FileYourTaxes.com Review 2023

FileYourTaxes.com is a tax filing software designed to prevent all sorts of human errors. It has helpful calculators and built-in error detection. However, it’s expensive and difficult to navigate, putting it near the bottom of our recommendation list for your 2023 taxes.

Below, we detail the areas of disappointment and a few areas where FileYourTaxes.com offers its most useful features.

If you’re shopping around and know FileYourTaxes isn’t ideal for your needs, here’s our list of the best tax software.

FileYourTaxes.com - Is It Free?

FileYourTaxes requires a premium price tag. Most returns cost $50 for Federal filing only. Business owners and others with more complex taxes will pay a base fee of $70. 

While it says on the FileYourTaxes.com website that you can “e-file” for free, it’s definitely not a free tax filing service. The company charges for both state and federal filing.

Free versions are available to:

• Seniors age 66 or above earning between $8,500 and $73,000 per year 
• Active duty military earning under $73,000 per year

If you're looking for a free alternative, check out our list of the best free tax software.

What’s New In 2023?

FileYourTaxes updated its user experience for 2023, making it simpler than previous years. That’s not to say the software is necessarily easy to use. It’s still cluttered and full of tax jargon. But it performs much better than in previous years.

Pricing also went up slightly this year, and the software was updated for 2023 changes to the tax code from the IRS. Most notable were the new tax brackets and limits for credits and deductions due to recent inflation.

It’s nice to see steady improvements, but FileYourTaxes would need to make a big leap forward to justify the high cost.

Does FileYourTaxes.com Make Filing Easy In 2023?

FileYourTaxes has a robust backend that includes useful calculators and robust error checking. It offers useful error messages to users when something seems off. Unfortunately, this functionality alone doesn’t make tax filing easy.

FileYourTaxes has jumbled poorly-designed screens. Users have to answer questions that the software should determine on its own. Plus, the company has too much text on every screen, leading to tax-filing fatigue.

Website errors, including inconsistent pricing between pages and spelling issues in the main navigation menu give us little faith that the final result will be accurate and easy to achieve.

FileYourTaxes.com Features

FileYourTaxes.com is quite different from most other tax programs we tested. Most of the differences are detractors, but the software has a few shining moments.

Excellent Error Messages

Any time a user receives an error message, it explains why there is an error and what corrective action the user should take. This can be helpful when users might have missed a simple check mark in a box or a forgotten dollar amount.

Helpful Intra-Section Summaries

Some competing tax filing options don’t provide in-section or end-of-section summaries to help users assess whether they’ve completed the section properly. FileYourTaxes.com has many useful summaries showing users the effects of everything they’ve done

FileYourTaxes.com Drawbacks

Most of the FileYourTaxes.com drawbacks relate to the user experience. Filers may be able to use it effectively but will have a terrible time while completing taxes.

Poorly Designed Interface

The FileYourTaxes user interface looks like a website from the early 2000s. The text and boxes are often crammed onto the screen with poor alignment. This may seem like a small issue, but it can cause lots of mistakes when users can’t see the information their entering.

No Option To Import Information

Users can’t import tax forms like W-2 or 1099 forms. Given the price of FileYourTaxes.com, users should expect to snap pictures and have the software enter information on their behalf. However, FileYourTaxes doesn’t have this option, so users must manually transcribe information from their tax forms to the software.

Too Much Text

A primary issue with FileYourTaxes is the amount of text on each page. Filers need to read lengthy questions after and continue scrolling to complete each screen. The sheer volume of text on each screen causes filing to take much longer than necessary. Plus, it could lead you to glaze over an important detail buried in the fine print accidentally.

FileYourTaxes.com Plans And Pricing

FileYourTaxes.com breaks pricing into two major buckets. The basic tier covers most people except those who are self-employed. The Complex tier covers self-employed people and business owners.

FileYourTaxes.com doesn’t offer many extras. You can use the site to file extensions or amended returns, but other major software services offer similar options (and are easier to use).

How Does FileYourTaxes.com Compare?

FileYourTaxes.com is priced at the high end of the market, but bargain competitors like Cash App Taxes and TaxHawk offer a better user experience.

We also compared FileYourTaxes.com to H&R Block, which is premium software that makes filing easy for almost all users. 

How Do I Contact FileYourTaxes.com Support?

Customer support is not one of FileYourTaxes.com's strengths. Unlike its competitors, there are no options to receive advice from tax pros or even audit assistance. 

Basic customer service is available by phone at 805-256-1788 and via secure messaging. 

Operating hours for the phone support team is Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (PT). Keep in mind that full tax support by phone requires an additional fee of $17.50.

If you write to them via email—taxman@FileYourTaxes.com, the typical response time is 24 to 48 hours. 

If you'd prefer to try to find questions on your own, you can check out the free FYT Wiki for self-help.

Is It Safe And Secure?

FileYourTaxes uses multi-factor authentication and boasts multiple independent security credentials. It uses encryption to keep user information safe and secure.

However, FileYourTaxes does appear to share your information to others. After completing a basic information section (including a required user agreement), FileYourTaxes asks for consent to sell your information to two specific lenders - and one of them doesn't even have to do with tax filing, but rather mortgage loans. 

Of course, users can decline, but the decline button is a small check box, whereas the consent button is large and blue. We don't like this practice.

Is It Worth It?

FileYourTaxes.com offers calculators and useful summaries in 2023, but the software's strengths aren’t enough for us to recommend it.

It's far too expensive for what you get and users seeking premium software can find better alternatives. Rather than using FileYourTaxes.com, filers should check out the best tax software for their situation.

FileYourTaxes.com FAQs

Let's answer a few of the most common questions that people ask about tax software sites like FileYourTaxes.com:

Can FileYourTaxes help me file my crypto investments?

FileYourTaxes supports crypto trading, but filers have to manually enter each transaction on the Capital Gains and Losses Listing Page. The page is long and complex and filers can only enter one transaction per page. Rather than enduring the cumbersome task of manually entering information, crypto traders may want to use software like TurboTax Premier and upload IRS form 8949 from TaxBit.com.

Can FileYourTaxes.com help me with state filing in multiple states?

Yes, FileYourTaxes supports multi-state filing. Users must select all the states requiring returns, and FileYourTaxes charges $40 per state return.

Does FileYourTaxes offer refund advance loans?

No, FileYourTaxes.com doesn’t directly offer refund advance loans.

FileYourTaxes.com Features