Introduction
It is very difficult to manage all different types of taxes without some technical aid. Thus, tax software was created to assist the process and to file taxes online. There are many different types of tax software, and each one is of different use for different taxpayers. Let’s discuss some of the best tax software that are crucial to the tax industry.
What is Turbotax software?
Turbo tax software is a paid tax software, but it also has its fee editions. This software is easy to use and is very helpful, particularly for students and adults. They can take advantage of the free edition of Turbotax as well. This software charges $64 for every state tax return. A desktop version of this software is available on its device also.
What products does Turbotax offer?
Turbotax online software has three tiers for the tax filing process. These are Turbotax free edition, deluxe and premium. The prices of the paid version are quite high. These are $69 for deluxe federal filing and $129 for premium federal filing. The cost of state return is competitively lesser, around $64.
If someone wants additional help in addition to the tiers mentioned above, Turbotax provides two more levels. These are Turbotax Live Assisted and Turbotax Live Full Service. In this, your tax documents are handled by tax professionals, and they prepare your taxes.
What is the Turbotax free edition?
This edition is free of cost and is best for students and filers who have very simple returns. A simple tax return is one that usually contains a single W2. It does not include any rental property.
You can claim only a limited number of things since it is a free version, such as child tax credit, earned income tax credit, student loan interest deduction, etc. One must check if he is eligible to use the free edition of this software or not. This is because not all taxpayers qualify for using the free edition.
What is Turbotax Deluxe?
This edition is the best to maximise credits. If the free edition does not boost your refund, then you can switch to the deluxe edition. The price for federal returns is $69, and for state returns, it is $64.
This tier is best for business owners, freelancers and investors. The cost for a federal return is $119, and for a state return is $64.
Firstly you have to fill in your basic information. After this, the software will ask you some questions based on which it will decide which tier is required, that is, free edition, deluxe or premium.
What are the drawbacks of Turbotax?
A major drawback of this software is that it will try to upsell you to work with a tax professional or upgrade to a higher tier and for this, you have to pay an extra amount. Also, this software is one of the most expensive software.
Are additional tiers worth the cost?
Turbotax live assisted, and Turbotax full service are the two additional tiers of this software. If a person is able to file his return, then he doesn’t need help with any of these. But if you need to ask various questions, you can choose these. There is another way also which is affordable and cheaper than these, that is you can reach out to a professional on your own. It will help you to save a good amount of money.
Turbotax software makes the process of return filing very easy and convenient. If you stop the process in between, then you can resume the process from that step whether you’re working on a tablet, PC or smartphone. This software offers other tools as well, such as a charitable donation calculator etc. This software can also be used on mobile, and the overall experience is very good.
Is Turbotax right for the users?
Turbotax is a very useful software for those who want to file their tax returns quickly without getting a headache. It is a leading software, but the costs are a little high.
It is an online tax filing software and is cheaper than Turbotax. It has four tiers, namely free online, deluxe, premium and self-employed. H&R’s free online tier is famous among all. This software can be used by people who want to save money as it is cheaper than Turbotax.
What are H&R Block’s different products?
As discussed earlier, this software provides four different types of online products that include free online, deluxe, premium and self-employed. The range of these lies between $0 to $ 115. You can choose any of the tiers based on your deductions and tax credits that you want to claim.
This product is best for students and W-2 employers. This is very useful for the students as it allows education tax credit and deductions for student loan interest, etc.
This is best suited for HSA contributors. The various options allow you to file self-employment taxes. The cost of this plan is $55 for federal returns and $49 for state returns.
This is best for the investors and landlords. This tier can be used in case of more complicated tax returns. This also helps to save money as compared to Turbotax. The cost of the premium for federal returns is $85, while for the state return is $49.
This is the most expensive plan for H&R Block. The current price is $115 for federal returns and $49 per state return. You get everything in this tier, including the benefits of all the tiers mentioned above.
How does H&R Block work?
You have to tell your tax situation, and according to that, the tier will be allotted to you. The online tier is very easy to use, even without the assistance of someone. There is also a feature of the help screen in this software. They are shown on the side panel on the right-hand side of the screen.
It all depends on the complexity of the taxes. But generally, most of the taxpayers don’t require any personal assistance. There is an option called to do it yourself, which helps to make the process of tax filing very easy. But it is less easy than Turbotax. The free online resources answer almost all the questions.
This software also offers multiple tools for its users, which include a tax calculator, a tool to track the status of returns and a tax prep checklist. The tax calculator is used to know the size of the refund and tax prep checklist to review the process. This also offers a card known as the Emerald card.
Is H&R block right for the users?
This is a top tax software, but its user experience is not as great as that of Turbotax. The free online plan is very helpful, especially for the students who have student loans. There is also an additional service which assists people with all their questions and queries. Thus, this is a helpful software overall.
This is a tax software that helps to ease the process of tax filing. It covers all IRS forms and schedules. If the user wants more assistance, then he can upgrade to premium. It offers its services at four different levels. These are free, classic, premium and self-employed. The range lies between $0 to $ 68 for federal returns and $45 for state returns.
What are different tax slayer products?
This tier is free of cost and is generally used to file simple tax returns. Students use it for student loan credits. Simple returns that claim only education costs can be done using this product. Generally, the paid product is required for different services.
This tier is the best for most of the filers. The cost for a federal return is $ 38, and for state filing, it is $45. You can also get unlimited assistance over the phone and emails as well.
This tier is best for users who want some additional support in the process of tax filing. It is almost similar to the classic tier, but a major difference lies in the support system. It provides online help and support to a great extent. Along with this, you also get unlimited professional tax advice. The costs for this tier are $58 for a federal return and $45 for a state return.
As discussed, this tier is useful for freelancers and business owners. You get tax pro at $ 68 with self-employment expertise.
This is useful when you want to reduce the cost of tax filing. You can upload your previous tax return and proceed further if you’ve switched from some other software. The online help and support provided by this software is amazing and is highly recommended by the users.
The tool asks you questions about your current tax situation and, based on this determines which tier should be used by you. There are other features also, such as notes where you can create virtual notes, and the other feature is a quick file that helps in finding tax forms for the users.
Is the taxpayer premium worth the cost?
Taxslayer premium provides extra help to the user. So, the users who do not need extra help to file their simple or less complicated returns need not use this tool. They can use the simply free or classic tier. In such a case, using premium is of no use.
Upgrading to premium depends on the complexity of the returns and the budget of the user. This provides a lot of additional help over the phone or email. Thus, this is a helpful tool for those who want additional support.
Taxslayer helps the users to file their returns at low rates as compared to the software discussed above. It does lack some extra features which are included in the expensive software. The tools it provides include a tax refund calculator. Taxslayer also has a mobile app which is very easy to use.
Is tax slayer right for the users?
This software may not be as effective as others, but its low cost attracts users towards it. You can use it simply for the free and classic tier, which is of very low cost.
Conclusion
In this article, we reviewed three different tax software. The first one is Turbotax. It is the leading tax return software and is very helpful for the users. It has free as well as paid editions. Depending on one’s needs, one can choose a tier that best suits his needs and requirements.
The other software we looked at is H&R Block. This is less expensive than Turbotax and also has free and paid editions. Depending upon one’s need, one can choose any of the tiers.
The last software we discussed is the taxslayer. Taxslayers are more inclined towards providing personal assistance to the users. It is cheaper than Turbotax and H&R Block.