Cash App Taxes Review [2024]: Free Filing, Guaranteed

If you’ve decided to tackle your own taxes this year and plan to file online, you may be wondering which tax software you should use. There are several online tax preparation services to choose from, so what makes one any better than the other?

Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax) is a free tax preparation provider that never charges its users to file federal or state tax returns. Although it doesn’t accommodate all tax situations, it supports a number of forms and situations you won’t find for free on competing services.

In this Cash App Taxes review, we’ll give you some background on the company itself, tell you everything you need to know about Cash App’s tax services and answer some questions you may have so you can decide if Cash App Taxes could work for you.

Cash App Taxes overview

Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax) is the online tax preparation arm of Cash App created under the Square, Inc. brand, which is already used by millions of people. Cash App Taxes boasts an always-free approach to preparing federal and state taxes, along with free e-filing, without any income restrictions or upsells.

The San Francisco-based company first unveiled its free personalized tax preparation software in December 2016 as Credit Karma Tax. It was acquired by Cash App at the end of 2020 and rebranded to Cash App Taxes in 2021. 

Cash App provides other tools you can use to better understand how to manage your money, in addition to tax preparation and e-filing services. The financial app's main functionalities include sending and receiving money, mobile banking, and investing, which you can learn more about in our Cash App review.¹ <p>Cash App is a financial platform,&nbsp;not a bank. Banking services&nbsp;provided by Cash App’s bank&nbsp;partner(s).</p>

How much does Cash App Taxes cost: Products and pricing

From start to finish, filing your taxes with Cash App Taxes is always free. There are no hidden fees or income and tax bracket restrictions; however, like most free tax preparation software, the supported forms and situations are limited. In other words, depending on the complexity of your tax situation, you may require particular tax forms that aren’t available on Cash App Taxes.

That being said, where Cash App Taxes differs from other free tax preparation and filing services is in the tax forms it supports. According to the Cash App Taxes website, it supports “all of the common tax forms and schedules.” This includes joint filing and itemized tax deductions, as well as IRS forms an individual must file to report income or loss from a small business. 

A competitor such as TurboTax Free Edition, on the other hand, is only available for qualifying taxpayers who plan to take the standard deduction.² <p><b>TurboTax Online: Important Details about Filing Form 1040 Returns with Limited Credits</b></p><p>A Form 1040 return with limited credits is one that's filed using IRS Form 1040 only (with the exception of the specific covered situations described below). Roughly 37% of taxpayers are eligible.</p><p>If you have a Form 1040 return and are claiming limited credits only, you can file for free yourself with TurboTax Free Edition, or you can file with TurboTax Full Service at the listed price.</p><p><b>Situations covered (assuming no added tax complexity):</b></p><ul><li>W-2 income</li><li>Interest or dividends (1099-INT/1099-DIV) that don’t require filing a Schedule B</li><li>IRS standard deduction</li><li>Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)</li><li>Child Tax Credit (CTC)</li><li>Student loan interest deduction</li></ul><p><b>Situations not covered:</b></p><p></p><ul><li>Itemized deductions claimed on Schedule A</li><li>Unemployment income reported on a 1099-G</li><li>Business or 1099-NEC income</li><li>Stock sales (including crypto investments)</li><li>Rental property income</li><li>Credits, deductions and income reported on other forms or schedules&nbsp;</li></ul><p></p> It doesn’t include itemized deductions and business income.

The following situations are not currently supported by Cash App Taxes:

• 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

Product	Cost	Best for...
Cash App Taxes	Free	Tax filers who want a free, streamlined filing process

How does Cash App Taxes work? 4 key features

If you have a Cash App account, then Cash App Taxes is available to you. It is a smart and simple tax filing service that provides a tailored experience specific to your unique filing situation. Here are some of the key features available to its users:

1. Streamlined onboarding for an intuitive experience

As you begin your return with Cash App Taxes, you’ll be asked a series of comprehensive questions used to map to applicable tax forms. Each answer is used to develop a personalized dashboard to help you file your taxes efficiently, and you will only fill out the forms required for your particular situation.

2. Free audit protection

You can receive free audit defense which manages your correspondence with the IRS and provides in-person representation in the event you get audited.

3. 24/7 chat support

Taxes can be complicated — something that may prevent many taxpayers from filing independently. Cash App Taxes has 24/7 chat support for its members. So if you have a question at any time during the filing process, experts are just a click away.

4. Mobile filing

Tax filers who used Cash App Taxes last tax season could start their taxes on their mobile device. More than half of all Cash App Taxes filers started their taxes this way. This tax year, users can file their taxes from start to finish directly from their smartphone — no matter how complex their tax situation is.

Cash App Taxes pros and cons

Pros

• Free federal and state returns: Cash App Taxes is worthy of consideration if you’re looking for a free, smart tax filing experience. There are no paid upgrades, so you won’t hit any type of paywall just because you had some income from being self-employed or want to itemize your deductions. Cash App Taxes is free from start to finish and supports income tax forms like Schedule A, Schedule C, claiming the child tax credit, and claiming the earned income tax credit (EITC).
• Customized filing: When you file with Cash App Taxes, you'll complete a brief questionnaire when you start the filing process. This eliminates several steps, so you won't have to open or review any information that isn’t relevant to you.
• Accuracy guarantee: Cash App Taxes provides a simple, user-friendly experience that takes the guesswork out of the process. Cash App Taxes 100% guarantees the accuracy of its calculations. So if the IRS or your state tax authority imposes a penalty on you due to a Cash App Taxes calculation, the company will reimburse you up to $1,000 in the form of a gift card.
• Maximum refund guarantee: Cash App Taxes users also benefit from the company’s “Maximum Refund Guarantee.” If you receive a bigger federal tax refund or owe less in federal taxes when you file an amended return through another online tax prep service, Cash App Taxes will cover the difference up to $100.
• Ability to import returns: Finally, if you've used other tax preparation software in previous years, Cash App Taxes makes it easy to transition to their free service instead. They allow the importing the last year's return from H&R Block, TurboTax, and TaxAct.

Cons

• Somewhat limited services: As with any free tax-filing service, the functionality of Cash App Taxes does have limitations — even though it supports a great number of forms and tax situations. So depending on your unique situation, Cash App Taxes might not be able to file your taxes for you. For example, if you worked in multiple states or have foreign income, you might not qualify to use their service.
• No option to upgrade for professional help: If you’re looking for personalized tax help on Cash App Taxes, you may also be disappointed. While many competitors offer the option to consult tax experts for a fee, Cash App Taxes does not offer this service.
• Manual entry for trades: If you actively trade cryptocurrency or stocks, Cash App Taxes might not be the best choice. Users must manually enter each trade, which can be a tedious process with high room for errors.

How to contact Cash App Taxes

You can reach Cash App Support in a few ways:

• Phone: You can contact Cash App Taxes by calling +1 (800) 969-1940. Operating hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
• Online chat: You can contact Cash App Taxes via chat 24/7 if you have questions at any point during filing. This chat feature can be located within the “Support” section located at the top of your mobile app or desktop dashboard when logged into Cash App Taxes.
• Mail: You can reach them by mail at Cash App, 1455 Market Street Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94103.

FAQs

Bottom line

There are plenty of free tax preparation providers out there, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get the same experience across the board. Cash App Taxes offers its members a smart, streamlined tax filing experience — for free. You can also file your return without worrying that you’ll need to upgrade to a paid version to finish.

If you don’t mind the extra work, enter your tax information into Cash App Taxes and other comparable versions of the best tax software to see which gives you the highest return.