“Free” usually just means the most basic return with no real complexity. Once anything slightly outside that shows up, they start adding fees.
It’s not really an IRS thing, it’s the software companies. They advertise free to get people in, then charge once the return isn’t simple anymore.
If your return is just a W2 and nothing else, you can usually get it done free. As soon as you add anything like 1099 income, credits, or multiple states, that’s when it stops being free pretty quick.
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If your AGI is under $51,000, state and federal are free here:
https://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile2025/
If over $51,000 state is $15, federal is free.
Yeah this comes up every year.
“Free” usually just means the most basic return with no real complexity. Once anything slightly outside that shows up, they start adding fees.
It’s not really an IRS thing, it’s the software companies. They advertise free to get people in, then charge once the return isn’t simple anymore.
If your return is just a W2 and nothing else, you can usually get it done free. As soon as you add anything like 1099 income, credits, or multiple states, that’s when it stops being free pretty quick.