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Comment by doawoo | Hacker News Reader

You can’t report a good number of forms with this thing that I would have liked to see for those who work gig jobs and then get stuck having to pay Intuit money: 1099-K, 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, Tips etc —

That being said! This is just a pilot and I’m super excited to see it, anything that distances us from things like TurboTax is progress.

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Can't you still use "Free File" for doing those forms on the cheap?

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f...

Yep! The Free Fillable Forms thing is roughly equivalent to printing out all the forms and filling them in by hand, but you're just doing it with forms on the internet instead of mailing them in. Most peoples' taxes aren't rocket science, you definitely don't have to pay for tax prep software if you're capable of following instructions and doing middle school level math.

I can do those two things (mostly) but the slightly tricky bit is when the form requirements change e.g. you need to suddenly provide a new form because the guy in charge said so. I'm guessing the software handles that for you.

It seems a little ambiguous whether 1095-A (health insurance through a state marketplace) is a hard blocker and or just non-optimal.

You don’t have to file that form anymore (for years now…)

In particular, I mean this page [0] where the IRS flat-out says "you can't" use direct-file (for no particular reason) before giving a much weaker statement of "is not a good option."

> You can't use Direct File if you have: [...] Health insurance you bought directly through a marketplace (like HealthCare.gov) [...] Individuals enrolled in a health insurance plan through a marketplace will receive Form 1095-A.

> If you got your health insurance through a marketplace, Direct File is not a good option for you.

[0] https://directfile.irs.gov/insurance

Don't confuse 1095-A (ACA marketplace health plans) with 1095-B or 1095-C (employer and other health coverage). Also don't confuse the premium tax credit with the individual mandate.

Because of the premium tax credit, most taxpayers that receive Form 1095-A are required to file Form 8962.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8962

IRS Direct File doesn't let you file if you have marketplace insurance, presumably because it's not supporting this form.

https://directfile.irs.gov/insurance

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