Contributed by: AndreaS, FreeTaxUSA Agent, Tax Pro
You’ve started an account in FreeTaxUSA but are a little uncertain about how our software works! No worries, here’s some tips and tricks so you can navigate through the software like a pro.
How does it work?
Our software works like an interview; it will ask you some basic questions and all you need to do is answer! When you start, all the different sections are greyed out until you reach them and unlock the screen.
Keeping each screen locked in the beginning prevents you from jumping ahead and ensures you don’t miss anything your first time through entering your information. You’ll enter your information in this order:
- Personal
- Income
- Itemized Deductions
- Other Credits and Deductions
- Miscellaneous Situations
- State Return(s)
- Finalization of Return(s)
At the top of the screen, you’ll see a calculated refund or tax owed based on your current entries, green for refund, red for tax due. This number will change a lot as you enter your information, so don’t think it’s the final number and don’t panic!
Keep working your way through the screens, entering all your tax information, and you’ll get your final number calculation when you reach the last section of the software.
Some things to keep in mind
FreeTaxUSA has some great tools to help make your filing experience easier!
- Save your progress: Every time you click save at the bottom of the screen, it will save everything you’ve entered so far. That means you can enter a form or two and then come back later to finish without losing your progress!
- Move quickly to a screen you need: You can use the tabs at the top of the screen to open a drop-down menu for each unlocked section, which allows you to quickly jump from one section to another. This makes it easy to navigate various parts of the software if you want to revisit a specific topic.
- Clarifying Details: Click on blue question marks to get a more detailed explanation of what the question is asking, how something is calculated or what information is needed.
Click the three dots on the right side to open these tools:
- Bookmark to come back: You can bookmark a screen you want to come back to later and include notes, so you remember why.
- See where the numbers are going: You can view a PDF of your federal return as you make entries, allowing you to keep checking how things are calculating on your return.
- Have you been to that screen?: You can see your Page History to easily jump back to where you were.
Features to help you
FreeTaxUSA has several features to make your filing a smoother process. We like to make sure you have the best experience possible! Some things you can look forward to in your FreeTaxUSA filing experience:
- Upload income tax forms: You can choose to upload some of your forms, such as your W-2, 1099-B or stock summary statement, rather than entering them manually. While this option isn’t available for every form yet, we add more every year to make entering your tax information quicker and easier.
- Federal entries carry over: Anything you enter in the federal section of the software that is needed on a state return will be carried over to that return for you automatically! This will save you a lot of time, so you don’t need to enter things twice.
- Prior year rollover: As you continue to use FreeTaxUSA each year, we’ll roll over information from the previous year when you start the tax return for the following year, as long as the prior year was finalized. This means you won’t need to enter things like your personal information again. We also roll over your sources of income. For example, if you still work for the same employer or receive interest from the same bank, all their information will transfer from year to year. You just need to click Start next to that entry to add the numbers on your current year form. If a source of income no longer applies to the current year, simply delete it to remove it from your current year tax return.
- Free federal extensions: When you realize you may not get all your tax forms on time to file by the deadline, we offer free federal extensions! Most states give an automatic extension with a federal extension; you can use our FAQ search tool to see if your state participates. Just remember, taxes owed are still due by the tax deadline, even with an extension.
- Additional products: It’s not required, but we do offer some additional services that can help you in your preparation journey. Deluxe Support provides you with priority support, live chat and unlimited amendments. Pro Support includes all the features of Deluxe Support and also gives you access to tax advice from our tax professionals through live chat, email, or a scheduled phone call. Audit Defense can help you navigate a notice or letter you receive in the mail from the IRS or state and help you resolve any related issues.
Additional support
While there are a lot of great tools at your disposal, you may sometimes still get stuck. No problem! You can click Support at the top of the screen to reach out to an agent in our Support Center, free of charge. You’ll get a reply from a live agent who will be more than happy to provide you with the resources you need to be successful!