Best options for free/low cost US tax filing that includes stock sales?

[Fru-Gal]

Last year I paid $273!!! For TurboTax self-employed plus my state. I think I may not do a schedule C this year so the only complicated thing is stock sales, I guess (otherwise it’s possible our AGI is low enough to qualify for IRS free filing — but it says stock sales disqualify you for that).

I also have 1099-MISC income… shoot, does this have to require a self-employed form?

Is FreeTaxUSA good? Taxslayer has some good reviews.

I’ve used TurboTax for many years, price just keeps going up… They are also tricky in that apparently once you start with one product (Self-Employed in my case), you have to wipe everything clean and start over to switch to a cheaper product.

[YttriumNitrate]

I used TurboTax for a while, but the pricing got ridiculous so I switched to FreeTaxUSA. I'm not self employed, but do have rental income, (usually) stock sales, and filing in two different states. I found FreeTaxUSA to be just as good as Turbo tax for a fraction of the price (usually $20-40 for state and federal).

Switching over is a bit of a pain in the ass since nothing will be auto-populated from the previous years, but in the long run it was definitely worth it for me.

[seattlecyclone]

There's always Free File Fillable Forms for those who aren't afraid of the pencil and paper method. Any income level allowed, most forms supported (definitely including Schedules C and D).

[Fru-Gal]

Thx! I remember reading that someone on this forum used TurboTax to figure everything out, then used a free service or the fillable forms to submit.

[RWD]

I've used FreeTaxUSA for the last six years and plan to use it again this year. I've been very happy with it (previously used TurboTax and TaxAct).

[nalor511]

OLT.com, 9.95 for state e-file. Freetaxusa.com, $15

[gary3411]

FreeTaxUSA is great, never had an issue in 4 years now, including stock sales and MISC

[elysianfields]

We used Free File Fillable Forms for many years until our State stopped offering them last year.  Since we expected a State refund, we didn't want to file on paper, so we switched to FreeTaxUSA and were very happy (free Federal and $14.99 State).

I still think preparing one's taxes in FFFF is a good practice to remain familiar with tax provisions which affect us.

[pmac]

1040.com has been great.

I used to use TurboTax, but they got too expensive, and I find 1040.com does a way better job.

[Psychstache]

FreeTaxUSA is great, never had an issue in 4 years now, including stock sales and MISC

+1. This year I had stock sales, hsa contributions, crytosales, itemized deductions, multiple random credits, possible consideration for AMT, MISC income, and had no issues getting it all entered.

Total cost for federal return: $0

[Calimerostache]

Thanks to everyone here.
I just tried Freetax USA and this is indeed free (for federal) and very simple.
I transferred my 2021 turbo tax file shuck prepoluated some info (worked well) and then submitted my 2022 info.
I had already started working with TurboTax for this year but had not filed yet.
So I was able to compare the results and Both refund came exactly to the same results to the dollar.

This is a great alternative to turbo tax which would have charged me $69 for a somewhat simple tax filing (W2, 1099int, 1099div, 1099 sa). I had made some over contribution on HsA and Ira and it provided the right answer / adjustments for this.

The main difference is that while you can import W2 as pdf similarly to TurboTax, you have to manually enter the 1099s. In my opinion this is really not a big deal.
Thanks again to the community for sharing this.