The time of most dread and stress for every American is surely the nearing of tax season every year. You have to be drifted away by the worry of high tax bills for the year, and even if you have tax returns, it is even more stressful to get all the documentation in place before the right time so that you do not miss out on any. Speaking of the tax season, it is nearing on its way for the record year 2019 as it begins officially from 27th December 2020 onwards, and that gives everyone quite a little amount of time to get their documentation in place.
The beginning of every season is when the IRS starts accepting the processes of tax filing and VAT returns. Usually, you have time until April to wind everything up but who wants to wait that long for a tax return or under the dread of paying huge sums in a short period of time?
The tax season of 2020 doesn’t only bring stress and bad news, but this time, the IRS has signed deals with multiple companies for the preparation of free returns electronically. This is going to ease up the process of filing and figuring out how much you have to pay by facilitating you through the internet at your home.
What Is The Free File Program?
It was initially introduced as early as 2003 and has been recorded to have filed tax forms worth nearly $60 million, which is a fairly impressive amount for a single method overcoming the obstacles that are going to covered in the latter writing.
The breakthrough update for the tax season of 2020 is that the IRS has now integrated the free filing system on to its website, which can be accessed by opening the official website of the IRS and going to the free file section or simply by entering “IRS.gov/freefil” in a search engine. It is going to be available completely free of cost for all taxpayers who have a gross income of less than $69,000. It has become online a functional since the noon of 10th Jan, just a while before the beginning of the new tax season; the only catch remains that the taxpayers won’t be able to process their tax files until the official beginning of the new tax season.
Which Companies Are Participating In The Free File Program?
Even after the introduction of such a user-friendly platform for the processing of taxes, knowing which companies are participating still remains a technical task for many taxpayers. It has been made even easier this year since the IRS has integrated their partner companies to their own official website, you can find the list of all companies on the official page of IRS in the free file section, which has been mentioned above. Once you find the company that you had been looking for and click on it, you will be automatically navigated to the website of the company where you can start processing your taxes. The eligibility criterion varies from company to company as each one has its own requirements regarding the income, state or age.
What Is Different About The Free File Program In 2020?
This year, the IRS has prohibited all companies from continuing these practices under the free file program, and also to remove any or all coding that prevents their website from being shown on the search engines. Moreover, the companies have been held under a regulation to must include a link to the official IRS free file program to direct the taxpayers who are not eligible under the criteria of the specific company. This gives the taxpayers a chance to toggle through other companies from the list to find out their eligibility for their tax planning from other companies.
