TAX FILING IN THE US
The website of the Internal Revenue Service is irs.gov
TAX REFUND FRAUD
A common scam has bad guys filing "your" taxes before you and claiming a refund. To prevent this, the IRS offers an Identity Protection PIN (aka IP PIN). Note that this IP PIN is not the same as the five-digit PIN that some people use to file their taxes electronically - they are separate things, and you can have both.
AN IP PIN is a 6 digit number that is valid for only one calendar year. The IRS generates a new one for you each year and you have to logon to your IRS account every year to get the new PIN. So, step 1 is creating an IRS account which means dealing with id.me. It is generally available from mid-January through mid-November. The IP PIN is only used on Forms 1040, 1040-NR, 1040-PR, 1040-SR, and 1040-SS.
If you can get through id.me, and logon to the IRS website, the IP PIN is in the Profile Tab on the top horizontal line, to the right of your name. Look for "Identity Protection PIN". You can either opt in permanently or for just the current calendar year. When a married couple files jointly, each person with an IP PIN must enter it on their tax return.
In the early years, the IRS would provide an IP PIN only to someone who had already suffered an identity theft. By June 2023, anyone could request an IP PIN. In the old days, the IRS would snail mail you this years PIN in January. This may still be an option for some people.
TAX YEAR 2023
The IRS has a new system for filing federal taxes for free called Direct File. Not everyone is eligible and it is not available in all states. Direct File is available in English and Spanish, works on cellphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. Customer support is from the IRS. It does not support extensions or amending a return. It also does not handle State and City taxes. How does it compare to Free File? Beats me.
If your adjusted gross income for 2023 was under $73,000 and your tax situation is fairly simple, you can use a number of electronic tax filing systems for free. Start at the IRS Free File website which was scheduled to open January 12, 2024. Free File lets you file federal taxes for free; state taxes are another matter. Free File is a partnership between the IRS and some online tax-prep companies. The IRS estimates that almost 70 percent of US taxpapers qualify for Free File. Alternate Link.
SPYING aka MARKETING
US law makes your tax return is secret. But, both TurboTax the online tax prep service from H&R Block want you to give up this privacy. From: Tax preparers can only use your return information to file your taxes, unless you agree otherwise by Shira Ovide in the Washington Post. March 1, 2024. They make it hard and confusing because it is their best interest to sell and use data such as your income, home mortgage, student loan payments, etc. Every year, these companies try to sneak a permission question past you.
SCAMS REGARDING FILING FOR FREE
Many developed countries allow most citizens to file their taxes for free. In the US, this was the stated intent, but the scheme was corrupted. According to Pro Publica, TurboTax tricked customers into paying for tax preparation they could have gotten for free. TurboTax even has a service with the word "free" in it - that is/was not free. US taxpayers owe a debt to Pro Publica for their reporting on this.
May 4, 2023: States Prepare to Send Checks to Consumers Tricked Into Paying for TurboTax by Paul Kiel of Pro Publica. Quoting: "A year after a $141 million settlement with Intuit, the maker of TurboTax ... 4.4 million customers will receive compensation ... TurboTax for years lured consumers with the promise of 'free' tax filing and then deployed a range of tricks and traps to steer them to paying products."
BACKGROUND
I used to suggest that Americans create an account with the IRS at www.irs.gov to insure that bad guys with your personal information, stolen in a data breach, do not file a scam tax return in your name. However, since then, the IRS has converted from using a userid/password of their own, to the id.me identity service. Thus, my advice is now to sign up with id.me. The Social Security Administration also uses id.me.
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