Janet Berry-Johnson, CPA, is a freelance writer with a background in accounting and income tax planning and preparation for individuals and small businesses. Her work has appeared in Business Insider and The New York Times. Janet has been nominated a.
Janet Berry-Johnson, CPA Taxes ExpertJanet Berry-Johnson, CPA, is a freelance writer with a background in accounting and income tax planning and preparation for individuals and small businesses. Her work has appeared in Business Insider and The New York Times. Janet has been nominated a.
Written By Janet Berry-Johnson, CPA Taxes ExpertJanet Berry-Johnson, CPA, is a freelance writer with a background in accounting and income tax planning and preparation for individuals and small businesses. Her work has appeared in Business Insider and The New York Times. Janet has been nominated a.
Janet Berry-Johnson, CPA Taxes ExpertJanet Berry-Johnson, CPA, is a freelance writer with a background in accounting and income tax planning and preparation for individuals and small businesses. Her work has appeared in Business Insider and The New York Times. Janet has been nominated a.
Taxes Expert Korrena Bailie Editorial Director, Growth ProjectsKorrena Bailie has over a decade of experience reporting and editing personal finance stories and reviews. Her work has been featured in Wirecutter, The New York Times, Bankrate and Credit Karma.
Korrena Bailie Editorial Director, Growth ProjectsKorrena Bailie has over a decade of experience reporting and editing personal finance stories and reviews. Her work has been featured in Wirecutter, The New York Times, Bankrate and Credit Karma.
Written By Korrena Bailie Editorial Director, Growth ProjectsKorrena Bailie has over a decade of experience reporting and editing personal finance stories and reviews. Her work has been featured in Wirecutter, The New York Times, Bankrate and Credit Karma.
Korrena Bailie Editorial Director, Growth ProjectsKorrena Bailie has over a decade of experience reporting and editing personal finance stories and reviews. Her work has been featured in Wirecutter, The New York Times, Bankrate and Credit Karma.
Editorial Director, Growth ProjectsUpdated: Apr 10, 2024, 6:44pm
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Do you want to DIY your tax filing but need some help figuring out which forms you can file and which deductions you can claim? TurboTax might be the right tax filing software for you—if you don’t mind navigating lots of invitations to upgrade or add on extra features.
Our TurboTax review looks at where TurboTax excels and how much it costs so you can decide whether you might want to file with it in 2024.
Our ratings take the following features into account and weight them according to category: cost to file your state and federal taxes, what forms you can file for free, ease of use and quality of help content and customer service.
Free version available For simple tax returns only. See if you qualify. Yes, for simple returns. Many users will be charged a fee. Live chat help Mobile appTurboTax, a product of the financial, accounting, and tax-preparation software provider Intuit, has been around for nearly 40 years.
TurboTax has long been the most popular do-it-yourself tax software option, thanks to the company’s focus on design and user experience.
For example, when other tax software platforms asked the same questions to all users regardless of their tax situation, TurboTax pioneered a “click here if this applies to you” format. Users can select relevant topics—such as moving, marriage, a new job or selling stock—and skip sections that don’t apply to their situation.
In 2017, TurboTax Live was launched, allowing customers to reach out for help from a credentialed tax expert if they get stuck or have questions while preparing their returns. And in 2020, the company introduced TurboTax Live Full Service, which lets customers hand off their tax filing to an expert.
Whether you’re an experienced tax preparer or have little knowledge of tax law beyond knowing you need to file, TurboTax makes tax filing easy by allowing you to fill out fields automatically by uploading your W-2s and 1099s and walking you through the process with interview-style questions. It also offers numerous plain-language definitions and explanations if you’re unsure whether a particular income category or tax deduction applies to you.
If you get stuck, TurboTax offers live, on-screen support options. You can even turn your tax return over to a tax professional to complete, although this option comes with an additional fee.
Preparing your tax return with TurboTax is a lot like sitting down with a tax preparer. The software takes you through the tax preparation and filing process by asking you a series of simple questions about your situation.
As part of my review process, I went through the process of preparing three sample returns. Here’s how long it took me to get from start to finish for each one:
During the process, a banner at the top of the screen keeps a running tally of your estimated federal and state refund or amount due.
Embedded links on each screen offer tips and explain income, deductions, and tax credits.
If you get stuck along the way, you have the option of paying an additional fee and upgrading to TurboTax Live to get on-demand help from a TurboTax expert or CPA. When you choose this option, the tax pro will do a final review of your return before you file it.
You can also pay an additional fee to move to Full Service and have your tax return prepared for you. Before filing your return, a tax pro will schedule a time to review it with you.
While the software offers many tips to help do-it-yourselfers, including a bot called the TurboTax Digital Assistant, you won’t have access to hands-on customer service unless you’re willing to upgrade to TurboTax Live.
And that’s another aspect of using TurboTax you should be aware of: near-constant urging to upgrade your package. During the 13 minutes I spent preparing a simple return, I encountered no fewer than three offers to upgrade.
Throughout the tax preparation process, you’ll periodically come across screens encouraging you to upgrade from Free * to Deluxe, get help from a TurboTax Live expert, or add TurboTax MAX—an extra package that includes audit representation, identity theft resources and priority customer service.
In some cases, these upgrades can be helpful. For example, if you could reduce your tax bill by itemizing deductions, upgrading from the Free edition * to Deluxe might make sense. And if you legitimately want extra help from a tax expert, you may be happy to pay for TurboTax Live. Just make sure you need and want the upgrade before accepting the offer.
Some reasons you may want to upgrade include:
