spmug 528 Free Tax Filing for This Year 
Q. After completing my tax return with the
TurboTax software, I heard that free filing for federal income tax is
available under certain conditions. Is it possible to transfer
information from my TurboTax program, or do I have to re-enter the
information on one of the free programs available online? A. If you have
a gross adjusted income of $50,000 or less, you may qualify for the
Internal Revenue Service's Free File service. The I.R.S., working with a
group of tax software companies called the Free File Alliance, offers
free online tax preparation and electronic filing of federal tax returns
for the deadline on April 17, which is the first business day after the
statutory deadline of April 15. If you have already completed your tax
return in the TurboTax desktop software, you can electronically file
your return for $14.95 with the program. You cannot, however, export the
data to the Web-based tax form of one of the companies participating in
the Free File program. The I.R.S. does not handle the tax preparation or
electronic filing chores on its own site, but refers you to its partner
companies. About 20 companies offer their services as part of Free File,
including the online editions of TurboTax from Intuit and TaxCut from
H&R Block. To use the free service, you would have to re-enter the
information on the tax site. Each participating company may also have
its own criteria for free filing (like age or residence restrictions),
and you typically have to pay a small fee to file your state tax returns
online. You can get more information on using Free File, how to use it
and how to pick out an online tax service at www.irs.gov/efile. To get
the free service, be sure to use one of the links posted on the I.R.S.
site instead of going directly to the company's Web page.