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Creditkarma offering free fed and state tax filing for 2016 (including e-file)
Old 12-08-2016, 11:09 AM   #1
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Creditkarma offering free fed and state tax filing for 2016 (including e-file)

Saw this on Slickdeals, the CK founder is participating in the thread as well. Nice alternative and I applaud the effort to get away from paid tax filing especially with the crap that Intuit tried to pull a couple of years ago. If you read through, the founder says they bought an established authorized e-file company so it's not a brand new deal for them.

https://slickdeals.net/f/9503516-cre...ee-reservation
https://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-...xes-ever-again

CK has been around for a long time with free credit scores and monitoring. They make money off of credit card and loan referrals.
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Old 12-08-2016, 11:31 AM   #2
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I like "free", and I resent that the IRS has struck deals that effectively provided a guaranteed business for companies providing tax e-filing services. The IRS claims it saves the government money when people e-file, so the government should make it free to do so and start saving tax dollars rather than artificially supporting private industries at my expense.

That said, I don't think I'll be giving Credit Karma all the information contained on my tax forms just to avoid an e-filing fee. As the Credit Karma President writes:
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How can we afford to do this? Our mission is to make financial progress possible for everyone. By better understanding your credit and your taxes, Credit Karma can become your financial assistant. We can monitor your credit, advise you on how to make good financial decisions and suggest better cards, loans and insurance products for you.
I don't want Credit Karma to "better understand my taxes."

Nope, if my tax software doesn't provide free e-filing, I'll probably just mail my taxes on paper again.
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Old 12-08-2016, 01:49 PM   #3
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I like "free", and I resent that the IRS has struck deals that effectively provided a guaranteed business for companies providing tax e-filing services. The IRS claims it saves the government money when people e-file, so the government should make it free to do so and start saving tax dollars rather than artificially supporting private industries at my expense.


Nope, if my tax software doesn't provide free e-filing, I'll probably just mail my taxes on paper again.

+1 on that! It is crazy that you should have to pay (or make a deal with the devil) just to file your taxes. I'll keep mailing them in on principle (although printing, postage, time spent likely exceeds the e-filing fee )
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Old 12-08-2016, 02:01 PM   #4
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I'm with samclem and euro on that. Credit Karma doesn't need to know more than they already do, which is probably more than I'd like anyway.
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Old 12-08-2016, 02:16 PM   #5
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Old 12-08-2016, 02:39 PM   #6
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If it saves the government (all of us) money to have private companies handle e-filing I'm all for it. I'll use whatever is simple and free. I don't really care if they have my personal information.
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Old 12-08-2016, 02:56 PM   #7
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If you're getting a refund (and that probably applies to fewer than half the folks here, I think), then there is always the factor of the 10% extra rebate in Amazon gift cards when you file through something like TurboTax. Not trivial in many cases.
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Old 12-09-2016, 06:17 AM   #8
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Fraud risk is lower if you simply mail it in.
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Old 12-09-2016, 09:32 AM   #9
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Fraud risk is lower if you simply mail it in.
That doesn't lower fraud risk compared to efile.
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Old 01-13-2017, 12:50 PM   #10
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Anyone have any luck yet with getting creditkarma tax filing yet? It is promised to roll out in January and so far, almost half way through the month and I can't find squat about the status.
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Old 01-13-2017, 01:34 PM   #11
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Fraud risk is lower if you simply mail it in.

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That doesn't lower fraud risk compared to efile.
It is safer to mail it in. Efile vendors can be hacked, which creates an added risk. Audit rates of efiled returns are also higher. It stands to reason.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ing-fraud.html
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Old 01-14-2017, 10:24 AM   #12
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Still pending on their website, I wouldn't worry about it until end of Jan.
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Old 01-14-2017, 03:04 PM   #13
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I usually have filed by the 3rd week of January. Mainly to beat the identity thieves who file in your name and steal your refund. It's happened twice to me and it's a pain to recover. By filing early, I get my refund before they do. If I make a mistake, haven't yet, but if I do, I'll file a correction. However, I'm up enough to know exactly what is needed without waiting for statements from banks, pensions and such.
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Old 01-14-2017, 03:06 PM   #14
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I am willing to pay the $30 to $40 for a tax program.... I file 3 returns for me and family...
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Old 01-19-2017, 10:06 AM   #15
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Got my notice that it's available now to all who requested access, went in and started a return. They do require a stronger password and two-factor auth to your phone (or email, I think) to get in.

Looks good, no issues so far. Hope this works out ok and I'll never pay for filing again. I had free filing with online Turbotax Deluxe for years courtesy of State Farm until Intuit started that Schedule C and D nonsense. Now I see that State Farm has discontinued the offer, so all the better that there's a viable alternative.
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Old 01-20-2017, 12:15 AM   #16
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Got my notice that it's available now to all who requested access, went in and started a return. They do require a stronger password and two-factor auth to your phone (or email, I think) to get in.

Looks good, no issues so far. Hope this works out ok and I'll never pay for filing again. I had free filing with online Turbotax Deluxe for years courtesy of State Farm until Intuit started that Schedule C and D nonsense. Now I see that State Farm has discontinued the offer, so all the better that there's a viable alternative.
I requested access. When I log on to credit karma, and click the Tax link, it still says I'm on the list, just as it always has since the day I signed up.
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Old 01-20-2017, 05:14 AM   #17
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+2 for on the list. I doubt that I will use it but I am interested to see what it is all about.
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Old 01-20-2017, 10:04 AM   #18
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+2 for on the list. I doubt that I will use it but I am interested to see what it is all about.
Send me your SSAN, home address, email address, annual income, complete info on interest you are paid by all financial institutions (I'll figure out your approx balances from that), mortgage interest (I'll estimate how much you owe from that), phone number, full name and SSAN of your spouse, and everything else that is on your tax return. After you send me all of this valuable (and exploitable) info, I'll explain how CreditKarma can give away this "free" service. Postage may end up looking darn cheap.
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Old 01-20-2017, 06:28 PM   #19
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I started the tax return and so far so good. The forms give you the choice to tie in to the regular Creditkarma account to bring in info you gave them previously. I assumed this was so they can use the info to "target" stuff for you based on real income and investment information. I elected not to sign up for that. We'll see if the "barriers" between one and the other actually hold. But frankly, I've used Turbotax and Taxact before for electronic filing and I have no absolute certainty that those electrons I sent are flowing exactly where I told them to with no copies of the info going elsewhere.

I'm of a mind that anything I input into the cyber world is actually out there for anyone interested enough to get it so the only way I can see to stay away from that risk is to become a total ludite and stay away from the interwebs altogether - go back to pencil and paper for everything. I'm not going to do that absent real direct impacts.
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Old 01-20-2017, 09:08 PM   #20
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What a joke that site is. When I tried to use their tax program, the first thing it wanted was for me to change my password. So I did. Then it wanted me to log on with the new password. But it didn't work. Then it locked me out and said it would send my e-mail address instructions on how to reset the password. But it didn't send it. So now I'm locked out of credit karma and can't do taxes or check credit score.

I'm sure I didn't screw up my password because I ALWAYS cut-n-paste any password I enter when I create one, just on the off chance just this sort of thing might happen.

Near as I can tell, there's no way to get hold of credit karma other than through my e-mail and since they don't send me info on how to reset my password, I can't see how any other attempts to contact them would result in anything different.
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