this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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Okay so the "paying" is for when you use third parties to "help" you file, yes? You don't pay the government for the privilege of being able to file, yes? So what does/did this Free File thing do?
Taxes aren't easy in Germany either, I'm glad I have a husband who is level-headed enough to do them for us both because I'd always have a near mental breakdown when I tried. But it's always been obvious to me where and how to file without involving anyone I'd have to pay. Fuck.
Personal filing is always free, the "free" in "free filing" refers to the prep part. It just means you fill out and submit your taxes yourself rather than paying a tax firm's accountants to do it for you. Calling it that makes it seem like the firms are part of the process rather than bloated parasites feeding off taxpayers. I wouldn't be surprised if the name was also a result of their influence.
Their accountants can claim exemptions and rebates buried in the tax code that laymen wouldn't know exist - ones that they lobbied for to make their services more attractive. It makes them worthwhile for some households, but only because they're solving a problem they birthed and grew in the first place.
IRS Direct File was just a free government-run alternative to the tax filing programs like TurboTax.
You can still do your taxes by hand without the help of any software for free, but they've killed the website that fills out the forms automatically and the manual process is significantly more complicated.
Free file is software that people use to file. As far as I'm aware, it's always been free to print out the forms and mail it all in.