FAFSA Form & Financial Aid Form Blog

If you make less than $50,000 Adjusted Gross Income for tax year 2005, you may be eligible for the IRS “Free File” service, which is offered at the IRS web site, IRS.gov. One important thing to note: Free File is offered by a variety of commercial vendors, like H&R Block. One thing that is very likely as you’re going through the Free File service, should you choose to use it, is that you will be marketed to for virtually every add on service that the preparers offer, from insurance to guarantees to fast tax refund loans (often called advance tax refund or instant tax refund). These are the very worst of the lot, the equivalent of payday loans with annualized interest rates soaring as high as 1,700%.

Yes, you read that correctly. Interest rates as high as 1,700%. By taking advantage of Free File, chances are you will be able to file electronically, which means that you should have your refund in about 1 - 3 weeks anyway. If you can hold out, you can save yourself hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in “refund loan” fees.