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- While you have multiple choices for how to do your taxes, not all online tax preparation programs are equal.
- Depending on your needs, a free tax solution could be a great choice. For more complex taxes, it may be worth paying.
- I've used tax software including TurboTax, Credit Karma Tax, and H&R Block to do my own personal and small business taxes. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses.
- See Business Insider's picks for the best tax software »
From the time I got my first job at age 16 until 2011, I always paid a professional to do my taxes for me. I started out with a bargain price, but as my income and the complexity of my taxes went up, so did my annual costs. After paying $600 my final year and finding errors on the accountant's behalf that would have cost me a lot more, I decided to take over and handle things myself.
A quality tax prep program allows you to enter your financial details into easy-to-understand forms. Based on your inputs, the program does a little tax wizardry and turns the numbers into a final tax return, which you can choose to file online or print for paper filing. But based on your needs, different tax apps could be a better fit.
In eight years of doing my own taxes, both personally and for my small business, I've used multiple programs and found each has its strengths and weaknesses. Here are the three I recommend, based on my experience:
Credit Karma Tax is best for people with simple tax returns
A few years ago, Credit Karma released an online tax prep software that's free for all users. I used it to file my taxes a few years ago and was happy with the experience. It doesn't handle all tax forms and scenarios, so it's best for people who have simple and fairly standard tax needs.
If your taxes include things like 1099s from investments, deductions for mortgage or student loan interest, and even for people who have a small side hustle business, Credit Karma Tax is a great choice. Why pay someone else when you can do your taxes here for free?
Learn more about Credit Karma Tax »
TurboTax is best for business owners
I'm a freelancer, but not a typical one. I run my business as an S-Corporation. While this costs a bit more to set up and takes more work to maintain, there are some big tax benefits for S-Corps and LLCs taxed as an S-Corp.
But I found in testing for my 2018 taxes that not all tax prep programs handled my pass-through business correctly. In fact, one missed out on a deduction worth thousands of dollars to me. That's why I ended up at TurboTax. It isn't the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. That's good customer service, intuitive forms and interfaces, and confidence that you got an accurate tax return with the maximum cash in your pocket.
Note, however, that if you have a simple tax filing situation, TurboTax does offer $0 federal and state filing with no income limits for W-2 earners. The fees kick in when your filing situation becomes more complex.
H&R Block is good for DIY tax prep with a human backup plan
If you feel good about doing your taxes on your own, but still want a person to sit down with to review your taxes if you have any questions or problems, H&R Block is a good choice. H&R Block offers one of the most popular tax prep software packages around. In addition, it has a network of 12,000 offices you can visit for more help.
I used H&R Block for my taxes a couple of times and felt good about the option to go in or make a phone call for help from a professional. While it costs a bit more to convert to a program where you can meet with a human tax preparer, that's well worth it to some people. If you can't decide between hiring an accountant and doing it yourself, H&R Block is a good choice.
Like TurboTax, H&R Block offers $0 federal and state filing with no income limits for W-2 earners. In fact, its no-fee offerings are slightly more extensive than TurboTax's, which is why Business Insider named it the best tax software for free filing.
This will be my eighth year doing my own taxes and I don't ever plan on going back. No one knows my money better than me, so I'm in the best position of anyone to prepare an accurate tax return. With the right software for my needs, I'm confident that my taxes are accurate and I got the best possible refund.
- More tax day coverage:
- When are taxes due?
- How to file taxes for 2019
- What is a tax credit?
- H&R Block vs. TurboTax
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