Free File Launches Today; Helps Taxpayers with New Health Care Law

IRS YouTube Video:
Welcome to Free File: English

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service and the Free File Alliance today announced the launch of Free File, which makes brand-name tax software products and electronic filing available to most taxpayers for free.

Free File software can help taxpayers with tax preparation, including the health care law that will affect almost everyone. People can use Free File software immediately but e-filed returns will not be transmitted to the IRS until Tuesday, January 20, when the filing season officially begins.

Free File is available only at IRS.gov/FreeFile, thanks to a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a consortium of 14 leading tax software companies that make their branded products available for free. Since 2003, more than 43 million people have used Free File, saving $1.3 billion based on a conservative $30-fee estimate.

“You don’t have to be an expert on taxes or the new health care law. Free File software can help walk you through the rules and help you get it right,” said John A. Koskinen, IRS Commissioner. “For 12 years, this partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance has helped taxpayers save both money and time. The real winner in this partnership has been the nation’s taxpayers.”

Tim Hugo, executive director of the Free File Alliance, said, “We are proud to once again offer the industry’s most innovative and secure tax software at no cost to 70 percent of American taxpayers. Tax time can be stressful, but Free File makes step-by-step help accessible to everyone making $60,000 or less. IRS.gov/FreeFile is the one place where taxpayers can choose from a variety of industry-leading tax software options in order to prepare and e-file their federal tax returns at absolutely no cost.”

If you earned $60,000 or less last year, you are eligible to choose from among 14 software products. If you earned more, you are still eligible for Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms. This more basic Free File option, which is best for people comfortable preparing their own tax return, will be available January 20.

More than 70 percent of all taxpayers – 100 million people – are eligible for the software products. Each of the 14 companies has its own special offers, generally based on age, income or state residency. Taxpayers can review each company offer or they can use a “Help Me” tool that will find the software for which they are eligible.

Free File offers easy-to-use products that ask questions and you supply the answers. The software will find the right forms, find the right tax credits and deductions and even do the math for you.

Some companies also offer free state tax return preparation as well.

Free File also can help taxpayers with the new health care requirements. Almost everyone will need to do something new when filing a tax return this year. For each month in 2014, you and everyone on your return must:

Report health care coverage, or
Claim an exemption from coverage or
Make a shared responsibility payment with your tax return.

Most people will simply have to check a box to report health care coverage for the entire year.

If you or anyone on your return purchased coverage from the Health Insurance Marketplace, you may be allowed to take the Premium Tax Credit. If you opted for any advance payments of the Premium Tax Credit to help with your monthly insurance premium payments, you must file a tax return, even if you were not required to file. You must reconcile your advance payments with the amount you were due. Learn more at IRS.gov/aca.

Free File will be available through October 2015. Taxpayers have the option to prepare their return at any time and schedule a tax payment as late as the April 15 deadline. Taxpayers who cannot meet the April 15 tax filing deadline can also use Free File to file a six-month extension.

Here are some common tax-related documents you will need to complete your tax return. Remember, you must also have documentation of any credit or deduction you are claiming as well.

A copy of last year’s tax return;
Valid Social Security numbers for yourself, spouse and children;
All income statements, i.e. W-2 forms, from all employers;
Interest/dividend statements, i.e. 1099 forms;
Form 1099-G showing any state refunds;
Unemployment compensation amount, if any;
Form 1095-A if you purchased coverage from a Health Insurance Marketplace;
Proof of health care insurance coverage for you and everyone on your return.

No Author Biography has been linked to this Article.

From the Editor

March 31, 2019

By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Debtor’s Attorney - Suspension of firm upheld. The District court affirmed the 90-day suspension of Law Solutions Chicago, LLC (d/b/a UpRight Law, LLC), with the record supporting the bankruptcy court’s findings that the firm failed to adequately represent the debtor in a “simple” consumer case. Disgorgement of fees was appropriate under...

Members

Ask Ms. Ps & Qs

Nancy B. Rapoport

October 9, 2022

Dear Readers: We are all working at what feels like the speed of light these days. (And if we’re not, then we’re upset that work is too slow. Yes, we feel like Goldilocks—work’s either too busy or not busy enough.) But the wonderful Regina has asked me a question that often relates to someone hitting “send” too soon: “When opposing...

Members

In re Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., 60 F.4th 73 (4th Cir. 2023), pet. for cert. granted, Truck Ins. Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., 2023 WL 6780372, (U.S., October 13, 2023).

The Honorable William Houston Brown

October 29, 2023

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a plan proposal to create an asbestos trust through Chapter 11 bankruptcy was “insurance neutral,” and the debtor’s insurer was not a party in interest under Code § 1109(b), which contains a noncomprehensive list of parties in interest to a Chapter 11 case. Whether the insurer was a party in interest determined whether...

Ask Ms. Ps and Qs

May 10, 2020

By Professor Nancy Rapoport, University of Nevada Dear Readers: Regina Logsdon has just asked me a great question: In this new world of Zoom, is it okay to record meetings? Video and audio? Permission needed? Does it vary state to state? We are living in a new normal, and video conferencing will continue to be part of our lives even...

Members

Passive Retention: A Creditor’s Right or an Act to Exercise Control?

April 14, 2019

By John Andreasen and Patrick Lombardi, Law Students at the University of Illinois College of Law and Duberstein Moot Court Team Members Both consumers and businesses often depend on motor vehicles for their livelihood or, for consumers, access to health care, child care, or other essential services. A creditor’s repossession of a motor vehicle can turn into an existential crisis...

Members

Progeny of Law v. Siegel: Sixth and Ninth Circuits Say Right to Dismiss Chapter 13 Case is Absolute, Not Qualified by Section 105

September 26, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) "Equity is not an old man, with a long grey beard, sitting under a tree. Equity has rules."1 Introduction Section 105 When enacted in 1978, the Bankruptcy Code in section 105 included an "all writs" statute for the Bankruptcy Courts: The court may issue any order, process, or judgment that...

Members

Expiration of Debt Limits

The Academy

June 23, 2024

Well, they expired . . . As you know, Congress temporarily raised the debt limits for Subchapter V and Chapter 13 debtors. These increased debt limits expired June 21st. For Chapter 13 the maximum is $465,275 for unsecured debt and $1,395,625 for secured debt.

Paying the Car Loan Directly vs. Through the Plan: Till Debt Us do Part?

January 31, 2021

By Herbert L. Beskin, Chapter 13 Trustee for the Western District of Virginia (Charlottesville) In a recent case out of the Sixth Circuit, the Appeals Court heard an appeal by the Chapter 13 Trustee concerning direct payments by the debtor on a car loan and the applicable interest rate. The case is In re Chambers, 6th Circuit, # 20-1376, Appeal...

Members

Rules, Means-Test Amounts and Miscellaneous Fees: Changes Wrap Up 2020

November 15, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Amendments Effective December 1, 2020 The Judicial Conference proposed, and Congress has not changed, the amendments to the following Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure: Rules 2002, 2004, 8012, 8013, 8015 and 8021. Absent Congressional action, which is not expected, they will be effective at the...

Members

Amended Rule 2002(a)(5) – Who Gets Served and Who Petitions the Court for Change?

November 22, 2020

By Phil Lamos, Chief Legal Counsel, Office of the Chapter 13 Trustee Lauren A. Helbling (Cleveland, OH) Bankruptcy Rule 2002(a)(5) directs that 21 days’ notice must be given of the “time fixed to accept or reject a proposed modification of a [Chapter 13] plan.” But to whom must notice be given? Specifically, which creditors need to be given notice? This...

Members