Opinion: What is the best way to file your taxes?
Michael Blackwood, Assistant Editor
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
Filing your taxes can be confusing, so confusing that an industry has sprung up with the sole purpose of helping people file them. These companies traditionally have brick and mortar locations where people can come and get help with their taxes.
With the internet, a few of these companies have moved operations online. Today it is simple to file a tax return without ever leaving your home, all you have to do is go online. But which service should you choose?
The two main competitors are H&R Block, a company that moved online from physical locations, and Intuit TurboTax, which started online. Both services have their own pros and cons.
Of the two, H&R Block’s online service is easier to navigate. Where H&R Block has easy to understand icons and simple text, TurboTax has a lot more reading involved and checkboxes to select. That being said, however, TurboTax explains everything further than H&R Block does, and TurboTax is still not difficult to understand.
Both services offer the ability to file both federal and state taxes. Both offer help with healthcare information as well.
H&R Block offers a free federal return, but there is a fee of $29.99 for any state taxes filed. The free version offers support over an online chat. They also offer a Plus service which provides more support options and the ability to fill out more forms, such as a 1099 and costs $29.99, the state fee still applies. They also offer a Deluxe version which costs $54.99, which they suggest for home owners.
TurboTax also offers a free federal return and a fee of $29.99 for state returns. They also offer 3 payed services: Deluxe, Premier and Self-Employed.
The Deluxe version costs $54.99 and offers more services for increasing deductions and credits and lowering the amount that you have to pay.
The next tier, Premier, is $79.99 and offers everything that Deluxe does, along with options for calculating taxes for stocks and other investments. Premier also helps those with rental properties calculate the taxes for their properties.
Their Self-Employed service costs $114.99. This service adds features that only people who own their own businesses would need.
For most college students, I would recommend the free H&R Block service. It offers some services, such as stocks, that is only available in payed tiers of TurboTax. H&R Block is also easier to get through and yields results that are just as low, if not more so, as TurboTax. If you have a family and a house and don’t mind paying a little bit of money, I would suggest TurboTax. TurboTax better explains what every option does and their payed services offer more services than the H&R Block payed services do.
