Cash App Taxes

Best for: Completely free filing

• Free federal and state filing
• Includes most tax situations
• Can’t use if you need to file in more than one state
• Doesn’t offer access to a tax expert

Cash App is best known as the convenient payments platform and in November 2020, they acquired Credit Karma Tax. Cash App has kept everything the same, except for the name, including historical tax returns if you used them previously.

Cash App Taxes is absolutely free for federal and state taxes. They offer everything you get with TurboTax Online (auto-import W2, earned income and child tax credits, 1099-DIV, and 1099-INT forms).

They also offer these, which the free version of TurboTax Online doesn’t:

• Mortgage interest deduction
• Property tax deduction
• Other itemized deductions
• Schedule B: Interest & dividend income
• Schedule C: Profit or loss from business
• Schedule D: Capital gains and losses
• Schedule E: Rental property income
• Schedule SE: Self-employment tax

You also get their Audit Defense feature for free. Once you file your return, one of the pages of your tax package will include instructions and a voucher code you can use for audit defense with Tax Protection Plus, which is a third-party provider.

What’s great about Cash App Taxes is that there is absolutely no up-sell. They either do it for free, or they cannot do your returns at all. They don’t play games where they take all your information and then tell you, “Oops, sorry, you have to pay to get that.”

However, that means if you find out you can’t file with Cash App Taxes, you’ll have to start over with another software. So note that Cash App Taxes can’t handle your taxes if you need to file more than one state return. This includes:

• Multiple state returns: If you earned income in more than one state and have to file multiple returns
• Part-year state returns: Where you or your spouse lived in a state for only part of the year
• Nonresident state returns: If you earned income out of the state of residency
• Married filing separately in community property states
• Form 1040-PR for self-employed persons resident in Puerto Rico
• Filing state taxes without filing federal taxes

Here’s the full list of forms they do not support, which includes a lot of more esoteric forms (Schedule J, Income Averaging for Farmers and Fishermen) but some more common ones (Schedule K-1 – Estate or Trust Income).

Here’s our full review of Cash App Taxes for more information.

Go to Cash App Taxes

FreeTaxUSA

Best for: Filing in multiple states

• Federal returns are free; state returns are $14.99 each
• Covers almost all tax situations
• Add on tax expert access for $39.99
• Audit defense is $19.99

FreeTaxUSA is similar to the free version of TurboTax Online. Still, it also includes the forms needed by self-employed persons, rental income, K-1 forms (from an LLC, partnership, or S-Corp), or needed to take the home office deduction.

Best of all, you can import the previous year’s tax return from TurboTax, H&R Block, or TaxAct, so you aren’t starting from scratch.

FreeTax USA offers free federal returns and state returns are $14.99.

With FreeTax USA, can also add on access to a tax expert for $39.99. This allows you to ask a tax expert questions via phone, live chat, or screen share.

FreeTax USA also offers Audit Defense for $19.99 for help if you’re audited.

There is one drawback to FreeTaxUSA: they don’t import data from payroll processors or banks. Many other tax preparation services can offer this (usually because they pay for it), but with FreeTaxUSA, you’ll need to upload a PDF of your W-2 or 1099-INT. If you have stock transactions, you’ll have to enter them manually.

All in all, for slightly more complicated tax returns, you can’t beat FreeTaxUSA.

Here’s our full review of FreeTaxUSA for more information.

Go to FreeTaxUSA

TaxSlayer

Best for: Access to a tax expert

• Free plan is for taxpayers who earn less than $100,000 and don’t have dependents
• Classic plan covers most tax situations and is $22.95 for federal and $39.95 for state
• Adding on access to a tax pro is only $20

TaxSlayer is one of the most affordable tax preparation packages because its price is based on the level of support you need to complete your taxes — not on how complicated your taxes are.

With TaxSlayer, you pay based on how much help you need from TaxSlayer, so complex and simple tax situations cost the same as long as you don’t need much support. By comparison, TurboTax’s base pricing is also set according to how much support you need but then varies depending on how complicated your taxes are.

TaxSlayer offers four packages, with affordable pricing that’s lower than TurboTax:

• Simply Free – $0 for federal and state. This is for the simple tax situation where you earn less than $100,000, have no dependents, don’t itemize, and don’t have investments, rental income, or a business; you also can’t take the earned income tax credit.
• Classic – $22.95 for federal, $39.95 for state. This will work for almost everyone else (free for active-duty military) who doesn’t need much support.
• Premium – $42.95 for federal, $39.95 for state. This is the same as Classic, but you get priority phone and email support, audit assistance, and access to tax professionals (unlimited).
• Self-Employed – $52.95 for federal, $39.95 for state. With this version, you get access to professionals who specialize in self-employment.

Here’s our full review of TaxSlayer for more information.

Go to TaxSlayer

H&R Block

Best for: In-person support

• Free version includes state returns
• All paid plans include access to a tax expert
• Can have taxes done for you, in person or online

H&R Block has been around for ages and, like TurboTax, has three levels of service — DIY, tax assistance, and full service. One big difference is that you can have your taxes done in person by a local tax agent, something that TurboTax doesn’t offer.

Depending on your tax complexity, TurboTax may be the more affordable of the two. With H&R Block, you select one of three plans, all of which have a set rate, as follows.

• Free – The free plan is for simple returns and includes state returns. You can qualify even if you have unemployment income, student loan interest, tuition payments, dependents, and more.
• Deluxe – $35 for federal, $37 for state. This includes everything available with the free version but also adds health savings accounts, itemized deductions, freelance, gig work, and other self-employment income.
• Premium – $65, for federal, $37 for state. This includes capital gains and losses, rental property income, cryptocurrency sales, and freelance and contractor income
• Self-Employed – $85 for federal, $37 for state. With this version, you can claim expenses such as a home office deduction, business asset depreciation, and travel and entertainment.

TurboTax, on the other hand, sets its pricing depending on how much assistance you need. From there, its starting rates (from free to $39 as of publishing) increase with complexity. If you want support but don’t have complicated taxes, TurboTax’s tiered structure may be a cheaper option. Alternately, if you know you have very complicated taxes, H&R Block’s set rate may be more wallet-friendly than TurboTax’s add-ons.

Finally, if you want to talk to a person, H&R Block has offices you can visit whereas most of the other companies on this list are online only.

Here’s our full H&R Block review for more information.

Go to H&R Block

TurboTax Is Still Good

This article is about all the alternatives if you don’t want to use TurboTax but for the price, TurboTax is still one of the best tax preparation packages out there. It still offers good value even as you get up into the more complex and expensive versions. I know sometimes we try to cut costs when possible but there are instances where you can’t escape it. If you have a complex situation, TurboTax is much cheaper than an accountant!

The free version for simple returns covers quite a bit. You qualify if you only have W-2 income, limited interest and dividend income, claim the standard deduction, and only claim the earned income tax credit and child tax credits. It’s only when you add itemized deductions, business and MISC income, stock activity, and the other schedules that it becomes more expensive.

Finally, if you want a live tax expert, they offer TurboTax Live and on-demand expert consultations. A real certified public accountant will review your return, as if you walked into an accountant’s office to have them check it out.

Why Only These Four?

A list of four alternatives seems short and you may be wondering why I only list Cash App Taxes, FreeTaxUSA, TaxSlayer, and H&R Block. It’s because I didn’t see some of the other (unlisted) companies as being that much better or different. These are also the ones that I’ve had experience with.

TaxAct is an alternative but doesn’t offer a significant improvement in any area over TurboTax, and they are kind of expensive. Prices are close to H&R Block, but the plans don’t include a tax expert. It’s an additional $60 to add on access to a tax pro, which makes them significantly more expensive in the end.

I don’t know a lot about LibertyTax, other than they have a lot of offices similar to H&R Block, but their Simple Tax Return (which is similar to others on this list) start at $49.95.

If you have an alternative I should consider, let me know!