Published on Lancaster Online, by Tim Stuhldreher

January 22, 2014

Pennsylvania wants to make it a little easier — not to mention free — to file your taxes this year.

As tax season gets under way, the state Department of Revenue has unveiled “PaFreeFile,” an online portal offering “free, safe and convenient Internet-based electronic filing options” for both state and federal returns.

“Now, the majority of Pennsylvania filers will have access to professional tax filing software at no cost to qualifying taxpayers or the commonwealth.”

Steve O’Neill is program coordinator for the local United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program. PaFreeFile sounds like a good idea, he said.

“We absolutely support any service that makes it easier and more accessible,” he said.

Previously, the state offered PaDirectFile, but that only handled state income taxes, department spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said. It will be retired after this year.

Another filing option for state taxes, TeleFax, already has been discontinued, the Revenue Department said.

PaFreeFile itself is not tax software. Rather, it is a portal.

It provides access to six approved vendors that have agreed to provide free returns for qualifying Pennsylvanians.

Among them are well-known names such as H&R Block and Intuit/TurboTax.

The service can be used by eligible taxpayers with a federal adjusted gross income of up to $58,000.

The details vary by vendor. Some have age restrictions, or adjust their offer based on military service.

At the PaFreeFile website, taxpayers can review each vendor’s criteria, or fill out a short questionnaire to see which offers they qualify for.

The IRS offers Free File, a similar portal for federal returns, at www.freefile.irs.gov.

Some of the Free File vendors offer state filing options. However, the commonwealth only guarantees access to free filing of Pennsylvania returns for taxpayers who go through its own site, Brassell said.

“We encourage people to start at www.pafreefile.com,” she said.

The vendors are providing their services at no cost to the state or taxpayers. The Revenue Department said it expects to save about $500,000 a year by discontinuing its PaDirectFile and TeleFile programs.

Patricia Turner, owner of Mangold’s Tax Service on Columbia Avenue, said she thinks PaFreeFile is a great idea, but cautioned that doing your own taxes online is not for everyone.

Software can only do so much, she said: “It’s only as good as the inputter.”

As everyone knows, tax law is complex and changes frequently.

Mangold’s handles more than 15,000 returns a year, she said, ranging from simple to extremely complex.

Sometimes, the average person doesn’t even know what questions to ask, she said.

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” she said.

VITA offers a link at its website to www.myfreetaxes.com, a national online service.

It handles state and federal returns, O’Neill said.

Like Free File and PaFreeFile, it is for taxpayers earning less than $58,000.

Those taxpayers also can sit down for free with one of more than 200 VITA volunteers at 15 county sites to do their taxes in person, O’Neill said.

After Jan. 31, the PaFreeFile website will offer “fillable forms,” online versions of the familiar paper tax forms. They can be submitted electronically or printed out and mailed, the Revenue Department said.

Jan. 31 is also the date on which the Revenue Department and the Internal Revenue Service will begin processing refunds. Returns submitted early will be held until then.

However you choose to do your taxes, don’t forget your local return, O’Neill said. It can be filled out on paper or online via the Lancaster County Tax Collection Bureau.

In 2011, the most recent year available, Pennsylvanians filed 6.08 million state income tax returns, reporting total taxable income of $321 billion, according to the Revenue Department.

(Tim Suhldreher, "New in Pa.: PaFreeFile, a one-stop filing portal for federal, state tax returns," Lancaster Online, 1/22/14)