TurboTax is one of the most popular tax software filing option due to its easy-to-use UI, its in-app support features for different filing situations and trackers, and the expert assistance option you can use for an additional cost. It’s also the most costly option on this list, and Intuit, its owner, ran into some trouble with the FTC for falsely advertising its products as free, when only a portion of the population qualified for the free services.
But there’s a reason it seems like everyone uses the tax filing software. Year after year TurboTax keeps your data and imports previous data into this year’s return, so updating your documents takes less time. It’s great for freelancers and self-employed people to upload receipts and manage deductions, and simple filing is easy with seamless imports of W-2s and PDFs, too.
The platform offers plenty of educational resources that elucidate the muddy process of tax returns, like a tax bracket calculator, a self-employed expense estimator, and information on the latest tax law changes.
You can find free versions for simple filings like W-2 income, child tax credits, earned income credits, and other standard deductions. The Deluxe option that starts at $39 offers all that the free filing offers plus itemized deductions. The Premier option offers the aforementioned filings, plus rental and investment income filings for $69. And the Self-Employed option offers all you need for filing as a freelancing or self-employed individual for $89. If you want extra help filing your taxes but want to do the bulk of it yourself, you can purchase the Live Assisted option that varies from $0 to $169, depending on your situation. Or you could get TurboTax to do everything for you for a starting price of $89.
Free filing is possible, but your filing has to be pretty bare bones, so any sort of charitable donation, freelance gig, unemployment income, or complex form you file will cost you more. But if you are a W-2 worker, have dependents, and pay rent, you could qualify to file your taxes for free with TurboTax.