[mixmastamyk]

No, I didn’t enter PII into it, just let it do math, downloaded, and printed. Wrote contact info by hand.

(The efiling never worked for me, always complained about something esoteric.)

They’re just values as far as it’s concerned. And it is dumped every October. But phone # validation up front is too much, an overstep.

Like I said, I just used it for the calc ability so a spreadsheet works as well. Bit of work the first year, then tweak.

[simoncion]

Weird. The electronic filing has worked flawless for me every year for the past like four or five years. Was the "esoteric" complaint delivered as an email after you'd submitted your paperwork? If so, then in my experience, that's because you've fucked up the data you input into the form and the IRS's backend has a funny-but-useful way of spelling that.

> But phone # validation up front is too much, an overstep.

They definitely didn't do this to me any of the years I've used them to file taxes. When did you file yours? Did you file them long after the 2024 taxes were due?

[mixmastamyk]

Started asking about two or three years ago at registration, didn’t try last year. My return is complicated and it couldn’t handle some obscure form. But don’t remember which. On time.

[simoncion]

> Started asking about two or three years ago at registration...

Very odd. I wonder (but not enough to investigate) what's so different between your situation and mine that I'd not be asked for a phone number during initial configuration.

[mixmastamyk]

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-fillable-forms/free-fil...

"Email and phone verification

If you are not receiving the verification codes, from both sources, you will not be able to create an account:"