FYI: Free File Fillable Forms are in flux

"Charles Packer" wrote

Thanks for the update.

I could only get the first four pages to print. That left out the D. Help desk email said to call IRS. HA!

Efiling gave a 103 error - "W2 tax doesnt match". Googling tax archives found that was a mistake in a previous vendors' software, that may have been repeated in FFFF. It may not have caught an estimated tax payment or there was an identity theft problem (someone used by SS for income). So I just mailed them in. I was hoping for a faster refund.

The FFFF work mostly as advertised - free, does your arithmetic for you, and gives almost the same answer as Turbo Tax. FFFF rounds to the dollar as you enter numbers. TT adds numbers together first, then rounds.

Free File has been a disaster for me. First, it took four weeks for the IRS and Free File Alliance to correct a software mistake that caused all tax returns using Schedule C to get rejected. Then, when I finally filed my return, a different form was deleted without my knowledge, costing me more than $1,000 in my refund. Now, I have to file an amended return by mail -- more paperwork and more delays. The IRS help desk is a contradiction in terms and the Free File Alliance provides zero customer service. I was able only to speak with a PR flack who confided in me that providing this wider service is not something the alliance ever intended to do. They are now stuck with it but don't have the resources to properly support it.

Last I read at the official web site, the existing Free File Alliance agreement ends this Oct 15th, coinciding with the end of e-filing for

-Mark Bole

The Free File Fillable Forms, laboriously reached from

My feeling is that the very lucrative tax preparation alliance is terrified that if the IRS actually allows taxpayers to prepare their own filings online using linked tax forms, their phony biz model tanks. The only reason the tax prep industry exists is because of the tax code complexity - the very thing that computers are designed and so adept at handling.

BTW, the H&R Block tax prep software is designed to collect personal data and build a personal information file on each user and is only peripherally associated with taxes. Their "Privacy Notice" is laughable consisting of assertions as to how carefully they handle the unlimited amount of personal data, including medical info, they collect together with assurances that the data will only be used and revealed inside their own organizations and to any company with which they are affiliated or associated and for any purpose that they deem legitimate.

I am still waiting for an answer from IRS tech Help on the Create An Account problem but suspect that I will not get an answer before the

in article snipped-for-privacy@j8g2000yql.googlegroups.com, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com at snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote on 3/21/09 12:24 AM:

Now that we all know how frustrated you are with the IRS and the tax industry, exactly what kind of help are you requesting from this group of professionals who provide tax help for free during their busiest time of year?

Uncompensated advice guaranteed correct or double your money back

Frank S. Duke, Jr. CPA Cincinnati, OH USA