FreeTaxUSA vs WISO Steuer

FreeTaxUSA is an online service for preparing and e-filing federal and state tax returns. Federal filing is free for all tax situations, with no income limits or forced upgrades; state filing is a paid add-on. It supports income and deductions involving investments, rental property, self-employment, education, home ownership, and dependents, and says it covers over 350 credits and deductions. Users can import W-2s and 1099s or upload a prior-return PDF from TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, Cash App, or OLT. Filing tools include IRS e-file, direct deposit, printable returns, prior-year information import, and free tax extension filing. The service is available on web and mobile devices. FreeTaxUSA says data is encrypted, its physical servers have strict access controls and 24/7 monitoring, and it does not sell tax return information. Basic help is offered by email and an in-app support center, with typical replies within half an hour. It does not support foreign employment income on Form 2555, nonresident alien returns, or filings by customers or preparers living outside the United States.

WISO Steuer guides people through preparing and filing German income tax returns. Users can photograph wage statements and receipts for automatic recognition, and the software updates an expected refund estimate as information is entered. With consent, it can retrieve tax data such as wage-tax information from the tax administration. SteuerGPT answers tax questions in natural language, while Tax Banking can retrieve and categorize transactions when connected to a finanzblick account. Completed returns are sent electronically to the tax office using the official ELSTER interface. One license allows up to five returns, and eligibility is limited to people with unlimited tax liability in Germany. The software is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows. A free test version allows all functions to be tried, with payment requested when submitting a return. The Vorteils-Abo costs €35.99 a year and renews automatically each November; Einzelkauf costs €45.99 a month, billed as a one-time purchase for a tax year. Buhl says data is stored on servers in Germany and protected with HTTPS and AES-256 encryption in transit and storage.