With tax season upon us, I decide to take a fresh look at the best software to prep and e-file my taxes this year. The most popular tax prep software programs, H&R Block At Home (Formerly Tax Cut), and TurboTax, help you prepare your taxes and file your returns electronically over the internet.
Which Is The Best One? H&R Block At Home and TurboTax are so similar in how they actually work its hard to pick a winner. They help you prep and e-file your taxes by asking questions, prompt you to provide information, offer error checks and give pop-up explanations and help. The only real difference is that H&R Block At Home Premium gives you free phone consultations with an H&R Block tax preparation specialists. while TurboTax give you the ability to import financial data from Quicken and Quickbooks.
Wait, can’t I just do this for free online? Nope. Not only are the’ Free’ versions extremely bare bones and appropriate for only the most basic of federal tax returns, its not actually free, since you’ll be paying around thirty dollars extra to file your mandatory state tax return. If you want to maximize your deductions and refund, you’ll quickly run into shortcomings with the free version and will end up paying around twenty more dollars for deduction assistance which they will try to sell you during your filing process. Get this: Most people who begin with the ‘free’ offering end up spending over fifty dollars.
Always Go Premium. There are three things that make the premium versions an absolute must to me: special deduction finder add-on software (this is crucial to maximize your refund), inclusion of all the right forms (crucial if you are a homeowner, have rental property, and many types of investments), and comprehensive audit protection.
But isn’t the deluxe version the same and even cheaper? Not exactly. The audit protection and extra deduction tools to maximize your return are missing. Also, if you own property or have certain investments, you’ll need the premium version to properly file anyway.
So What’s The Best Deal? The big secret I found is that buying a downloadable software copy of H&R Block At Home or TurboTax is much cheaper than paying to use the identical software online.
In our research, we looked at a bunch retailers selling the downloads. Amazon.com has the best deals by far, so that’s where the links to the download copies will take you.
TurboTax Deluxe (State & Federal)
Online: $66.95 Download: $45.59
TurboTax Premier Online (State & Federal)
Online: $86.94 Download: $59.37
H&R Block At Home Deluxe Edition (State & Federal)
Online: $59.94 Download: $27.99
H&R Block At Home Premium Edition (State & Federal)
Online: $79.94 Download: $42.74
And The Winner Is…..Based on the price alone it would be H&R Block At Home Deluxe Edition – Download, but the Premium offers full audit protection and free live phone support from a real tax adviser (TurboTax charges $30 extra for this!), so for me its H&R Block At Home Premium Edition – Download.
That being said…..If you are a current or past TurboTax user, don’t need live support, and/or rely on Quicken for your bookkeeping, you may want to stick with TurboTax. Just remember, forget the online version, save yourself a bunch of money, and go download it from Amazon!
