Talk:Free File Alliance

Limitations on Free File?

I can't find any reference on the IRS website or H&R Block's Website about any limitations except for the $54,000 AGI limitation. This said, H&R Block's Free File website says (after I've filled out allllll the electronic paperwork) that I don't qualify for Free File. What gives? Where is this limitation specified? --Gadlen (talk) 23:11, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Controversies?

I've been looking around a bit for negative coverage on this "alliance" and haven't found any really mainstream sources. The blog post "Free File Fillable Forms: Not Directly With IRS" seems to have the most discussion, including the discussion about freefillableforms.org (apparently run by H&R Block) versus freefillableforms.com (apparently run by Intuit). Someone also pointed out to a letter made by the alliance in 2007 (" Free File Alliance Sends Letter To Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley Outlining Concerns Regarding Creation of Government-Sponsored Competitor To Industry" showing how they lobby Congress to stop the government from directly accepting web-based forms. Unfortunately, the alliance's websites are deliberately crippled which makes it very difficult to submit a tax return with any amount of capital gains. Oh well... II | (t - c) 20:58, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

I have no sources for this, so I won't edit the article, but I do have a recollection of how this went down-- the IRS intended to allow the public to file their own taxes online, which makes eminent sense. Why would they accept paper forms but not electronic forms? Anyway, the tax preparation software companies freaked out at the idea that anyone could submit their taxes electronically and lobbied heavily to stop it from happening. This was the "compromise"-- a crippled version of the tax prep software, barely publicized, available to only a subset of the American public. --Replysixty (talk) 08:23, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

The article really should have a criticisms section.Its not at all hard to find sources..a program that inflicts substantial harm on taxpayers by facilitating predatory upselling of paid products to Free File users, violating taxpayer privacy laws and stripping taxpayers of legal remedies in the event of disputes with FFA companies. the hill. "The Internal Revenue Service’s partnership with private firms to provide free tax preparation to millions of filers has serious flaws " wall street journal, etc https://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-commissioned-report-responds-to-criticism-over-free-file-program-11570576703 (I dont have a subscription to read that whole article or I'd add it to the main page ) Gjxj (talk) 16:28, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

I've added a criticism section based on the ProPublica and The Verge articles. Soapwort (talk) 04:51, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Free File Alliance/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

==WP Tax Class== Start class because little content.EECavazos 03:19, 11 November 2007 (UTC) ==WP Tax Priority== Low priority because on a tax prep group.EECavazos 03:19, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Last edited at 03:19, 11 November 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 15:35, 29 April 2016 (UTC)