Saving money on tax preparation means you get to keep more of your refund. If you want to file your taxes for free, you have a few options. First, you can go to the IRS Free File page and see if you qualify to file a free tax return there. This year, there are eight options in the IRS Free File Online program offered through a variety of partners. Each one has different criteria you must meet to qualify. To file for free, you must start your return at the IRS site, not at the partner’s site. You can record—or import, in some cases—your W-2 and some 1099 data in some of them. For the first time, the IRS has a pilot program for people to file for free online directly without using a third-party app. To qualify, you had to have lived in one of the 12 states chosen for the program and meet a few other requirements. The states are Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Another way to prepare and file your taxes for free is to use Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax). It is free to file both your federal returns and one state return. This app supports most IRS forms, but a few tax situations are not included, such as estate and trust income, foreign earned income, low-income housing credit, and qualified electric vehicle credit, among others. You can also use FreeTaxUSA, which charges nothing for federal returns but does charge $14.99 for a state return. You can buy enhanced support for an additional $7.99 and the ability to connect with tax pros for $39.99.  Other sites have free options, too, but they're limited in the forms and schedules they support. H&R Block, for example, is very generous in its free offerings among the normally paid services. It supports W-2 income, the Child Tax Credit (CTC), unemployment income, student expenses, and more for free. TaxAct allows retirement income, unemployment, and support for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), in addition to the W-2 and the CTC, but you must pay $39.99 per state filed. TurboTax lets you report W-2 income, the EITC, the CTC, student loan interest, and limited interest and dividend income. Using TaxSlayer, you can enter your education expenses in addition to the W-2 and other topics.