TaxAct – Cashback, Rebates & Rewards

I am overseas. I have no contat number that TAXACT accepts. I tried Chat. I was immediately flung off. So now I have to file late and get an extra penalty because I will not be in the USA for over a month. Rigid as the Kremlin.

On Feb. 14 I gave TaxAct a 2-star review after using it with poor results for my daughter's 1040NR. That review appears below what I am adding now, on June 18. I later used TaxAct for a 1041 Trust tax return and the results were excellent, and I was able to e-file. I've been doing 1041s for years manually, and although I could not download the 1099 info direct from the broker (something that TurboTax permits with this broker for 1040s), in my case that wasn't a terrible defect since there were few trades. So: overall I give TaxAct 4 stars, which I see is more than their average rating. But they deserve now, with my subsequent experience with another tax form. (I gather that my daughter's 1040NR does not match the typical NRA taxpayer in that she has a SSN and is not subjected to 30% withholding since she pays estimated tax on certain US-based business income.) Prior review follows: On behalf of my nonresident alien daughter who has some income from a "permanent establishment" and also a longstanding investment account that yields dividends (taxed under the tax treaty at 15%), interest (taxed at 0% and capital gains (actually losses last year) also taxed at 0%, I signed onto TaxAct. I liked that they said they could e-file a 10-40NR. Very clever software even for NRs but it got things terribly wrong. Fortunately the IRS rejected the e-filing. I only know that because TaxAct sent an e-mail, complete text as follows: "We’re here to help with your rejected return. "Don’t stay stuck – let’s get your return fixed. For assistance with your rejected return, please call us at (319) 536-3636 Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT. If you need support outside those hours, please reach out to us at (319) 373-3600. "Don’t let a rejected return stress you out. We're here to help you figure out why your return was rejected and how you can fix it!" We haven't heard from the IRS, nor been told why it was rejected. But they messed up the 1040NR Schedule NEC. On the other hand their $64.95 fee (less a $7 rebate from my Chase credit card) was worth it for showing me how to complete forms 8880, 8995 and Schedule OI, none of which we submitted last year and so we had overpaid tax. I've re-done the return using downloaded forms from the IRS Web site and will mail them tomorrow to Austin TX registered mail. I've asked for a small refund with the rest of the overpayment credited to estimated tax for 2023 so when the refund hits her bank my daughter will know the return has been dealt with. As for TaxAct, I won't be using them again now they've given me a model to follow on paper. My strongest grievance that they can't be contacted except by telephone at hours convenient to them. There is no way to send them printouts of the errors and my corrections and probably they don't care anyway. I haven't seen any indication that they read reviews on Trustpilot, or that they care they are uniformly bad. For my own tax return (1040 from overseas) I'll be using TurboTax. I can't e-file that either because I'm claiming Head of Household with a noncitizen grandchild for whom I'm the major source of support (my home, I pay school fees and buy his food & clothing, etc.) TT isn't allowing me to claim HoH, I don't know if TaxAct would. But I can work around that. IRS Pub. 501, p. 10, Table 4, top line, says citizenship and SSN aren't a barrier.

I came to TaxAct after having a terrible experience at SprinTax. TaxAct was able to file my non-resident return (1040NR) correctly, and it was a much better, easier and faster experience.

I have used TaxAct for 6 years to file our S-Corp returns, and the occasional extension. To go through all the prompts takes time, but in the end, everything was perfect and filed immediately. My son used TurboTax Deluxe for a multiple state tax return, and only one state filed. He just heard from NY and they want him to pay $4K for 2016 (5 years later!)- and 1/2 of that amount is penalties and interest. Now, I know he should have checked to be sure everything went through and the payment actually was taken from his bank account in 2017 when he filed - However . . . I will say that TaxAct has never gotten it wrong for us.

THE STAFF AT ERLYN'S TAXES IS THE BEST I HAVE DEALT WITH IN A LONG TIME. MY EXPERIENCE WAS AWESOME AS THEY WERE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF ALL MY TAX AND PAYROLL NEEDS. I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH THE LEVEL OF SERVICE RECEIVED AND WILL NOT HESITATE TO RECOMMEND ANY ONE OF MY CLIENT TO ERLYNS TAXES.