[wespad]

https://www.freetaxusa.com/ and their parent company https://www.taxhawk.com/

They charge $14.99 for the state filing. Usually a coupon code available. Or go to the state's website (CA at least), and file that for free, too. But for the convenience of not having to input my info again, I'll pay their fee.

[gavinhoward]

Relative of a TaxHawk employee here. I'd be happy to pass along any bugs or issues since they probably don't have any employees on HN.

Also, supporting TaxHawk means supporting a company that cares about their employees. They have done so many things for my relative that it makes me jealous. They have also kept raising wages ahead of inflation.

Anyway, TaxHawk is a great company to support!

[wardedVibe]

Been filing with freetaxusa for years, glad to hear its also good for the employees.

[tennisflyi]

That's what I like to hear.

[KyleJune]

At what point is it recommended to not use a software like freetaxusa? I've been using it for years.

[HaloZero]

I volunteer with VITA and do taxes a lot but not a full time accountant. I've been doing my own taxes for years.

I would say you need your own accountant and not software if:

1) You have complexities involving trusts/inheritance

2) Anything involving crypto (this is just a grey area to me and things change)

3) Anything that sounds more complex than anything above.

If you're getting a bunch of 1099-DIVs/INT & W2/W9s it's not super complex.

[jcranmer]

4) You run your own business.

5) Foreign income, other than simple investment income (e.g., own stocks in foreign companies).

[itake]

6) your employer submits incorrect w2s

[dmoy]

That's pretty easy to handle with freetaxusa, at least it was the last two times I did it

[roflyear]

Yeah. When you start your own business, that should be when you talk to an accountant. Well, maybe as soon as you think you'll make enough money to pay taxes. It saves you a world of heartache.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

Crypto is simple. Anything mined/airdroped is ordinary income, anything bought and later sold is capital gains.

[daveguy]

If you held it for over year. Otherwise it's income of sale price - cost basis. Don't know about fees. I'm not an accountant, but I do know you have to hold an asset for at least 1 yr to count it as capital gains.

[drdec]

> I do know you have to hold an asset for at least 1 yr to count it as capital gains.

That is not true. Perhaps what you mean is that capital gains on assets held less than a year are taxed at a different rate than capital gains on assets held longer than a year?

Don't mean to get pedantic but I didn't want someone to read your comment and think that they owe no taxes on short-term capital gains. (What a crazy tax incentive that would be!)

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

less than a year is called short term capital gains, it's basically same as ordinary income, except can be negative )

[moneywoes]

Being a US citizen abroad. I’m in this situation and have had to pay huge sums to accountants

If anyone has any recommendations I’m all ears

[jakobov]

How much are you paying? I have a good accountant that does my ex-pat taxes for $250

[ricksunny]

Could you refer this accountant for expats? :)

[jakobov]

email me [e-mail]

[moneywoes]

$3k for just US returns

[ahoyhoy]

I have used Taxes For Expats for years and have been satisfied with their software and level of service, however for my particular case they cost several hundred dollars per return.

[netfortius]

Have you tried filtering for what you may need here: https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/ ?

[woodson]

I used this in the past for a relatively complex US/foreign situation: https://www.myexpattaxes.com/

No affiliation or anything.

[netfortius]

Have you not found what you need(ed) here (by filtering for expat specifics): https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/ ?

[1123581321]

Which forms have been driving the need for that? I'm assuming you've tried and found lacking the standard tax software recommendations among expats.

[patrakov]

Why is custom software necessary at all? In the Philippines, if you are registered with eFPS, and have an account in one of the accredited banks, nothing is needed except a web browser.

[1123581321]

I’m not sure what you mean by custom non-browser software. It wasn’t something I intended to refer to.

[patrakov]

Then it is a misunderstanding on my side.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

For me, it wasn't the forms, but live person's advice about murky sections of the tax code. I used taxesforexpats.com

[1123581321]

Makes sense. I used to prepare taxes so I appreciate the value of human insight there. I also have contempt for the industry because so few practitioners will teach easy cases to fish, or refrain from optimizing a return when the cost of prep exceeds the amount saved. (Not saying your situation is easy; it’s not.) Plus I do think it’s time the IRS stepped up automation for simple returns.

[aetherane]

BrightTax worked well for me for several years where i was abroad

[notyourwork]

Why are you paying an accountant?

[pclmulqdq]

It turns out that paying an accountant is a good defense against audits if your tax situation has any complexity at all

[pxx]

Is it though. You're the one liable for issues on your tax return. You're the one who signed the return.

[xeromal]

There is actually a spot on tax forms that indicate the form is being filled and filed by a 3rd party.

[pclmulqdq]

If you file a complicated tax return and the "prepared by" line is not a CPA, you get targeted as someone who probably did something wrong. The IRS is more likely to go for you.

[notyourwork]

Sorry I assumed my question implied that was what was being asked. What is the complexity because I’ve done my own taxes for two decades, every year things are nuanced and slightly different. Never have I used an accountant.

[JumpCrisscross]

> What is the complexity

I send my bank statements, credit card bills and other documents to my accountant. He produces a return, together with optimisation advice for the coming year. It’s well worth the money. (I also have real estate, private equity, fund interests and emerging trust situations, and am multi-state.)

[pclmulqdq]

The value is:

1. You don't have to figure out which forms to file by yourself. This quickly becomes non-trivial if you run a business, take a lot of deductions, or have weird forms of income.

2. The IRS sees that your return was prepared by a professional, so it is much less likely that they will try for an audit (since a professional will be representing you).

If your tax liability is under $100k and your return is under ~20 pages, you mostly don't need one, but an accountant also doesn't charge much either (about the same price as TurboTax).

[CalRobert]

I value my time. Learning the details of totalization agreements regarding ss contributions vs public retirement contributions for US vs. Ireland is not how I want to spend it.

[refurb]

It's pretty complex actually. There are multiple ways to avoid double taxation, but each have their own nuances and limitations (that can extend for years). Ideally you'd complete the return for each scenario and compare across them.

[bmitc]

FreeTaxUSA can be confusing though. It makes it quite unclear what is contributing to what portion of your tax bill. I like it better than the other more popular, mainstream options, but its usability isn't great. I never have full confidence I'm paying the correct amount or getting the correct amount as a refund.

[marzell]

|what is contributing to what portion of your tax bill

Do you have an example of what other products provide for this? Does IRS Free File do better in this regard?

[irowe]

Well IRS Free File isn’t one single service. It’s a coalition of private tax prep services that have agreed with the IRS to provide their software for free to taxpayers meeting certain constraints. The insight into how your liabilities stack up certainly varies by product (I found TaxAct did this quite well, but I’ve stopped using them and started filing out the forms directly since I no longer qualify for the free file program).

[gavinhoward]

Relative of an employee here.

My relative has had to do UX work, and at least to me, it sounds like they care about it. But my relative also talks about how they're not the best at it.

So can you explain in more detail what you are wanting? Do you want some sort of way to see a line item list of what the tax bill is?

[radlad]

Interestingly I've found it much easier to use than TurboTax for some tricky tax situations I've found myself in.

[jlv2]

I have a big problem with FreeTaxUsa... I don't want my tax return data on their server. I want to have something I can run on my own computer.

(and it really bothers me that taxhawk.com and freetaxusa.com are mimics of each other... why have two sites with different branding that are under the cover the same thing?)

[gavinhoward]

Relative of an employee of FreeTaxUSA/TaxHawk.

The two sites are targeting different kinds of people. That's why they exist. They are the same (and same company) because in the end, everyone has to go through the same processes for taxes.

As for keeping the tax return data on their server, it's for convenience and possibly for other reasons. My relative believes that, for legal reasons, FreeTaxUSA is considered a "tax preparer" and needs to keep those records.

[niij]

+1. I find them to be the least-bad option. They have all the forms I need even for a moderately complicated tax situation. They're cheap. And most importantly they aren't one of the evil companies lobbying for more complicated tax code (Intuit and H&R Block) .

[JadeNB]

> They charge $14.99 for the state filing. Usually a coupon code available. Or go to the state's website (CA at least), and file that for free, too. But for the convenience of not having to input my info again, I'll pay their fee.

Some states don't offer a free-file option. My memory, which is at least a few years out of date, is that MI doesn't.

[bityard]

IIRC, Freetaxusa will walk you through the state taxes and if you look through the UI, you can see the MI forms that it filled out. At that point, you could copy their forms to your own and mail them in yourself, but I've always paid the $15 to have them file it because I feel they've earned it.

[JadeNB]

> IIRC, Freetaxusa will walk you through the state taxes and if you look through the UI, you can see the MI forms that it filled out. At that point, you could copy their forms to your own and mail them in yourself, but I've always paid the $15 to have them file it because I feel they've earned it.

My problem has never been with the filling out the forms—my situation isn't complicated enough for that to be difficult, especially compared with the federal forms; it's with the filing. I just get so annoyed at the refusal of these agencies (like MI's, at least back when I incurred taxes there) to accept something that is surely more convenient for them and for me both, namely for me to file electronically. What do they gain by requiring me to print out and mail them a paper document that they then have to open and scan?

[mamcx]

This could work for deal with an LLC former from abroad? Not us citizen?

[PaywallBuster]

I think foreign owned LLCs need someone to submit on their behalf (CPA or something)

I've looked at https://www.trybookmate.co/tax previously