FreeTaxUSA
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 4 tax software by recommenders
Recommended as a cheap, easy filer that handles complicated returns, with free federal filing and a small state fee. Common caveat: no AMT support.
Recommended as a cheap, easy filer that handles complicated returns, with free federal filing and a small state fee. Common caveat: no AMT support.
27 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 22
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 22 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Low cost, free federal filing
“Reasonably priced & their forms are good for my fairly uncomplicated setup”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “IRS halts Direct File and points to other free services” “provides free federal tax filing and a nominal fee for state filing”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “IRS halts Direct File and points to other free services” “Better interface, lower cost (truly free for federal, no catch)”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “NYC's "Click to Cancel" rule is now in effect” - Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free”
- Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Vibecoding My Own TurboTax”
Easy, clean interface
“It's been good for so long I hope it doesn't get popular and go to shit.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “It was very easy and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “Better interface, lower cost (truly free for federal, no catch)”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “NYC's "Click to Cancel" rule is now in effect” - Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Dayjob: Tax – evaluating AI agents on 50 professional tax assignments”
Handles complicated returns
“Hate to sound like a shill, but they've been great. I have a more complicated return than most, but not everyone, and it handles it all”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” “I've done complicated schedule K, etc forms on it”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI” Works as well as TurboTax
“it's as good, if not better and not a scam with dark patterns”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “IRS halts Direct File and points to other free services” “works as well as turbotax”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Missing some tax cases or forms
“I had to abandon FreeTaxUSA for TurboTax because the latter handled an important case I needed better”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Dayjob: Tax – evaluating AI agents on 50 professional tax assignments” “Freetaxusa still can’t import many and various investment account forms”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “NYC's "Click to Cancel" rule is now in effect” “Unfortunately doesn't work with foreign addresses.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Intuit to lay off over 3k employees to refocus on AI”
Other tax software people recommend
The three most recommended other tax software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TurboTax | 25 | 58 | 30% | 9 | 20 yrs6 owners | — |
| FreeTaxUSAThis page | 22 | 5 | 81% | 5 | 3 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| IRS Free File Fillable Forms | 13 | 5 | 72% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Cash App Taxes | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | 1 yr3 owners | — |
What people said
25 of the 27 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's like a breath of fresh air”
“I had to abandon FreeTaxUSA for TurboTax because the latter handled an important case I needed better”
“Freetaxusa still can’t import many and various investment account forms”
“Better interface, lower cost (truly free for federal, no catch)”
“I found FreeTaxUsa and Claude to be a wonderful combination this year”
“they were within a few dollars of the other platforms, and I filed”
“at the cost of reducing consumer rights”
“Even freetaxusa isn't free.”
“freetaxusa has been pretty great honestly”
“I’ve been nothing but pleased, personally.”
“I've done complicated schedule K, etc forms on it”
“I've been using it for a few years now and it seems fine.”
“Unfortunately doesn't work with foreign addresses.”
“It's great but they don't handle AMT so I had to use TurboTax this year.”
“It's been good for so long I hope it doesn't get popular and go to shit.”
“Hate to sound like a shill, but they've been great. I have a more complicated return than most, but not everyone, and it handles it all”
“It was very easy and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.”
“I will just move to something like https://www.freetaxusa.com/”
“works as well as turbotax”
“which ended up costing me $0”
“FreeTaxUsa exists and is much cheaper than Turbo Tax.”
“Reasonably priced & their forms are good for my fairly uncomplicated setup”
“it's as good, if not better and not a scam with dark patterns”
“provides free federal tax filing and a nominal fee for state filing”
“There are already ways to file your taxes for free or very cheap”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.