50 States' Free Individual Income Tax Return E-Filing

Tax season is coming up, and most people in the U.S. will file a federal and state income tax return. Federal income tax returns can be e-filed for free through the IRS website. While most people do not use this option, all of the popular tax preparation services offer free federal and, in many cases, free state income tax e-filing for lower income families.

If you don't meet the income limitations, however, finding a way to e-file your return for free, particularly your state income tax return, is more difficult. One new option that includes free e-filing for federal and state tax returns is creditkarma.com; however, it is not as robust as other services, as this review has noted.

Fortunately, the department of revenue of many states allows free e-filing directly from the department's website. Since most state income tax returns rely heavily on the taxpayer's federal return, you will need to have already completed your federal return in order to use these services. Linked below are state government websites where state individual income tax returns can be e-filed. This post will be updated as better sources become available; please comment below if you come across broken links or better options than what I currently have:

Alabama	Illinois	Montana^	Rhode Island^
Alaska*	Indiana^	Nebraska	South Carolina^
Arizona^	Iowa^	Nevada*	South Dakota*
Arkansas^	Kansas	New Hampshire#	Tennessee#
California	Kentucky^	New Jersey	Texas*
Colorado	Louisiana	New Mexico	Utah
Connecticut	Maine	New York^	Vermont
Delaware	Maryland	North Carolina^	Virginia^
District of Columbia^	Massachusetts^	North Dakota^	Washington*
Florida*	Michigan^	Ohio	West Virginia^
Georgia^	Minnesota^	Oklahoma^	Wisconsin
Hawaii	Mississippi	Oregon	Wyoming*
Idaho^	Missouri^	Pennsylvania

* State does not have an income tax
^ State does not offer free online filing directly through the state revenue department's website
# State has an investment income tax in lieu of a traditional income tax

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50 States' Disclaimer of Property Interests

A disclaimer is the refusal to accept the right to receive property. Disclaiming a property interest is an estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax avoidance technique allowed by Section 2518 of the Internal Revenue Code, and the right to disclaim is codified in each states' statutes. A disclaimer is also useful where a person simply does not want the property they would otherwise receive.

The Uniform Law Commission has completed a uniform Disclaimer of Property Interest Act that has been adopted by 20 jurisdictions; a prior version has been adopted by 11 jurisdictions. The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel has an old but somewhat useful summary of each states' law on this matter located here.

Below are current references to each states' property interest disclaimer statutes. This post will be updated as laws change; please comment below if you come across any incorrect or outdated information:

Alabama  Ala. Code § 43-8-290	Illinois  755 ILCS 5/2-7	Montana  §72-2-811, MCA	Rhode Island  R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-5-1
Alaska  A.S. § 13.70.010	Indiana  I.C. § 32-17.5-1-0.2	Nebraska  Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2352	South Carolina  S.C. Code § 62-2-801
Arizona  A.R.S. § 14-10001	Iowa  Iowa Code § 633E.1	Nevada  N.R.S. § 120.100	South Dakota  SDCL § 29A-2-801
Arkansas  Ark. Code § 28-2-201	Kansas  K.S.A. § 59-2291	New Hampshire  RSA § 563-B:1	Tennessee  T.C.A. § 31-1-103
California  Ca. Prob. Code § 260	Kentucky  KRS § 394.035  KRS § 394.610	New Jersey  N.J.S. § 3B:9-1	Texas  Tex. Prop. Code § 240.001
Colorado  C.R.S. § 15-11-1201	Louisiana  La. C.C. § 947	New Mexico  N.M.S. § 46-10-1	Utah  Utah Code § 75-2-801
Connecticut  Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-578	Maine  18-A M.R.S. § 2-801	New York  N.Y. Est. Powers and Trusts Law § 2-1.11	Vermont  14 V.S.A. § 1951
Delaware  12 Del. C. § 601	Maryland  Md. Code, ET § 9-216	North Carolina  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 31B-1	Virginia  Va. Code § 64.2-2600
District of Columbia  D.C. Code § 19-1501	Massachusetts  Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 2-801	North Dakota  N.D.C.C. § 30.1-10.1-01	Washington  RCW § 11.86.011
Florida  Fla. Stat. § 739.101	Michigan  M.C.L. § 700.2901	Ohio  R.C. § 5815.36	West Virginia  W. Va. Code § 42-6-1
Georgia  O.C.G.A. § 53-1-20	Minnesota  Minn. Stat. § 524.2-1101	Oklahoma  Okla. Stat. tit. 60, § 751  Okla. Stat. tit. 84, § 22	Wisconsin  Wis. Stat. § 854.13
Hawaii  H.R.S. § 526-1	Mississippi  Miss. Code § 89-21-1	Oregon  O.R.S. § 105.623	Wyoming  W.S. § 2-1-401
Idaho  Idaho Code §15-2-801	Missouri  §469.010, RSMo	Pennsylvania  20 Pa.C.S. § 6201

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50 States' Temporary Parental Power Delegation Forms

Many states have statutes allowing parents to temporarily delegate certain parental powers to another person. A standard form is often available; this post provides a link to a Temporary Delegation of Parental Rights form from an authoritative source in every state where such a form is available. This post will be updated as better sources become available; please comment below if you come across broken links or better forms or resources than what I currently have:

Alabama	Illinois	Montana	Rhode Island
Alaska	Indiana	Nebraska	South Carolina
Arizona	Iowa	Nevada	South Dakota
Arkansas	Kansas	New Hampshire	Tennessee
California	Kentucky	New Jersey	Texas
Colorado	Louisiana	New Mexico	Utah
Connecticut	Maine	New York	Vermont
Delaware	Maryland	North Carolina	Virginia
District of Columbia	Massachusetts	North Dakota	Washington
Florida	Michigan	Ohio	West Virginia
Georgia	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Wisconsin
Hawaii	Mississippi	Oregon	Wyoming
Idaho	Missouri	Pennsylvania

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50 States' Health Care Directive Forms

All states have statutes allowing individuals to (1) express their health care wishes and/or (2) appoint an agent to see that those wishes are carried out in the event of incapacity. A standard form or set of forms is available in each jurisdiction for the public to use; this post provides a link to a health care directive form or forms from an authoritative source in every state. This post will be updated as better sources become available; please comment below if you come across broken links or better forms or resources than what I currently have:

Alabama	Illinois	Montana	Rhode Island
Alaska	Indiana	Nebraska	South Carolina
Arizona	Iowa	Nevada	South Dakota
Arkansas	Kansas	New Hampshire	Tennessee
California	Kentucky	New Jersey	Texas
Colorado	Louisiana	New Mexico	Utah
Connecticut	Maine	New York	Vermont
Delaware	Maryland	North Carolina	Virginia
District of Columbia	Massachusetts	North Dakota	Washington
Florida	Michigan	Ohio	West Virginia
Georgia	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Wisconsin
Hawaii	Mississippi	Oregon	Wyoming
Idaho	Missouri	Pennsylvania

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50 States' Charitable Solicitation Registration Search

In a previous post, I discussed the various laws requiring nonprofit organizations wishing to solicit donations from the public to register with the state. Nearly all states that require charitable solicitation registration make registered organizations' information available to the public. In this post, I've collected links to each states' webpage for searching for charities that have qualified to solicit contributions within the state.

In utilizing these state databases, it is important to keep in mind that the standard for registering is different in every state. Texas, for example, does not require charities or non-profit organizations to register unless they solicit for law enforcement, public safety, or veterans causes. Other states, such as Louisiana, only require registration of paid fundraisers or charities that contract with paid fundraisers from outside of the organization.

This post will be updated as necessary; please comment below if you come across broken links or updated resources:

Alabama*	Illinois	Montana^	Rhode Island
Alaska	Indiana^	Nebraska^	South Carolina
Arizona^	Iowa^	Nevada	South Dakota^
Arkansas	Kansas	New Hampshire	Tennessee
California	Kentucky	New Jersey	Texas
Colorado	Louisiana*	New Mexico	Utah
Connecticut	Maine	New York	Vermont^
Delaware^	Maryland	North Carolina	Virginia
District of Columbia	Massachusetts	North Dakota	Washington
Florida	Michigan	Ohio	West Virginia
Georgia	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Wisconsin
Hawaii	Mississippi	Oregon	Wyoming^
Idaho^	Missouri	Pennsylvania

*Registration required, no online search available
^No registration required

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50 States' Small Estate Affidavit Forms

All states have a simplified procedure of some kind for transferring the property of a decedent with few assets. For a great summary of these laws, see Joseph N. Blumberg's article, A Survey of Small Estate Procedures Across the Country.

The majority of states allow title to certain property to be transferred by sworn affidavit, without the need for any court intervention or supervision. My objective here is to provide a link to a small estate affidavit form from an authoritative source for each of these states. Where I wasn't able to locate such a form, I included a link to that state's statute or a helpful website. For states that require court intervention or supervision, I tried to do the same thing, but clearly many of these states don't have such a form, and in none of these states would any form be sufficient by itself.

For all states, I hoped at a minimum to include a link to some useful resource for transferring assets from small estates. This post will be updated as better sources become available; please comment below if you come across broken links or better forms or resources than what I currently have:

Alabama*	Illinois	Montana	Rhode Island*
Alaska	Indiana^	Nebraska	South Carolina
Arizona^	Iowa	Nevada	South Dakota
Arkansas*	Kansas	New Hampshire*	Tennessee*^
California	Kentucky*	New Jersey*	Texas*^
Colorado	Louisiana#	New Mexico^	Utah
Connecticut*	Maine	New York*	Vermont*
Delaware	Maryland*	North Carolina^#	Virginia^
District of Columbia*	Massachusetts#	North Dakota	Washington
Florida*	Michigan	Ohio*	West Virginia*
Georgia^#	Minnesota	Oklahoma^#	Wisconsin
Hawaii	Mississippi	Oregon^#	Wyoming#
Idaho^	Missouri*^	Pennsylvania#

* Affidavit insufficient by itself; a court process of some kind is required.
^ A county-specific form is linked.
# Affidavit may be insufficient; see state statute. State is deemed an "Affidavit Anomaly" by Joseph N. Blumberg due to uniqueness.

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