If you’re comfortable filing your taxes on your own and have a simple return, Cash App Taxes, one of CNET’s best tax software options for 2024, can help you save money. You won’t receive much help or support, but when Cash App Taxes tells you the service is completely free, it means it.
Even those with more complicated filing situations (think freelance income, crypto trades, retirement distributions, rental property income or health savings accounts) can use Cash App Taxes for no cost.
The catch? You have to download the Cash App mobile app before you can file -- even if you’re filing via desktop. You also get what you pay for when it comes to its bare-bones interface. Cash App Taxes requires you to manually input a large amount of your tax information and does not include professional tax or phone support that many of its competitors offer.
- 100% free for one federal and one state return
- Max Refund and Accurate Calculations Guarantees
- Free audit defense for one year
- You can’t file multiple state returns
- No professional tax advice
- Most tax forms have to be completed manually
Who should use Cash App Taxes?
If you’re experienced with Cash App, you should consider the free Cash App Taxes software. The tax interface is integrated well into the mobile app, and filers with simple returns (W-2 and some basic credits) can reasonably complete the process in under 30 minutes.
Cash App Taxes is best suited to DIY individuals who don’t need much hand-holding through the filing process. While the software has an adequate help section to look up forms and live chat for simple technical and tax questions, support from tax professionals is nonexistent.
Freelancers or side hustlers with multiple 1099 forms can file with Cash App, but the process could be tedious. Unlike its competitors, Cash App Taxes doesn’t support uploading forms other than previous-year tax returns, so you’ll have to enter each of them manually.
While Cash App Taxes accepts a wide range of forms, there are a number of tax situations the service will not cover.
- Multiple state returns
- Nonresident state returns
- Foreign earned income
- Married filing separately in community property states
- Underpayment penalty calculations/payments
The Cash App Taxes support portal has a full list of federal forms and situations that it supports along with forms and situations that it doesn’t. Be sure to review the lists before getting started to see if Cash App Taxes will work for you.
How does Cash App Taxes work?
Cash App Taxes provides a smoother user experience this year than when it first launched. We previously encountered tax information taking up to an hour to transfer from mobile to desktop, and an occasional odd error message when switching between the two platforms. Every time you logged into Cash App Taxes to complete taxes on desktop, you were also asked to verify your identity via a code texted to your phone. Thankfully, we did not experience any of these issues this year.
What remains is Cash App Taxes’ clunky login process. To use Cash App Taxes, first-time users will have to download the Cash App mobile app and create an account using a valid email address and phone number. Then, you sign in with the same information on desktop and input a one-time verification code sent to your smartphone. You are also asked for a debit card to connect your bank to your account, but it’s not necessary to proceed.
Once you’re in, Cash App Taxes works like any other online tax software; with an interview-style model that collects basic information about your tax situation to auto-generate the forms you need. All selected forms will appear on the homepage. As you fill out forms, your tax refund -- or the amount you owe the IRS -- will automatically update at the top of the page.
During testing, I kept Cash App Taxes open on my laptop and on my mobile app. To access Cash App Taxes on Cash App, click on the Money tab (it looks like a stick figure house) and find the taxes section. I found that any information or forms I added on mobile immediately showed up on desktop (and vice versa) immediately after refreshing the page.
Because Cash App Taxes doesn’t support uploading forms apart from previous year tax returns, you’ll find yourself entering lots of data by hand. If you’re working on a long return, this can be quite tedious. After entering my 2023 income from multiple sources, I found myself needing to take a break. I also noticed that outside of W-2 forms Cash App Taxes doesn’t do a great job of telling you what box contains the tax information you need (I noticed this when filling out several 1099s).
Cash App Taxes does allow photo capture of W-2 forms, but we were unable to access that feature via desktop web browser (Chrome) or on the mobile app. You can, however, copy and paste information from a PDF if you are on a desktop.
Technical support and tax help content are still limited. Your basic help and support can be found on the top right of the page on desktop and the mobile app. There you’ll find an FAQ and live chat option under a question mark symbol, but there’s no phone support or guarantee of communicating with a tax professional.
Next to the question mark symbol, you’ll find further options to view the main Cash App Taxes support page at taxeshelp.cash.app. Should you need to start your return over, you can easily do so by clicking “clear and start over.” There’s no need to delete forms one by one.
Is Cash App Taxes really free?
Yes, Cash App Taxes is free. In fact, you’re never prompted to pay for the service or upgrade for premium support. The product earns money through targeted advertising for other financial services.
Cash App Taxes also signs people up for the payment service Cash App, which makes money in a variety of ways, such as retailer hardware fees, transaction fees and selling bitcoin.
Other notable features in Cash App Taxes
Cash App Taxes offers two guarantees: Accurate Calculations and Maximum Refund. The Accurate Calculations Guarantee will reimburse you with prepaid Visa gift cards up to $1,000 if the service makes an error that results in IRS penalties.
Cash App Taxes also provides one year of audit defense for free. If you decide to file with Cash App again in 2024, the audit defense protection extends to three years.
Taxpayers can file digitally or print their returns to file through the mail. Cash App Taxes recommends using the desktop version for printing forms. Tax refunds can be added to your Cash App account up to five days early, put into your bank with direct deposit or delivered via check in the mail.
Is Cash App taxes right for me?
Cash App Taxes provides a simple free option for filers that are confident completing tax returns on their own. The lack of file importing and an unusual desktop login process might discourage some users from trying the service. But existing Cash App users who already have the mobile app installed have little reason not to give it a try.
Once you’re into the software, it works like most programs. Many fields, however, require you to manually input information. Because of this, we recommend Cash App Taxes to tax filers with a few forms and relatively simple tax situations.
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