TaxAct 2024 (Tax Year 2023) Review

TaxAct is a reliable, thorough tax preparation service with a large potential audience of taxpayers, including W-2 earners who want to itemize and self-employed individuals. Because of its excellent coverage of tax content and usability, TaxAct remains one of the best tax preparation services. Since we last reviewed it, the company has concentrated on enhancing flexibility and mobile access. That said, TaxAct hasn’t been able to eclipse perennial Editors’ Choice winners Intuit TurboTax, which gives you the best overall experience filing your taxes, or H&R Block, which is best for its context-sensitive help. FreeTaxUSA is also an Editors’ Choice winner, thanks to its tax prep excellence and for charging nothing to prepare and file federal returns (state returns cost $14.99).

How Much Does TaxAct Cost?

I tested TaxAct Self-Employed, which is the company’s most expensive product at $69.99 for federal taxes and $39.99 for state filing. These prices will likely go up later in the filing season, as in previous years. Gig workers and other microbusinesses need this version because it includes Schedule C, which you need to file self-employment income and expenses. 

A free version of TaxAct supports very basic income types. Two additional versions add tax topics like homeowner deductions, childcare expenses, and health savings accounts (Deluxe, $29.99 federal), as well as investment or cryptocurrency sales, rental property income, and home sales (Premier, $39.99 federal).

TaxAct’s prices overall are less expensive than TurboTax ($89 for federal filing if you have self-employment income and expenses) and H&R Block ($85), at least as of this writing. Self-employed individuals should consider FreeTaxUSA, which is free for federal filing and $14.99 for state filing. 

Filing Your Taxes Online: What You Need to Know

Is TaxAct Safe to Use?

TaxAct works with the IRS and state authorities to comply with generally accepted procedures and practices for both physical and online security. It has implemented multiple safety features to ensure you’re the verified account owner. The service requires complex passwords and further protects your account with multi-factor authentication. 

How Does TaxAct Work?

Like its competitors (and human tax preparers), TaxAct “interviews” you, asking questions about your income and expenses as you advance through the site’s pages. You answer questions by entering data, checking boxes, or choosing from multiple options. You can also import data from W-2s and other forms, including 1099-NEC (nonemployee compensation) and 1099-B (investment transactions, including cryptocurrency). Guidance is available along the way (more on that later). 

TaxAct deposits your responses on the correct IRS forms and schedules in the background. When you complete all federal and any required state Q&As, TaxAct looks for missed deductions, errors, and omissions in your return and helps you e-file or print the final document.

How Do You Get Started With TaxAct?

TaxAct first wants personal information, like your birth date, Social Security number, and filing status. You can type them in or import them if you’ve used TaxAct to file in previous years or import them from another tax website as a PDF file. TaxAct then asks what type of income you received in 2023 (like wages, salaries, and capital gains). You can choose whether to have TaxAct provide step-by-step guidance as you proceed through the federal Q&A or select topics that apply to your tax situation. The site offers the option to get even more in-depth help on weighty topics like dividend income. TaxAct’s other sections, like Deductions and Credits, work similarly, as TaxAct tries to increase your chances of a good refund.

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What Kind of Help Does TaxAct Offer?

TaxAct’s help tools have been in transition since last year. This will continue through the current tax season, so what you see may be different from what’s described here. As of this writing, it’s not as centralized as what you find on the H&R Block site. TaxAct sometimes shows the explanatory text as it introduces topics in the Q&A. Links within that content open a glossary entry in the right vertical pane. Some Q&A pages, like the IRA contribution limits page, have small circled ‘i’ symbols that open overlapping windows containing lengthier explanations. 

Much of the site’s guidance appears in the vertical pane to the right. TaxAct sometimes provides context-sensitive help links there based on the current topic, but this isn’t as consistent as it is in H&R Block. Still, it’s improving. Pro tips on some pages offer helpful, related advice. There are also links to form instructions and IRS publications.

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The best way to get the most comprehensive help is to enter a word, phrase, or form number in the Help Center’s Search box. This opens navigation links to both the forms and related articles. I found that TaxAct didn’t always provide the correct navigation links, and related articles weren’t always prioritized by relevance. Competing sites sometimes have the same problem.

I also found IRS instructions sometimes being offered as an option. All tax prep sites do this occasionally, but TaxAct does it more than some.

If you’re still stumped after consulting the site’s resources, you can request a free phone call to ask procedural questions about using TaxAct. You can also talk to a tax professional who can provide personalized tax guidance and quickly review your return when it’s complete. Xpert Assist costs $59.99 for unlimited calls during tax filing season. 

How Does TaxAct Deal With Self-Employment?

TaxAct’s treatment of self-employment income and expenses is much like the rest of the site. That is, the Q&A and related info are comprehensive. They tell you what you must report and have data entry pages (or import tools) for forms you might have received, like 1099-NEC and 1099-K. You also have to enter a total for your gross receipts. TaxAct asks all the questions that Schedule C requires, like your accounting method (cash or accrual).

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This section can also handle depreciation, business use of home, the self-employed health insurance deduction, and the Qualified Business Income deduction. It guides you through the expenses section of Schedule C by providing fields for your business costs, then ties up loose ends by asking about tax issues like the self-employed tax adjustment and state or local tax refunds. It summarizes all your entries when you’re finished with that section.

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More guidance on self-employment would be welcome. It would help if what is there felt more centralized instead of appearing in multiple places on the page via multiple links. As mentioned, the company is working on this. TaxAct’s flow feels jerky sometimes, and it lacks the smooth transitions of TurboTax. But it’s a reliable site with a history of excellence.

Does TaxAct Check Your Return?

TaxAct’s final review, called Double Check, is one of its best features. It reviews your return and looks for incomplete or inconsistent information, accuracy issues, and ways to minimize your tax obligation so your refund might be larger. It then isolates the offending pages and shows them to you so you can correct them and move on to the prior-year comparison reports and, finally, filing.

There are a few ways to pay if you have a balance due. TaxAct allows you to pay via direct withdrawal, credit card, or check. Additionally, TaxAct will help set up IRS payment plans using Form 9465. You can also submit your payment on the IRS’s Direct Pay site. For state taxes due, contact your state department of revenue.

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Can You Prepare Your Taxes on Your Phone With TaxAct?

TaxAct has retired its mobile apps, but you can prepare and file your taxes by accessing the site through a mobile browser. It worked beautifully for me in testing. I couldn’t see anything missing from the desktop site. Navigation, help tools, and the Q&A mirrored the desktop site. And it looks great on a smartphone. If you can prepare your taxes from your computer using TaxAct, you can do so on your mobile device. It’s easy to switch back and forth between the two platforms.

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Not Inexpensive, But Reliable

TaxAct is too pricey to be considered a budget service, but it continues a long tradition of reliability and thoroughness. For inexpensive prep and filing, you should look to FreeTaxUSA, one of Editors’ Choice winners this year. It has a surprising amount of help for a free product, and it’s comprehensive and easy to use. If you want the best of everything and your budget allows it, consider our other two Editors’ Choice winners, Intuit TurboTax for the best overall experience and H&R Block for the best context-sensitive help. 

While you’re thinking about taxes, you can read up on seven ways to minimize your taxes and what to do if you can’t pay your taxes.