Free State Income Tax E-File Options For All 50 States
Completely updated in 2013 for Tax Year 2012 returns. Whew, that took a while!
When shopping for tax prep software, always look at the total price including state return software and any additional charges for state e-file. For example, even the free version of TurboTax Online charges $27.99 for state returns with e-File, while other versions charge $36.99. If you buy the TurboTax Desktop version on Amazon with state software labeled “TurboTax Deluxe Federal + E-File + State 2012″, the state e-File is still an additional $20.
More and more states are offering their own in-house online income tax filing. This makes sense, as it reduces errors and saves the state from having to go through all those paper returns. Many other states have partnered with the “Free File Alliance” to offer free online filing for certain groups, usually limited-income households, senior citizens, young adults, and/or active duty military personnel. But again, read through the restrictions carefully and calculate the total price including Federal before committing.
As a baseline, remember that you can get both Federal and State tax prep including both free Federal and free State e-File from TaxACT.com for $14.95. See my lightning review of TaxACT, TurboTax, and H&R Block for why it may be worth it for some folks pay more for the time-saving or audit-protection features of the “brand name” products.
Below, you’ll find free e-file information for all 50 states. I found it interesting how some states have sleek websites and some still seem stuck in 1997. Be sure to read all the details, as you might have to click through a specific link to qualify.
In alphabetical order (just click on the state):
| State | Restrictions |
| Alabama | Free through My Alabama Taxes (MAT). No major restrictions. |
| Alaska | (no state income tax) |
| Arizona | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply, but free fillable free PDF forms for all. |
| Arkansas | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| California | Free through CalFile. No capital gains/losses or Schedule C income allowed. |
| Colorado | Free through Revenue Online. No major restrictions. |
| Connecticut | Free through TaxPayer Service Center (TSC). No major restrictions. |
| Delaware | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Florida | (no state income tax) |
| Georgia | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Hawaii | Free through Electronic Filing (ELF). No major restrictions. |
| Idaho | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Illinois | Free through WebFile. No major restrictions. |
| Indiana | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Iowa | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Kansas | Free through KS WebFile. No major restrictions. |
| Kentucky | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Louisiana | Free through Louisiana File Online. No major restrictions. |
| Maine | Free through Maine FastFile. No major restrictions. |
| Maryland | Free through their iFile service. No major restrictions. |
| Massachusetts | Free through WebFile for Income. No major restrictions. FreeFile options with income restrictions also available. |
| Michigan | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Minnesota | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Mississippi | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Missouri | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Montana | Free through Taxpayer Access Point (TAP). No major restrictions. FreeFile options with income restrictions also available. |
| Nebraska | Free through NebFile. No major restrictions. |
| Nevada | (no state income tax) |
| New Hampshire | No state personal income tax, but there is tax on investment income. Free online filing. |
| New Jersey | Free through NJ WebFile, must be full-year resident. |
| New Mexico | Free through New Mexico WebFile. No major restrictions. |
| New York | You can pretty much use any state software, as New York law prohibits an additional charge for e-filing. FreeFile options also available with income restrictions. |
| North Carolina | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| North Dakota | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. Free fillable PDF forms also available. |
| Ohio | Free through Ohio Online Services. No major restrictions. |
| Oklahoma | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Oregon | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Pennsylvania | Free through PA DirectFile. No major restrictions. |
| Rhode Island | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| South Carolina | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| South Dakota | (no state income tax) |
| Tennessee | No state personal income tax, but there is tax on investment income. Free online filing. |
| Texas | (no state income tax) |
| Utah | Free through Taxpayer Access Point (TAP). No major restrictions. |
| Vermont | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Virginia | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Washington | (no state income tax) |
| Washington DC | eTSC is being retired, but all taxpayers who used eTSC to file last year’s DC income tax return are eligible to obtain a service code (voucher number) which will allow free federal and DC filing for 2012 returns. Various FreeFile options also available with income restrictions. |
| West Virginia | Various FreeFile options. Income and/or other restrictions apply. |
| Wisconsin | Free through Wisconsin efile, appears to be an online fillable PDF form that submits electronically. Must use Adobe Acrobat Reader. No major restrictions. |
| Wyoming | (no state income tax) |
Please let me know if you find any errors or changed links.
By Jonathan Ping | Deals & Offers, Taxes | 2/9/13, 11:38pm
January 17th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Very nice list well done!
Heres a question for all you tax folks though. I spent about 7 months of this year in Massachusetts and the last 5 months in Oregon. So I know that I need to file in two states, but I’m having trouble figuring out how to do it for free. (I always used Massachusetts’s free filing) Do I file once though Oregon’s and once through Mass’s or will one of them let me do it for both states. I’d also be willing to buy software (TurboTax, etc.) but it seems that its absurdly expensive to file in two states ($30 extra).
So what have others done?
January 18th, 2007 at 2:49 am
Well, you’re definitely going to have to file two Part-Time Resident returns. Some software packages let you file multiple state returns but make you pay for each separate e-file. One solution that I did was simply print it out and mail it in instead of e-filing. Just cost me under $1 for postage. So if you only get one free state e-file, just print the other one out.
January 18th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
California state tax return does not let you file if you have capital gains or losses. That excludes anyone with mutual funds or stocks. This restriction is there because of heavy lobbying from Intuit (turbo tax).
What a shameless stunt
January 19th, 2007 at 8:30 am
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January 19th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Try going to http://www.militaryonesource.com. If you are related to someone in the military, you might be able to use H&R Block. Register with Military OneSource first, then follow the H&R Block link.
January 24th, 2007 at 4:07 am
[...] Free State Income Tax E-File Options [...]
March 7th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
[...] Free State Income Taxes For All 50 States [...]
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm
[...] MyMoneyBlog was nice enough to list all of the free options for State Income tax returns for free. [...]
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
any free online filing for Montana personal income tax?
February 5th, 2009 at 9:12 am
[...] of Revenue website to see if they offer a free filing option. For a shortcut, head over to this page which has links to each states free efile (if they have [...]
February 5th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
[...] income tax filing programs. I don’t have time to compile all the links this year, but use this old list as a starting point, or just Google your own state’s tax website. In many cases, filing a state return manually [...]
December 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Georgia must have changed their address since this info was published.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 am
I know the list is old, but NY has updated theirs:
http://www.tax.state.ny.us/elf.....e_info.htm
February 10th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Starting with the 2009 tax year, NJ has has a $150k limit to use webfile.
This is a somewhat mystifying change — it’s not like the federal free file, where there is a paid alternative above the limit.
February 21st, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Next to Virginia it says “Filed a Virginia return last year.” Okay, this tells me nothing. Is it free or not?!? I went to Virginia’s website , spent 15 min searching, and gave up. Apparently, the conservative State of Virginia still wants their money.
April 12th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Nothing for New York? Argghhhhh
February 10th, 2013 at 12:01 am
Updated for 2013! Note that all comments above this one are over two years old and may be outdated.
February 10th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
No way california is “No Major Restrictions”. It does not let you file if you have capital gains or losses. Bummer.
February 10th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
California has a pretty big restriction, and that’s if you received a refund of state income tax which is not supposed to be taxable at the state level (at least under CA law), you can’t note that on the eFile. I only noticed this because this year when I had schedule C income (which also is not possible to report on CalFile), i overpaid by ~$40 or so last year.
February 10th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Thanks for the clarifications on CalFile, I have updated the post.
February 11th, 2013 at 3:17 pm
I was going to go with TaxAct but decided to go with turbo tax since I have a tiny bit of schedule C income this year.
I’ll have to look into TaxAct for 2013 taxes next year but I’m guessing my income this year will increase due to rental income from tenants and may get more complicated than now…..
Thanks for consolidating it all in one post, jonathan