Taxes. One of my favorite things to do :). I am one of those guys who would go and check as many online tax filing softwares every year as possible. This is to figure out which online tax filing software can get me most refund :). Hopefully, this would be a useful post.
Here is a review of online tax filing softwares that I have used/looked at in the past. In this review, as usual, I'll try to keep the noise to minimum and get to the point. One thing to note that the price comparison is for the federal tax filing only. Also, price quoted in the table below is for the version of the software that I am interested in and provide similar level of "functionality".
In summary,
Price | Interface | Additional Comment | |
H&R Block | $49.95 | Slick | Will use this year, same refund as TaxAct |
TaxAct | $19.95 | Slick but not as good | Will pass this year, same refund as H&R |
TurboTax | $74.95 | Yikes! | Not recommended |
If you are interested in details, please read further.
H&R Block online tax preparation software -
This emerged as the winner in my case. I liked the interface overall. Questionnaire is pretty straight forward. The only issue I have is that the refund/due amount(calculated at each step) in the top right corner of the screen is shown in yellowish rather than more natural green or red. It handled reporting of 1099-Misc self-employment income for contractor job much better compared to TaxAct(which was very confusing and I did not get it). This is the sole reason of my preference of H&R Block over TaxAct even though it is slightly expensive.
One variation of the online tax filing software, "H&R Block Best of Both", is a nice to have for people who would want a human tax consultant to review their tax forms before filing and go over any questions for $99.95(including $49.95 quoted above so $50 extra). I think pretty useful for some but I don't need it.
I have filed my 2006 and 2007 returns using H&R Block.
TaxAct -
TaxAct's interface is convenient in general. H&R Block is slightly better in parts though. One nice touch is the use of green/red color for the refund/due amount calculated at each step. However, it was really very confusing to report 1099-MISC income using TaxAct. For some unknown reason, it presents the questions to me as if I owned the business. Note that you can get the 1099-Misc for the contract work and that is classified as self-employment.
Another really confusing aspect of TaxAct is how it presents the state tax refund/due amount to the user if you have lived in more than 1 states in a given tax year. Let's say you stayed in two states. As soon as you enter your first W-2, it calculates your state tax due in both the states as if you have lived in both the states for "entire" year resulting in a sudden increase in your state tax dues. After all, you were paying taxes in only 1 state through payroll deductions. I don't recall where but ultimately you can fix this issue in the flow(I think state filing) somewhere. But, pretty inconvenient.
However, at $19.95, TaxAct is the cheapest online tax filing software. So if you don't have 1099-Misc to report, you may want to go with TaxAct. I have filed my 2008 return using TaxAct.
TurboTax -
Personally, I have never filed taxes using TurboTax. I have registered and played around though. The version I am interested in would cost me $74.95. The same functionality in H&R Block and TaxAct is available for $49.95 and $19.95 respectively. And damn, it does not support my favorite browser, Google Chrome. Probably not big deal for most but I consider it lame!
It does not have as nice interface as H&R Block and TaxAct. You have to continuously use the browser scroll bar to move up and down. Yikes! I did not go beyond that.
cheers.
Wow,Nice summary!
ReplyDeleteLooks like I will be using Taxact.