Tax time online software choices

February 8, 2007 / Filed under: Software

It's "tax time" again, and if you do your taxes on your own, you're gonna need software to help you out.

The two "big players" are TurboTax and H&R Block. Both offer online applications to do your taxes, as well as traditional desktop software, if you'd rather not do it online. The prices can be slightly different, depending on whether you choose online or offline.

There is also TaxACT, which seems to have the best value.

All three companies offer different "packages," with names like "deluxe," "basic," "premium." It can be somewhat confusing for the person who simply wants to file their taxes, and be done.

If you are someone who wants to quickly file your taxes with minimum fuss, there are four features you need to look for:

  • Ability to file online.
  • Ability to file Federal.
  • Ability to file State.
  • Ability to e-File.

Pricing

If you're like me, price is a big thing.

Hands down, TaxACT wins the price war. For $15.95, you can file Federal, State, and e-file - with their online software.

H&R Block is a bulky $39.95 online, and $59.95 offline.

TurboTax is the worst yet: $29.95 for Federal and e-file, but an extra $25.95 just for State. That comes out to $55.90. I hear there are TurboTax deals at Costco, though - but those are only for the desktop applications.

Ease of use

"Ease of use" is also important.

Last year, H&R Block didn't even offer a Macintosh version of their desktop software, but this year they do support Macs. TurboTax has supported Macs for quite some time, but the software was always "buggy" on OS X - causing an aggravating experience.

If you use a PC, you are pretty much "good to go" no matter what you choose.

However, I prefer to do my taxes online, without having to fuss with software installations, etc.

All three online applications support the major browsers for Windows and Mac OS X. This includes Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows, and Firefox and Safari on OS X.

My preference

I am going with TaxACT, mainly because of the price. I also feel that the web site is much more intuitive and easy to find things.

I also wrote about this topic last year, on Pain in the Tech.

Comments/Mentions

# Jennifer Grucza at 2/12/2007 2:43 pm cst

I've used TaxACT the past three years and it's worked out just great. Cheap and easy enough, and less hassle than filling out your own paper forms.

# Matthom at 2/12/2007 3:30 pm cst

This is my first year using TaxACT, and like you said, it's great. I actually considered going to see a tax professional, but I was able to whiz through TaxACT in under an hour. And with the e-File - there was absolutely NO paperwork. That's they way I like it.