free tax program that supports 1099-MISC?

[MJseast]

Hi. I'm trying to help a good friend do his taxes. He only made $3k last year (yeah, really), but unfortunately $1700 of that was from a 1099-MISC, and the rest W2. He has no other deductions he can take (except he may have $3k to put in an IRA), so I thought going through the forms manually would be super simple. But it's not that simple and I feel like I'm missing something and getting confused.

Anyone know of a free tax program to use? $80 for Turbo Tax seems excessive for only making $3k.
Thanks!

[secondcor521]

Lots of online tax programs are available for free for low-income people.  Start here:

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

But if he only made $3K, and assuming he was not someone else's dependent, he may not even need to file a tax return unless he wants to in order to get any withholding back.  He can check if he needs to file here:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return

If he doesn't need to file federal, he might also not even need to file state or local, but you'd want to check that with his state and locality as applicable.

[MJseast]

Thank you for this info! Yes, he will need to file taxes because he received more than $400 from 1099. :(

[RWD]

FreeTaxUSA is free to file Federal taxes.

[MDM]

Thank you for this info! Yes, he will need to file taxes because he received more than $400 from 1099. :(

Can he can file Schedule C-EZ instead of Schedule C?

[MJseast]

Yes, I believe he could have filed using the Schedule C EZ. That certainly would have made it easier if I had known about that! :)

We used FreeTaxUSA (thank you RWD!) and it was super simple. Looks like he's getting a $60 refund in addition to being able to put ~ $2600 into a ROTH IRA.

Thanks all for the help!

[MDM]

There may be state-specific refunds available for low income filers.  For next year, consider
Tax Aide Class Locator
and/or
Find a Location for Free Tax Prep | Internal Revenue Service.