The efiling is free ... the charge is for the use of the program to complete a return that can be filed even if you mail it in. Remember that TT is a public company who have to please their stock holders ... they are not a non profit charity. And this is the same pricing policy they have had for years ... and the same the other tax prep companies also follow.
For those on a budget TurboTax does have 2 free products--the regular Free Edition and
the FREEDOM Edition.
The regular Free Edition is for simple 1040A or 1040EZ returns only. It starts off free for Federal and free for a State return during the "Absolute Zero" promotion. Later in filing
season (usually sometime in March) a state return in that product will likely
be 29.99. It is located at:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/free-edition.jsp
TurboTax also has another free product called the FREEDOM Edition (not to be
confused with the regular Free Edition). It has free Federal preparation
AND free State preparation. There is no efiling fee.
The Freedom Edition is more fully-featured than the regular Free Edition.
The Freedom Edition can prepare Schedule A, C, D, E, and F that the Free
Edition cannot. It will prepare a Form 1040 or 1040A or 1040EZ.
For Freedom Edition a user needs to meet only ONE of these qualifications.
- AGI
of $33,000 or less
- or
active duty military (including Reservists and National Guard) with a
military-issued W-2 and a 2016 family AGI of $64,000 or less
- or
eligible for EIC (Earned Income Credit.)
The FREEDOM Edition will be located at:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom
How to switch and start over in Freedom Edition (may require new account at the
Freedom website)
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2026912-how-do-i-switch-to-turbotax-freedom-edition
