna be 688.
Nope, that's what it was, okay.
Trying to get this, all right, there we go.
And do we have any other income?
We're gonna do interest income.
I do have interest income
We're gonna say it's our US Bank 121,
just to keep this consistent across all of our reviews.
Perfect, I don't need to enter any more interest income,
any business income, uncommon income.
So, see, they don't walk you through it all.
They do kind of want you to know what it all is,
but it's laid out really well
and then you get your income summary right here.
So let's continue to our deductions.
Did you make any Roth contributions, no.
So we're gonna get the standard deduction this year.
Anything here, I don't think so.
Donations to charity, no.
Yeah.
Everyone had health insurance all year.
Employer provided health insurance.
Cool.
Did you have college tuition, no.
Did you have student loan interest, no.
Are you a full-time teacher, no.
Earned income.
Did you make any...
No, I did not.
Did you pay any work-related childcare expenses?
I did, yes.
We can enter our childcare provider
as San Diego Church School.
This is 5,000 bucks and we're gonna do 5-8 (mumbles).
And we'll just do...
I'll do this, I don't know.
(mumbles)
And the street address, (mumbles) 4 San Diego Avenue.
San Diego, California, 92110.
Great!
And then, no.
No more providers.
And I paid them $5,000.
Perfect, so I get another $600 credit there.
And then...
Any other deductions and credits.
Health savings, job expenses.
I don't know where the child tax credit is yet.
Hm, childcare credit, where's the child tax credit?
It's weird that it's putting my federal refund at that
when everyone else's was putting it at twice that.
No estimated payments.
Continue.
Do you want to go through the refund maximizer, no.
Continue, continue.
Hm, I'm just puzzled by this
'cause when you compare this to what we were getting
at every other major place,
something seems to be off a little bit
but I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's what I entered from my taxes.
I've been known to make...
(mumbles) 3850.
Hmm, that's what it is.
I entered the wrong amount on my W-2,
so let's go back.
Let's go fix our W-2 really quick.
We'll edit this.
It happens.
There it is, federal income tax withheld should be 5850.
There we go, 4266.
And now let's save that.
There we go.
Now everything makes more sense.
But just super easy to edit.
One click, ready to rock and roll.
Great, now it's ready to file
except that the IRS does not begin e-filing
until mid to late January.
We will be accepting e-file returns on January 2nd,
and so we're just gonna have to wait there.
But as you could see, FreeTaxUSA, super easy to use.
TaxHawk is the same thing, it's super easy to use.
I highly recommend it.
It's the best bargain software.
You have to know a little bit more about what you're doing.
It's not as sexy as TurboTax
and it's not as easy to navigate as H&R Block or TaxSlayer,
but it's all here.
So if you are at all experienced in your taxes,
FreeTaxUSA is like a no-brainer
for the cost and what you get.
All right, guys, hopefully that makes sense to you,
and I will see you in the next tax review.