Tax Return Software Companies & Reviews


TurboTax | H&R Block At Home | TaxACT | CompleteTax

Pros

  • Most user-friendly, helpful tax products
  • Excellent helper text/on-screen guidance
  • Excellent error checking
  • Audit triggers meter:  shows your likelihood of being audited
  • Offers Audit Defense: full-service representation if you are audited by the IRS (additional $39.95)
  • Offers live tax support ($29.95 for the first 20 minutes and $19.95 per additional 20 minutes)
  • Offers professional tax review: tax advisor manually goes through your entire tax return (additional $39.95)
  • Trusted and reliable brand: in business for 20+ years
     

Cons

  • At the time of our most recent review, we did not find any notable cons.

We are in the process of reviewing TurboTax 2012 tax software, and our site will be updated December 2011.

TurboTax sets the standard for user-friendly, reliable tax products.  Offering excellent error checking and on-screen guidance, they offer the most intuitive tax products on the market. TurboTax also offers unparalleled tax support.  For $39.95 you can have a professional CPA review your tax return for errors.  Also for $39.95, you can purchase Audit Defense, which means that TurboTax will represent you in the event that you are audited by the IRS.  The only drawback of TurboTax is that they offer expensive tax products when compared with competitors TaxAct and CompleteTax, who offer a lot of the same services at a drastically lower cost.

TurboTax Pricing
Price Range Free - $99.95
State Add-On $39.95
TurboTax Company Ratings
5
5
4
5
Overall Score: 19 / 20

Pros

  • Best value tax products
  • Least expensive price for filing federal returns
  • Least expensive price for filing state returns (state add-on included for free with Ultimate product)
  • Least expensive price for live tax support ($7.95 one-time fee for unlimited phone tax support)
  • Deluxe and Ultimate products offer the same capabilities as counterpart products from TurboTax and H&R Block at 66% lower cost
  • Excellent error checking: most thorough double-check function we've reviewed


 

Cons

  • Does not offer a professional tax review, which means a tax advisor manually goes through your entire tax return (This is available through TurboTax and H&R Block.)
  • Costs $12.95 to access your previous tax returns from the last three years (This is free with TurboTax and H&R Block.)


 

With low prices and great tax support, TaxACT offers the best value tax products on market. TaxAct products offer many of the same features and services as TurboTax and H&R Block and are 66% cheaper than competing products. TaxACT also offers the most thorough error-checking system we’ve reviewed.  They offer help with filing your tax return as well as live tax support for a low price of $7.95. TaxACT’s products are best for people filing simple to moderately complicated tax returns, as they don’t offer a CPA to review your tax return, which is usually only important for more complicated returns.

TaxACT Pricing
Price Range Free - $17.95
State Add-On $8.00
TaxACT Company Ratings
4
4
4
4
Overall Score: 16 / 20

Pros

  • Competitive tax products and local tax support
  • Only provider with physical locations where tax representatives can help you fill out your tax return
  • Offers live tax support (free, unlimited support with Best of Both product; one free session with Premium product; additional $19.95 on lower-level products)
  • Offers professional tax review: tax advisor manually goes through your entire tax return (included for free on highest level "Best of Both" plan only)
  • Trusted and reliable brand: in business for 50+ years
     

Cons

  • Online interface is not as user-friendly as those from competitors TurboTax and TaxAct (e.g. does not prompt you to save progress; does not let you bookmark or flag pages of your tax return to revisit)
  • Below average tech support: Our tests showed it took longer to get simple questions answered over the phone than it did to look them up online.


 

We are in the process of reviewing H&R Block 2012 tax software, and our site will be updated December 2011.

H&R Block offers competitive tax products and is the only provider with physical locations where you can get help with filing your tax return. H&R Block has been around for over 50 years and has locations in many major cities around the U.S. H&R Block products and state add-on prices are slightly cheaper than competing products from TurboTax. H&R Block products are easy to use, but they don’t provide the best error checking system we’ve reviewed.

H&R Block At Home Pricing
Price Range Free - $71.96
State Add-On $36.95
H&R Block At Home Company Ratings
4
3
3
5
Overall Score: 15 / 20

Pros

  • Inexpensive tax products
  • Low cost for filing both federal and state tax returns (state add-on included for free with Premium product).
  • Offers Audit Defense: full-service representation if you are audited by the IRS (AuditPro costs $19.95 for one year or $29.95 for three years)
  • Offers live tax support ($19.95 for three months of unlimited phone support; $4.95 per live chat session; one free session included with Deluxe product; two free sessions included with Premium product)
  • Offers professional tax review: tax advisor manually goes through your entire tax return (included free with their AuditPro tax support)


 

Cons

  • Online interface is not as user-friendly as those from competitors TurboTax and TaxAct (e.g. does not provide an overview of information entered; tax forms are not formatted in a user-friendly way)
  • Costs $9.95 to access your tax return from last year (This is free with TurboTax and H&R Block.)
  • Poor tech support: phone support is not available, email response takes more than 24 hours, and live chat costs $4.95 per session (This is the only company to charge for tech support)


 

We are in the process of reviewing CompleteTax 2012 tax software, and our site will be updated December 2011

CompleteTax offers competitive tax software products at prices lower than those offered by TurboTax and H&R Block.  CompleteTax’s Basic product is now available for free this year, which is a great value if you’re filing a straightforward tax return and want help with Life Changes (i.e. getting married, buying a house or car, having children, etc.) and importing 1099 and W-2 forms.  CompleteTax offers excellent Tax Support.  For a low price of $19.95, they will have a CPA review your tax return for errors and they will represent you in the event that you are audited by the IRS.  The only major drawback of this service is their poor tech support, which we did not find to be economical, helpful or responsive.

CompleteTax Pricing
Price Range Free - $59.46
State Add-On $29.71
CompleteTax Company Ratings
3
4
2
4
Overall Score: 13 / 20