The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 became effective March 11th, 2021 and there is a lot to unpack in the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill. Besides the headline $1,400 stimulus checks, there are many other items that could be worth over a thousand dollars each – expanded child and childcare tax credits, subsidized ACA/COBRA health insurance premiums, and increased pre-tax contributions to Dependent Care FSAs. After reading the NY Times, Tax Foundation, Wikipedia, and Kitces round-ups, here again are my minimalist highlights so that you can research further if it applies to your situation.

3rd Stimulus checks / Recovery rebates.

• $1,400 for each eligible recipient. This includes $1,400 for each child and adult dependent, including college students claimed as dependents.
• Income phase-out starts at AGI of $75,000 Single, $112,500 Head of Household, and $150,000 Married Filing Joint. Fully phased out at $80k/120k/160k. Qualify using your 2019 or 2020 income (once filed), or even 2021.
• Track status at IRS Get My Payment tool.

Unemployment benefits.

• Previous changes extended (including expanded eligibility) for additional 25 weeks, until 9/6. $300 weekly supplement also extended until 9/6.
• For 2020, the first $10,200 of UI benefits are now tax-free if your income is under $150,000.

Expanded Child Tax Credit.

• For 2021, it increases to up to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for ages 5 and under). The age limit for qualifying children also rises to 17, from 16. Previously, the max credit was $2,000 per child (and was only $1,000 as recently as 2017).
• Now fully refundable.
• Income phase-outs start at MAGI of $150,000 for married filing joint ($75,000 single).

Expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

• For 2021, now worth up to $4,000 for one qualifying individual or $8,000 for two or more. More expenses are eligible, at a higher percentage. The net increase in value could be worth up to $5,900 (see chart below).
• Now fully refundable.
• Qualifying children are under the age of 13 for the entire year.

Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts.

• For 2021, you can now contribute $10,500 (married filing joint) into a Dependent Care FSA instead of the normal $5,000 (married filing joint). Single filers can contribute up to $5,250, up from $2,500.
• Employers must choose to allow this option. Bug your HR department and hopefully they’ll make the change before it’s too late.

Student loans.

• For student loan debt forgiven between 1/1/2021 and 12/31/2025, the forgiven amount will no longer be considered as taxable income.
• No actual student loan debt is being forgiven as part of this bill, but it may be wise to prepare for the possibility in the near future. (I might not consider paying down any student loan amounts under $10,000, especially while they are in deferral.)

COBRA Health Insurance.

• If you lost your job involuntarily (or had job hours cut and thus lost coverage), the government will pay for your entire COBRA health insurance premium from 4/1 through 9/30. This could add up to several thousand dollars.

Health insurance bought from ACA exchanges.

• Subsidies are increased.
• Use this updated Kaiser subsidy calculator.

There will always be debate about details of this bill, but that is theoretical while my goal is to be actionable. The goal here is to help taxpayers be proactive and make sure they get any benefits and aid for which they qualify.

The IRS has released an official tool to check the status of your stimulus check, otherwise known as Economic Impact Payment / Coronavirus Tax Relief. It seems like you can also add your bank account information for direct deposit if they don’t have it on file, definitely if you were not required to file a 2018 or 2019 tax return. Data is updated once every night. You may need information from your 2018/2019 tax return for identification purposes.

Updated March 20th. The US Treasury has announced taxpayer relief for federal tax in response to COVID-19. Here is the Treasury press release, official IRS notice, and a CNBC article. On March 20th, the filing deadline was also changed. Below is my brief summary for most taxpayers.

• The standard deadline for filing your individual federal income tax returns is now July 15, 2020. This is a change as of 3/20.
• If you’re getting a tax refund, you should try to file right away. Might as well get your money sooner, as this relief won’t help you if you don’t owe money.
• The deadline for tax payments if you owe money has been postponed by 90 days. If you owe money on your return, instead of April 15, 2020, you now have until July 15th, 2020. Penalties and interest that you would otherwise have accrued will be waived. This applies on up to $1 million in tax owed.
• Filing a tax extension can still help. If you can’t make the filing deadline of 4/15, you should file for a free automatic online extension by 4/15. This extends your tax filing deadline all the way to October 15th. Late filing penalties are quite significant.
• 2020 1st quarter estimated tax payments due April 15th are also now due July 15th. This can be confusing as the 2nd quarter deadline is still currently June 15th. This may help many self-employed workers whose income is hard to predict right now.

Check your state tax situation as well. The American Institute of CPAs has a handy list of state-specific coronavirus taxpayer relief.

Tax season is officially here as the IRS has started accepting E-files. For you early birds, Credit Karma Tax is now on its 4th year of offering 100% free Federal AND State tax preparation software with free e-File and no income restrictions. You can have itemized deductions, business income, self-employment tax, and/or capital gains and losses. They now also have a Max Refund Guarantee and Audit Defense if you get audited.

My favorite feature of this product is that there is no “upgrade” version, so there are no upsells and no last-minute fees. Your bill will always be $0 Federal, $0 State. I hate the feeling when you have spent hours (days?!) typing in all that data and you expect a certain price, but at the very end they charge you more. You are just too tired to do it all over again, so you accept, but it leaves a bad aftertaste.

Is this legit? What’s the catch? Yes, they are legit. Credit Karma purchased AFJC Corporation, which was a private-label software provider and previously supplied the online tax software for Jackson Hewitt. They’ve been running this offer since 2016.

The “catch” is that you must also sign up for the main CreditKarma.com site, which takes your personal information and provides you access to your credit scores and reports from two of the three major consumer credit bureaus. They make money by also using that personal information to show you customized advertisements for things like credit cards, auto/home lending, and insurance products.

What’s included?

• Free Federal filing with free e-File for 90%+ of filers with no income restrictions.
• Free State filing with free e-File for 40 states + Washington DC. (Not all states require you to file state income taxes.)
• Max Refund Guarantee
• Free Audit Defense
• Option to print and snail mail if you choose not to e-File.

Here are some popular forms included by Credit Karma Tax that other “Free” options often don’t cover:

• Schedule C – Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship)
• Schedule D – Capital Gains and Losses (Stock Sales)
• Schedule E – Supplemental Income and Loss (Rental property)
• Schedule SE – Self-employment tax

What’s NOT included? Credit Karma will NOT support the following this year:

• Multiple state filings
• Part-year state filing
• Foreign earned income
• State returns for married filing separately in community property states*
• State filing without a federal filing

While Credit Karma Tax supports Sole Proprietorships and income reported on Schedule C/E/SE, they do NOT yet support business tax returns for an S corporation, C corporation, partnership or multi-member LLC.

Tell me more about how Credit Karma makes money. Quoted from their site:

When you visit Credit Karma, we show you offers and recommendations (like credit cards or loans) that could save you money. If you take one of these offers, the bank or lender usually pays us. We never charge you a dime. And we never sell your info to marketers.

For example, if they know you have a 4% rate mortgage, they could sell you a 3.5% refinance mortgage. If they know you are older and have a paid-off home (i.e. you pay property taxes but no claim no mortgage interest), they could sell you a reverse mortgage. If they know your income, they can estimate the amount of life insurance you need. You could actually like this customization, be creeped out completely, or simply plan to ignore the ads.

Try before you commit. Nearly all online tax prep software only bills you when you are ready to file. If you’re not sold on a single product, why not sign up and fill out this and a competitor side-by-side in two different browser tabs. It’s a bit more work, but not a lot if you’re doing it simultaneously. That way, you can double-check the calculations. Ideally, you should get the same refund/due amount for both and then you can be confident that you are maximizing your filing (and still file for free).

Bottom line. Credit Karma Tax will give you free Federal and State tax returns. There is no other version, so you will never be hit with a last-minute upcharge. In exchange, you let them show you ads based on your financial data. In terms of technical accuracy, I expect that they are roughly equal to the other major providers. However, you may value the convenience factors offered by competitors (easily import last year’s data, better and/or unlimited phone support, automatic import of 1099-B tax lot data). I like the idea of using two side-by-side.

Links checked and updated for 2019. With DIY tax prep software, it is always wise to note the cost of your state return and e-File as it may actually cost more than your federal return (especially if you wait until April to file). As such, you may wish to do your state return separately. Based on their current, regular published prices at time of writing:

• TurboTax Online Deluxe and Premier charge $39.99 for a single state return with free state e-File. Simple state tax returns are free (no itemized deductions, no 1099-MISC, no stock sales).
• H&R Block Online Deluxe and Premium charge $36.99 for a single state return with free state e-File. Simple state tax returns are free (no itemized deductions, no 1099-MISC, no stock sales).
• TaxACT Online Plus and Premium charges charges $39.95 for a single state return with free state e-File. Basic state tax returns are $19.95.*

Got a simple return? Both TurboTax Free Edition and H&R Block Free Edition will let you file Fed + State + eFile for $0 if you only have the following situations:

• W-2 income
• Limited interest and dividend income reported on a 1099-INT or 1099-DIV
• Claim the standard deduction
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC)
• Child tax credits

You can’t itemize deductions, have stock sales, or have 1099-MISC income, for example.

Now, the convenience that these programs offer may be worth the extra money to you. But there may be other options available. States that levy individual income taxes fall into three categories:

1. They offer all taxpayers free electronic filing via official state-supported software.
2. They offer all taxpayers access to free “fillable forms” which are basically electronic versions of the paper forms where you can type in numbers and any mathematical calculations are done for you. If your state tax returns are relatively simple, this may be all you really need.
3. They allow commercial vendors via the “FreeFile Alliance” to offer free online filing for certain groups, usually through income limits, age restrictions, and/or active duty military personnel. The vendors in turn make money when some folks end up not qualifying and have to pay at the end.

Below, you’ll find free e-file information for all 50 states.

In alphabetical order (just click on the state):

 
Whew, that took a while. Please share this if you think it’ll help others! Also let me know if you find any errors or changed links.