Tax Software Ease of Use

By its very nature, filing taxes is a complicated proposition for most people. Although most online tax software companies have tried to make it as easy as possible for everyone to file both federal and state taxes independently, there's no question that some services are easier to use than others. Throughout our tests of the software offered by the top online tax preparation services, we tried to determine how easy the services were to use both for first time filers and those who have filed their taxes online in the past.

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Turbotax
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  • Instructions on the right side of the screen are helpful but not distracting
  • Filers can try the service for free before registering
  • Numbers are automatically formatted properly
  • Easy transfer of financial data into TurboTax
  • Information is not saved automatically during the free trial
  • Platform times out after 20 minutes if left idle

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H -r -block
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  • Explanatory information integrated into the filing process
  • Straightforward interface
  • Warning before the service times out due to inactivity
  • Numerical data is not automatically formatted properly
  • Experienced filers may be distracted by unnecessary explanations

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Completetax
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  • Excellent article base for first time filers
  • Useful tax calculators and financial tools
  • Every number inputted required verification which is safe, but time consuming
  • Non-residents and partial filings cannot be done via CompleteTax

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Taxact
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  • Large number of packages to choose from
  • Packages available for small and large businesses as well as individuals
  • Downloadable version only
  • Does not update users how much they've completed during the process
  • No audit protection

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