How to Determine if You Can Use TurboTax Federal Free Edition to File Your 2016 Income Tax Return

If you are qualified to use federal return Form 1040EZ or Form1040A to file your 2016 return, you maybe able to use Turbo Tax's free version of tax preparation software to prepare and file both your federal and state returns.

You can go through the following checklists from IRS Form 1040EZ and 1040A instructions to figure out if you can use Form 1040EZ or Form 1040A to file your federal tax return.

Checklist for Using Form 1040EZ

Note: You must meet ALL of the requirements below to use Form 1040EZ.

1. Your filing status is single or married filing jointly. If you were a nonresident alien at any time in 2016, your filing status must be married filing jointly to use Form 1040EZ.
2. You do not claim any dependents.
3. You do not claim any adjustments to income (e.g. educator expenses, moving expenses IRA deduction, etc.).
4. If you claim a tax credit, you claim only the earned income credit.
5. You (and your spouse if filing a joint return) were under age 65 and not blind at the end of 2016. If you were born on January 1, 1952, you are considered to be age 65 at the end of 2016 and cannot use Form 1040EZ.
6. Your taxable income (line 6 of Form 1040EZ) is less than $100,000.
7. You had only wages, salaries, tips, taxable scholarship or fellowship grants, unemployment compensation, or Alaska Permanent Fund dividends, and your taxable interest was not over $1,500.
8. If you earned tips, they are included in boxes 5 and 7 of your Form W-2.
9. You do not owe any household employment taxes on wages you paid to a household employee.
10. You are not a debtor in a chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed after October 16, 2005.
11. Advance payments of the premium tax credit were not made for you, your spouse, or any individual you enrolled in coverage for whom no one else is claiming the personal exemption.

You don't need to go through the checklist for Form 1040A if you meet ALL of the requirements for using Form 1040EZ.

Checklist for Using Form 1040A

Note: You must meet ALL of the requirements below to use Form 1040A.

1. You only had income from the following sources:
   • Wages, salaries, tips.
   • Interest and ordinary dividends.
   • Capital gain distributions.
   • Taxable scholarship and fellowship grants.
   • Pensions, annuities, and IRAs.
   • Unemployment compensation.
   • Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.
   • Taxable social security and railroad retirement benefits.
2. You either don’t claim adjustment to income or only claim the following adjustments to income:
   • Educator expenses.
   • IRA deduction.
   • Student loan interest deduction.
   • Tuition and fees deduction.
3. You do not itemize deductions.
4. Your taxable income (line 27) is less than $100,000.
5. You either don’t claim tax credit or only claim the following  tax credits:
   • Credit for child and dependent care expenses.
   • Credit for the elderly or the disabled.
   • Education credits.
   • Retirement savings contributions credit.
   • Child tax credit.
   • Earned income credit.
   • Additional child tax credit.
   • Premium tax credit.
6. You did not have an alternative minimum tax adjustment on stock you acquired from the exercise of an incentive stock option.
7. You can also use Form 1040A if you received dependent care benefits or if you owe tax from the recapture of an education credit or the alternative minimum tax.