TaxACT Helps Working Americans File for the Earned Income Tax Credit for Free

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA--(Marketwired - Jan 30, 2015) -  In recognition of today being Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day, TaxACT® is reminding Americans that EITC help and federal tax return filing is always free at www.taxact.com.

This year's maximum Earned Income Tax Credit amount is $496 for an individual without children and $6,143 for a family with three or more children. The final credit amount is based on wages, other earned income, adjusted gross income and number of qualified children. One of the EITC requirements is that earned income and adjusted gross income for 2014 must each be less than:

• $46,997 ($52,427 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children
• $43,756 ($49,186 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children
• $38,511 ($43,941 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child
• $14,590 ($20,020 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children

Last year, nearly 28 million Americans received the refundable EITC, averaging $2,407. However, just four out of five qualified taxpayers claimed the credit.

TaxACT Free Federal Edition, available as over-the-web, download and mobile solutions, asks simple eligibility questions and completes the tax forms. With TaxACT's free federal e-file and direct deposit, Americans filing returns for the EITC could have their IRS refunds as soon as mid-February.

TaxACT offers free IRS tax filing to all Americans, no matter how complex the situation

TaxACT is the only company to offer all e-fileable IRS forms free, which includes Schedules C, D, and E for sole proprietors, LLCs, investors, and landlords. Other companies' free products only support forms for simple tax returns.

Personalized tax and technical help is available every step of the way throughout the Q&A interview, in TaxACT's Answer Center, by email and via phone.

Taxpayers with simple returns can file their federal and state taxes for free with the TaxACT Express™ app for iOS and Android™. In addition to the EITC, TaxACT Express supports tax credits and deductions for dependents, education, and retirement savings, as well as interest, dividend income and unemployment income.

About TaxACT

Since 1998, TaxACT has offered affordable digital and download tax preparation solutions for individuals, business owners and tax professionals. In the 2005 tax season, TaxACT became the first to offer free federal filing to all U.S. taxpayers and has been one of the top three visited online tax preparation destinations ever since.¹ TaxACT has assisted with more than 50 million e-filed federal returns since 2000. TaxACT is a business of Blucora, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOR). Learn more about TaxACT at www.taxact.com and www.taxact.com/press.

¹ According to collective week end reports for taxact.com and taxactonline.com released by Hitwise™.