# US FreeFile and expats



## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

Despite a history of frustrations, I decided to try to e-File again as I need my refund as soon as possible. My return is Federal-only, very simple, and I don't need help preparing it. I just don't want to waste two or three weeks mailing it to the US or $45 to send it via DHL.

Of the 14 FreeFile companies listed by IRS, I was excluded up front from 11 owing to foreign address, age, or both. I ruled out a 12th myself because of a minimum AGI that I won't meet most years. I registered with the remaining two but was unable to complete the contact info sections. While they do accommodate foreign addresses as advertised, the online forms have REQUIRED FIELDS for phone numbers that only accept US format. The help section for one site suggested using someone else's phone number in the US … not an option in my case. The other site had a field for a foreign phone number in the foreign address section but still required a US phone number. Go figure.

In the end I submitted my return via Free File Fillable Forms, which I wish I'd done to begin with because it's more intuitive and user friendly than the proprietary software. I hesitated because the IRS site steers you away from Fillable Forms with an AGI under $60K, but I got notice that it was successfully transmitted and accepted by the IRS. Crossing fingers.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Thanks for that information. The IRS Free File Fillable forms would not take a foreign address up until (I think) just last year. Nice to know they've fixed their system.

Just as a side note, TaxAct has a "free for everyone" version if you go directly to their site - NOT through the IRS free file portal. You get little or no assistance, but they claim to have all the forms available that can be e-filed.
Cheers,
Bev


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

Interesting ... the IRS site shows an age limit of 58 for TaxAct but their own site does say "no income or age restrictions" for the Free Federal version. Makes you wonder how up-to-date the rest of that IRS section is. Based on what I tried, I prefer fillable forms over walk-through software because they're just like the real 1040 and thus much faster to complete. But that may not be the case for everyone.


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