In today's electronic world, why is Intuit Charging $24.99 to eFile my Maryland Taxes? Is this an Intuit issue or is it a Maryland State issue?

[allen_l_herman]

Since very little or none human interaction should be needed to eFile taxes, this seems like Intuit is gouging its customers.  Especially retirees on fixed income.

[Critter]

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

[MrPandy]

I know I'm a year late, but I have to disagree with Critter. The efiling is not free. I paid for the Turbotax edition that lets me calculate federal and one state, and gives me free federal efiling. I can print the Maryland one and send it in with no additional charge, or pay $24.99 to efile Maryland. The price of the software covered the use of it for fed and one state, and there's an extra charge for Maryland state efiling. It costs the state more to process the paper form, so it's ridiculous to have a charge for efiling.