You do not have to pay a company to do your taxes. The IRS runs free programs with trained volunteers. This guide adds the practical steps to US income taxes 101: forms, deadline, refunds.
The two volunteer programs
VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance): free help for people with low or moderate income, people with disabilities, and people with limited English. The IRS sets a general income guide each year, around the income limit for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Each site can set its own rules, so ask.
TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly): free help mostly for people 60 and older, with a focus on pensions and retirement questions.
Volunteers are certified by the IRS. They prepare basic returns: wages, interest, Social Security, child credits and similar. They usually cannot do complex returns, such as some business losses or rental property.
Some sites are marked Self-Prep: you use free software yourself, and a volunteer helps when you get stuck.
If you are a nonresident for tax
Many F-1, J-1, M-1 and Q visa holders file Form 1040-NR, not Form 1040. Many VITA sites cannot prepare 1040-NR. A site can do it only if it has volunteers with special Foreign Student certification. Some returns, such as dual-status returns, are outside what any VITA site does.
Check your tax residency first. See Resident or nonresident for US tax? F-1, H-1B and more.
Call the site and ask: "Do you prepare Form 1040-NR?"
If not, ask your school's international office. Many schools give free nonresident tax software.
IRS Free File is free tax software from IRS partner companies. Guided software has an income limit, set each year. Free File Fillable Forms has no income limit, but you fill in the forms yourself with little help. Start only from irs.gov/freefile, so you do not land on a paid version by mistake. Free File is built for Form 1040, not 1040-NR.
Go to irs.gov and search "VITA locator", or call 800-906-9887.
Type your ZIP code. Note the hours, languages and whether you need an appointment.
Sites open mostly from late January to April. Book early.
Photo ID for you, and your spouse if you file together. Both spouses come.
Social Security cards or ITIN letters for everyone on the return.
Birth dates for everyone.
Last year's return, if you have one.
All W-2 and 1099 forms. For students, also 1042-S and your I-20 or DS-2019.
Forms 1095-A, B or C (health coverage), if you got them.
Your bank routing and account numbers, for a faster refund by direct deposit.
Using regular 1040 software as a nonresident.
Arriving without all your W-2s, then needing a second visit.
Paying a "tax helper" who will not sign the return as preparer.