Cash App Taxes review — a great option for free filing (2024)

Cash App Taxes, formerly Credit Karma Tax, offers free filing for federal and state tax returns, no matter how complex your tax situation is. Whether you have a single W-2 or multiple 1099s from your side hustles, you can file your taxes for free with this software.

The tradeoff is the lack of any tax support from a professional. You won't have the option to get tax expert assistance or hand off your documents for full-service tax preparation.

Additionally, there are a few situations where you can't file with Cash App Taxes. Specifically, you can't:

• file only your state taxes without filing your federal taxes, meaning you can't file your federal tax return using a different service and then use Cash App Taxes for your state return.
• file for multiple states, including part-year state filing or non-resident state filing.
• file taxes for a minor.
• file taxes for those residing outside of the U.S.
• file taxes for prior years.
• file taxes for income earned outside of the U.S.
• file if you have underpayment penalty calculations or payments.
• file separately as a married individual if you live in a community property state.

Check the full list of tax forms Cash App Taxes doesn't support before you decide to use the software and make sure your situation is covered.

Besides free tax filing, Cash App Taxes comes with several benefits common for tax software.

Maximum refund guaranteed

If you file an amended federal income tax return through a different tax prep service and receive a larger refund or owe less in federal taxes, you may be eligible to receive the difference in the refund or tax amount owed up to $100 (minimum $25) on a gift card from Cash App Taxes. This only applies if you're using the same information you used when filing the same return with Cash App Taxes.

Accurate calculations guaranteed

Cash App Taxes will reimburse you for up to $1,000 on a gift card for the penalties and/or interest that you paid to the IRS or other tax authorities if the charges occur solely due to a calculation error made by the software.

Early refund

If you choose to deposit your refund into Cash App rather than your bank account, you could receive it up to five days earlier.

Audit defense

Cash App Taxes provides free audit defense through Tax Protection Plus, a third-party company specializing in assisting customers with audits. As a member of Tax Protection Plus, you'll be eligible for help if you receive an inquiry from the IRS. Among other services, a case resolution specialist will consult you regarding the correspondence, help you collect and organize documents and draft letters on your behalf if needed.

To use Cash App Taxes, you need to download and log into the Cash App app (available on Google Play and the App Store). If you don't have an account yet, you'll have to create one.

Once that's done, you can file your taxes right from your phone — or online on your computer at the website cash.app/taxes.

Cash App Taxes is fully cloud-based and offers no downloadable software to let you prepare your taxes offline.

Cash App Taxes is an authorized IRS e-file provider and complies with the security, privacy and business standards set by the IRS. The software uses 128-bit or higher encryption which protects the transmission of your data. Cash App Taxes also claims on its website that it maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards of your information that comply with law and federal standards.

Additionally, the company has a dedicated on-site security team and works with independent third parties to assess its site for potential vulnerabilities.

Finally, Cash App Taxes requires a phone number and verification for added protection. It also supports two-factor authentication using authenticator apps.

If your goal is to file taxes for free, Cash App Taxes is hard to compete with. It can be an excellent option if you have a simple tax situation — or if you feel confident doing your taxes without a tax expert's support.

Still, when you're choosing a financial product, you always want to compare several options. For example, TaxSlayer is our top choice for affordable tax software. If you meet certain criteria, you can qualify for free filing for both your federal and state tax returns. The provider's paid plans are also priced lower than much of the competition. All of TaxSlayer's plans cover all tax situations — only the level of expert support varies.

Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter!

Money matters —so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox.Sign up here.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every tax software review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of tax software products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage ofcredit cards,bankingandmoney, and follow us onTikTok,Facebook,InstagramandTwitterto stay up to date.

Read more