i never get my free state file

[jrharris]

I have had this same issue with Turbo Tax every single year for over 20 years. I have asked the question many times but they won't answer it.  It is very misleading, especially since it asks the question, Do you want to use your free state return. In the past I have done my mom's return, and my childs return and have never seen any difference in what each return charges.  It is always the same $25.00  What does it take to get an answer? This has caused me to lose some confidence and trust in Turbo Tax. I figure they owe me $25. x 20 years for this.

[mesquitebean]

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@jrharris wrote:

I have had this same issue with Turbo Tax every single year for over 20 years. I have asked the question many times but they won't answer it.  It is very misleading, especially since it asks the question, Do you want to use your free state return. In the past I have done my mom's return, and my childs return and have never seen any difference in what each return charges.  It is always the same $25.00  What does it take to get an answer? This has caused me to lose some confidence and trust in Turbo Tax. I figure they owe me $25. x 20 years for this.

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Yes, this question gets asked several times every year.  In desktop TurboTax there has been a fee to efile a state return for many years.  For the last few years it's been $25, but sometimes it's discounted to $20 in early filing season.   There is no state efile fee for New York state.  And there is no fee to print and mail the state return.

In the desktop product when it refers to an included state, it is for a "free" state program; i.e., it is the state software that is the included feature.   The $25 fee is charged when one chooses to efile the state return (except no fee for New York state). The folks at TurboTax do not always make it easy to know that.   They often tend to add it as a footnote on their products, or small print that says something like "state efile extra."

[VolvoGirl]

@jrharris   This has been answered over and over.  In the Desktop program you get one free state PROGRAM download to prepare unlimited state returns.   Some people need to buy a second state program to do returns in a different state.  Then each state return (including the first one) is $25 to efile. Or you can print and mail state for free.  The box or online says Fed + efile and State.  It doesn't say state efile.  See my screen shot above of a box I bought from Costco years ago.  It only says Federal efile.  

[suziqt125]

This is incorrect. You get one free state FILE and any other are $25. How do I know?? Because I bought it. I've bought it every year for about 20 years. Back to when it used to come on a nifty CD. And although they try to "forget" they owe you one FREE state filing, if you spend the time and energy to contact support they WILL give you your free file. Stop spreading your assumptions. It's not a good look.

[suziqt125]

This is also incorrect. You get one free state FILE and any other are $25. How do I know?? Because I bought it. I've bought it every year for about 20 years. Back to when it used to come on a nifty CD. And although they try to "forget" they owe you one FREE state filing, if you spend the time and energy to contact support they WILL give you your free file. This year the free state file worked and luckily I didn't have to contact support but you have to do the entire filing from opening the program to submitting the return in ONE sitting. If you save and come back they will want to charge you.

[suziqt125]

This year it actually worked for me and I have come to the conclusion that you have to install it, input the info and file all in one sitting without saving and coming back to it.  This is the first year I haven't started and then saved it to finish later. It's the only thing that makes any sense to me. Go figure. I'm sure it's a happy little "accident" for Turbo Tax that they'll never bother fixing.

[mesquitebean]

Here's an image from the Costco website today for one of the desktop products.   This year and last year Costco (also Sams and BJ's) product has had a $10 credit that can be used against the $25 state efile fee.

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[suziqt125]

That's great. The one I bought on Amazon came with a FREE one. I honestly can't understand why you're all so weird about this. Are you mad? It's ok to be mistaken. Happens to all of us now and then.

[mesquitebean]

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@ suziqt125 wrote:

That's great. The one I bought on Amazon came with a FREE one. I honestly can't understand why you're all so weird about this. Are you mad? It's ok to be mistaken. Happens to all of us now and then.

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That's great.  I'm glad you were able to save the money on the state efile.  That information might help others if you can please provide the link to the Amazon product page you used.  I will bookmark it and may want to use it myself next year if it offers a free state efile. The ones I'm finding at Amazon for the 2025 TurboTax desktop products say "State e-file sold separately", but it's indeed possible I may not be seeing the exact one you used.  Thanks!

Oh, by the way, sometimes Amazon links are incredibly long and complicated.  If your link is such a link with dozens of unneeded trailing characters, when you post it here, it only needs to have the address through the 10 characters following the /dp such as the ones shown below where I've chopped off dozens of characters except for those 10 characters.   Those ending 10 characters in the examples below identify the product page.

Premier  https://www.amazon.com/TurboTax-Premier-Desktop-Federal-Download/dp/B0FWTS91PP

Deluxe https://www.amazon.com/TurboTax-Deluxe-Desktop-Federal-Download/dp/B0FWV56H48

[mesquitebean]

@suziqt125    Oops!   The Deluxe link at Amazon that I too hastily provided above was for Deluxe Federal only instead of the Deluxe Fed + State.   I have since corrected it, and it now is a link to the Deluxe Federal and State combo product.      If you were emailed that comment with the wrong link, then be aware I know that link was wrong and have corrected it.   Sorry about that!   

[suziqt125]

You sound kinda crazy right now. But anyhoo, I didn't take a screenshot when I bought it (because why would I?) and the free file is only available if you buy the software early. You can't get it now, it's too late. But here's a screenshot of the email intuit sent last year so I could use the free file that came with my purchase after spending about an hour with their customer service team.