Cash App Taxes Review
While many tax preparation applications have a free version, in reality these are limited to the point of being near-useless more often than not. Cash App Taxes, on the other hand, is a genuinely free solution that can be of help in a variety of tax-related scenarios. However, it also doesn’t provide professional expert support, and have some conditions worth discussing in more detail.
So, what is this unusual service, how does it work, and is Cash App Taxes free? Keep reading our Cash App Taxes review, complete with use cases, exceptions, price variations, security features, and much more.
Who Should Use Cash App Taxes?
Cash App Taxes is an online tax preparation service that is the only completely free solution that can handle both federal and state tax returns. The software supports most major IRS forms and schedules and is quite easy to use, but is aimed primarily at customers with relatively simple tax returns (like a federal and one state return). The service is great overall, but requires you to manually enter lots of data every time you use it, which may not be suitable for every situation.
There are also some scenarios where you cannot file your return using this software. For example, it does not work for the taxpayers who:
- Worked and lived in different states;
- Worked in multiple states;
- Had a foreign income of more than $600.
You can find and check the full list of forms that Cash App does not support and situations that the service does not cover on its official website. You should only use the Cash App Taxes service if you’re sure that it covers your case.
How Does Cash App Taxes Work?
Like other similar solutions, Cash App Tax is essentially an online alternative to filing your taxes on paper. The software takes full control of the entire process.
To use this service, you only have to answer a few personal questions (information about you and your marital status) and questions about your return (information about your income, deductions, credits, and so on). Cash App Taxes does all the necessary calculations and enters your answers into the appropriate IRS forms and schedules.
Cash App has a remarkable degree of personalization—you’ll only see the sections you need to fill out. And if you want to add more sections or fields, you can always do so. When you fill out the federal section, all the information is automatically transferred to any state returns you need to file. Another important point is that the service analyzes your return before you file it, detecting errors and possible omissions.
Cash App personalizes the way you file your tax return based on the data you provide. So, let’s look at some specific examples of preparing different sample returns.
- Example 1: Single taxpayer with W-2 income and student loan interest deduction and no dependents—expected filing time is 10 minutes.
- Example 2: Married couple filing jointly with one dependent, two W-2s, child tax credit, as well as child and dependent care credit—expected filing time is 12 minutes.
- Example 3: Single taxpayer with no dependents, self-employment income, federal and state estimated tax payments—expected filing time is 12 minutes.
When it comes to the key benefits of the service, Cash App Taxes reviews confirm that it has guaranteed maximum refund, guaranteed accurate calculations, early refund, audit protection, good accessibility, and some pretty advanced security measures.
As for the disadvantages, let’s start with the most notable one: the service isn’t available in a purely online form. To use it, you must install the Cash App on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device, and create a personal account.
You should also be prepared for very limited email support that’s far from prompt and responsive. What is more, you can’t get help from the Cash App Taxes team by phone at all. Also, remember that you cannot file returns in certain states through this platform (you can check Cash App Taxes state availability on the platform’s website).
Is the Service Really Free?
With the current Cash App Taxes pricing model, it costs $0 to prepare and file federal and state taxes. Additionally, this service does not come with any tiers, premium services, or features that you have to pay extra for. It is probably one of the best options out there for users looking for free tax filing software.
Another important point in Cash App Taxes’ favor is that its competitors usually offer free services only for customers with simple returns, or offer a free federal return but charge an additional fee for a state return. Additionally, tax filing services often charge an additional fee for an improved user experience or deduct tax preparation fees from your federal refund. In the case of Cash App, your federal refund will stay intact 100% of the time.
Another pleasant feature of Cash App is that the service does not force its users to switch to a paid version or pay for access to full functionality, as many other “free” tax filing services do. Moreover, the audit protection provided by the platform’s specialists is also completely free.
Is Cash App Taxes Safe to Use?
Cash App Taxes is an authorized IRS e-file provider with robust customer protection and information security features. The service utilizes only 128-bit or higher encryption for its data transmissions, and supports multifactor authentication.
Cash App also has a dedicated team of experts whose whole job is to monitor the platform for weaknesses and potential vulnerabilities. The website uses strong security measures—physical, electronic, and procedural—to protect your information and meet federal standards. As any Cash App Tax review out there would attest, the service takes security very seriously, as befits a company that deals with sensitive information.
