Liberty Tax Review: Good Framework, Weak Guidance

Liberty Tax’s overall framework is similar to that of the competition. It breaks down complicated IRS forms and schedules into smaller, manageable chunks. You don’t see the official documents until you finish. The site takes on the persona of an in-office tax preparer and asks you a lengthy series of questions. It first requests personal information, which it can automatically add if you used Liberty Tax last year. It actually brings in more data than any other service except for Jackson Hewitt. The site then displays lists of the income, deductions, and credits that you can report. You can either select the relevant topics or let the site walk you through every section. Both approaches work well.

(Credit: Liberty Tax/PCMag)

If you don’t indicate early on that you’re going to visit a specific topic, it won’t appear on these landing page lists. You might be able to find it by searching, but competitors include all topics in a section regardless of whether you indicate you need them. They usually put them at the bottom of the page, below active topics, and you may have to click an extra link, but they’re there.

As you work your way through multistep wizards, you provide answers by choosing options from drop-down lists, clicking buttons, and entering data in fields. Unlike with competitors, you can’t import data from 1099s and W-2s, so you have to type everything in manually. It’s not possible to import returns you prepared using competing sites, either.

The site does all the necessary calculations and records your answers on official IRS forms in the background. Then, it reviews your return and moves the relevant data to any state returns you need to file.

Besides having an exceptionally plain (but fast) user interface, Liberty Tax has way too many pages with a single question, which wastes space and adds to prep time. Other pages, like Schedule C, are quite lengthy. The site also uses some nonstandard conventions. For example, it requires you to save some pages manually. All competitors, except Jackson Hewitt, automatically save your data. If you click Cancel on a page without saving, a pop-up message warns about potential data loss. To avoid that, click the link that says, “Save my progress…I’ll finish this form later.” This allows you to move on without completing a page.

A 1099-B page in Liberty Tax showing the save option

(Credit: Liberty Tax/PCMag)

Another unusual feature: When you log in, it takes you to the File Now page instead of asking whether you want to pick up where you left off, as TaxAct and others do. That eats up more time, especially since it takes you back to the beginning of the section, not to the exact page. These operational problems—and more—have persisted for years.