Electronic filing from UK with AGI > $73K?

Has anyone found an electronic filing option from the UK if your AGI is over $73K? Ideally, I'd like to electronically file state taxes for NC as well.

Thanks, Jonathan

Has anyone found an electronic filing option from the UK if your AGI is over $73K? Ideally, I'd like to electronically file state taxes for NC as well.

Thanks, Jonathan

There is no free file for over $73k & the manual forms don’t allow for state. I use TaxAct and have for many years now, costs about $19 although that includes loyalty bonus. Expect to pay around $40 otherwise. Payment is a real pain needing U.S. account and address, although there are workarounds as discussed on this forum. Friend/family stateside can pay otherwise.

There is free fillable forms:

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms

It's like filling in the forms on paper but with a limited amount of math and sanity checks. It doesn't provide any advice or help.

Not every form is available and certainly no state taxes but there is no income limit.

There is no free file for over $73k & the manual forms don’t allow for state. I use TaxAct and have for many years now, costs about $19 although that includes loyalty bonus. Expect to pay around $40 otherwise. Payment is a real pain needing U.S. account and address, although there are workarounds as discussed on this forum. Friend/family stateside can pay otherwise.

TaxAct works out as $35 + $45 for state, which is pricey, but might be my only option.

There is free fillable forms:

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms

It's like filling in the forms on paper but with a limited amount of math and sanity checks. It doesn't provide any advice or help.

Not every form is available and certainly no state taxes but there is no income limit.

I really want electronic. If you want paper, the simplest thing is to use something like freetaxusa, print out the return, then replace the front page with a manually filled in PDF copy. We did that last year, and it's free and fairly simple, but will take months.

There is free fillable forms:

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms

It's like filling in the forms on paper but with a limited amount of math and sanity checks. It doesn't provide any advice or help.

Not every form is available and certainly no state taxes but there is no income limit.

Fair warning, the IRS is ~strongly~ advising against filing paper returns.....

I use OLT.com -  but you pretty much have to know your stuff to use it. It's just a mechanism to get it transmitted. It's free for federal and under $10 for state, but if you want to add tech support it's $7.95 each.  I don't know how complicated of a return they can manage. but they do my basic plus schedule B just fine.  You might snoop around in the "forms" section of their website to see if they have what you need. It is by no means one of the heavy-hitters or completely intuitive, but again, if you have a relatively simple return and have read the actual IRS instructions it works well.

TaxAct, OLT, TurboTax and Free Fillable Forms are the general recommendations I've seen. I think none of them are especially intuitive for overseas taxes, but will get you there. Definitely some level of lock in once you figure out how to make it all work - I've played with all of them, but always wind up coming back to TurboTax because it's what I'm used to. Every year I say I want to use one of the cheaper ones, and then there's something I can't figure out how to do (not that the software can't do it, I just can't figure out how it wants me to do something weird - last year it was the new Form 1116 schedule B, for example).

Try them all, maybe from cheapest to most expensive, and figure out which works best for you.

I really want electronic. If you want paper, the simplest thing is to use something like freetaxusa, print out the return, then replace the front page with a manually filled in PDF copy. We did that last year, and it's free and fairly simple, but will take months.

Free fillable forms is electronic. It differs from Turbo Tax in that you directly fill out the IRS forms online. You don't get any help with what forms you should include or how you should fill them out. When you submit the forms, there are some verification and consistency checks. You need to fix any errors until all the checks are passed. You then receive verification that your submission has been received and accepted by the IRS.

It's a reasonable choice if your tax situation does not change much from year to year and you know what forms you need.

Free fillable forms is electronic. It differs from Turbo Tax in that you directly fill out the IRS forms online. You don't get any help with what forms you should include or how you should fill them out. When you submit the forms, there are some verification and consistency checks. You need to fix any errors until all the checks are passed. You then receive verification that your submission has been received and accepted by the IRS.

It's a reasonable choice if your tax situation does not change much from year to year and you know what forms you need.

I apologise; I thought you meant this was a form you filled in and printed out, rather than something they would submit for you. It might be a little tedious, but I could use something like free tax USA, then copy over the data field by field.

Fair warning, the IRS is ~strongly~ advising against filing paper returns.....

Sadly paper returns are sometimes the only option - I continue to find myself unable to file electronically (which I want to do) because I cannot find any tax software (other than prohibitively expensive professional software) that includes Forms 8992 and 8993 - relatively simple forms (relates to GILTI) only solution is to complete return and then print these forms separately and file on paper - argh!!!!!!!!!  These forms are mainly unique to expats and generally relate to those of us who have our own limited company - usually as a consultancy - this meaning that the major software providers have no real interest in investing in the development to add these forms to their portfolio - hence my frustration.

At last count (Wikipedia) the IRS had over 800 forms and schedules - is it any wonder they have a processing backlog 

A quick update. I went with OLT.com, which was only $15.90 for federal + NC with support (which I used.) They responded quickly to my queries, which was great. My return ended up more complex than I expected, so it would have taken hours to copy the data over to the free forms fill in and been error prone.

Overall, a great experience, but you do seem to need a credit card with a US address to pay them.

Thanks for the update, particularly on a successful outcome.  There's that credit card with a US address issue again!

Pleased to hear you found a suitable platform to file with. The U.S. address for payment card is the biggest issue for many. I did see however that TaxAct will allow PayPal this year. Coupled with MFA & U.S. phone number requirements, it makes what is already a challenge; complicated further by the extra hoops.

Things didn't work perfectly for me. My return got rejected due to incorrect "spouse AGI or PIN". That's a bit weird given we filed jointly, so our AGI is the same, but we filed a paper copy last year so it's quite likely the IRS hasn't processed it, and so our AGI is unknown.

Now I need to go through the id.me verification process for both of us to setup a PIN. They don't accept VOIP US phones like google voice, so I'll have to do it via video chat.