How to EFile Your Federal Income Tax Return Free

Efile Your Income Tax Return With the IRS

File your income tax online to get a fast refund. Electronic filing of income tax makes filing taxes much faster and easier than paper filing. Electronic filing also tends to yield fewer tax form errors. In some cases, when filing taxes electronically you may receive a refund in 10 days when you take advantage of direct deposit into your bank account. Read on to find out how to efile your income tax return free.

Things You'll Need

• Tax preparation software

Instructions

1. Ask your accountant to efile your income tax return. If you don't have an accountant, use computer software that's designed for tax preparation.

2. You may purchase tax preparation software or you may file free using efile software from the IRS.

3. Free efiling through the IRS is called Free File or Free File Fillable Forms. Use Free File Fillable Forms when you know a good amount about how to file your own taxes and the tax laws pertinent to your situation and are ready to fill in the tax forms online.

4. For those who prefer to use Free File, you are eligible if your adjusted gross income is less than the amount specified by the IRS each year. Free File offers some help with filing and is best when you use the most frequently used tax forms and schedules. (For 2008 tax returns, the AGI must be no more than $56,000.)

5. Use a paid tax preparation software if you'd like help with more complex tax calculation in the software and need to file some of the more obscure tax forms and schedules when you efile your income tax return. Most efile income tax return filings in 2008 used paid tax preparation software.

6. In 2008, over 50% of all income tax returns filed with the IRS were used some form of efile (electronic filing). Almost 18% of these efile income tax returns were submitted to the IRS using a free efile system. The rest were submitted electronically using tax software, either by the individual or company filing the income tax return on their own or by an accountant filing the income tax return on their client's behalf.

Resources

• IRS news about efile of income tax return