Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Best Overall
Intuit TurboTax 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Top-notch user experience
- Easy-to-understand content
- Covers tax topics with superb depth
- Excellent help resources and virtual support options
- Terrific mobile apps
- Some help responses come from community members, not Intuit
TurboTax has topped our list of the best tax prep software for many years because it makes doing your taxes more understandable and accessible than any competitor, increasing your chances of getting a bigger refund. Its explanations of both simple and complex tax topics are conversational and comprehensible, and it provides multiple layers of help as it takes you through IRS Form 1040. TurboTax also offers the most state-of-the-art user experience across its apps of any tax service we’ve tested.
TurboTax offers a version for every kind of taxpayer, from younger filers who do everything on their phones to people whose financial profiles are complex enough that they need an online tax specialist. It also has a version for self-employed people that’s good for both longtime sole proprietors and new gig workers who don’t understand Schedule C.
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Intuit TurboTax 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best for Context-Sensitive Help
H&R Block 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Supports all major forms and schedules
- Understandable explanations of tax topics
- Good user experience
- Excellent help options, including free assistance from pros
- Great mobile apps
- Expensive
- Navigating some sections requires excessive clicking
H&R Block is a respected household name for in-person tax preparation. Its DIY tax prep lives up to that reputation, and its mobile apps are every bit as good as its web app. The company’s numerous products and services feature user-friendly interfaces, extensive topic coverage, and context-sensitive help. H&R Block excels at explaining tax issues in ways you can easily understand.
H&R Block’s family of tax preparation websites offers something for almost everyone, from its free version for simple returns to its top-tier edition that tackles the intricacies of Schedule C (for self-employment). Its help resources are excellent and often contextual, which can benefit both novice taxpayers and longtime filers.
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H&R Block 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best for Free Federal Filing
FreeTaxUSA 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Free federal and inexpensive state filing
- Supports all major forms and schedules
- Numerous help options
- Excellent mobile website
- Exceptional navigation tools
- Can’t import most 1099s
- Help resources could be expanded
FreeTaxUSA is the best free federal tax prep website (state returns cost $14.99). Although it doesn’t have standalone mobile apps, its mobile website works very well. FreeTaxUSA has a clean, professional interface and an understandable navigation system. Its help system and associated tools are unexpected and unusually good for a free product. The service allows you to connect directly with a tax professional for just $39.99.
Since the self-employed versions of competitors’ tax prep websites can be expensive (eating into any refund you might get), FreeTaxUSA is an excellent choice for gig workers who must file Schedule C and who don’t anticipate needing an exceptional amount of help. It’s also good for more complex returns if you’re on a budget because of its usability, thorough coverage of tax topics, and better-than-expected guidance.
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FreeTaxUSA 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best Mobile Site
TaxAct 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Thorough coverage
- Excellent walk-through process
- Better navigation and help than before
- Mobile site mirrors desktop
- Pricey and light on help for self-employed filers
- Error-checking could be better
TaxAct has retired its mobile apps, but you can still prepare and file your taxes from your phone or tablet using the mobile version of the website. Help tools and the Q&A sections mirror the desktop site, while its user interface helps you through the complexities of the IRS tax code. TaxAct digs deep, asking questions about your finances that help it find all the deductions and credits for which you are eligible.
Although it’s capable of preparing complicated tax returns, TaxAct is best if your financial scenario is on the simpler side. It does a great job for W-2 employees who want to itemize in hopes of getting a refund and who don’t necessarily need the targeted support of H&R Block and TurboTax. It also provides a detailed walk-through of Schedule C so sole proprietors can prepare and file their 1040s confidently.
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TaxAct 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best for Budget-Conscious Tax Filers
TaxSlayer 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Fast
- Clean, understandable interface
- Supports all major IRS forms and schedules
- Extremely thorough coverage of tax topics
- Good support options
- Context-sensitive help could be better
- Help content quality needs work
TaxSlayer started as a tool for accountants and professional tax preparers more than 50 years ago. It’s been in the online DIY tax prep business since the 1990s. The site provides walk-throughs of Form 1040-related topics, a searchable database of help files, and guidance sprinkled throughout. The mobile apps for Android and iOS are comprehensive and easy to use.
TaxSlayer’s Classic level, which includes all major IRS forms and schedules, costs less than competitors’ equivalents. It supports the preparation and filing of both complicated and simple financial returns. The service’s target market is individuals and very small business owners who need to fill out Schedule C and require help finding all the deductions and credits they can claim to maximize their refund.
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TaxSlayer 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best for Free Federal and State Filing
Cash App Taxes 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Free federal and state filing
- Supports major IRS forms and schedules
- Responsive, understandable, and attractive interface
- New guidance for self-employed
- Excellent mobile apps
- Some support lacks depth and no expert tax help is available
- Missing some forms and tax topics
- Can’t import most 1099s
Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax) is the only service we tested that doesn’t cost a dime for comprehensive federal and state preparation and filing. It supports all major and most minor tax forms and schedules. The app is fast, with an excellent interface and navigation system. It offers almost everything you need to prepare the most difficult returns—except for a robust help system and access to professionals. You need a Cash App account to use it.
Cash App Taxes is the way to go if you’re determined to file your taxes for free. It’s best for people with only W-2 income and a few deductions and credits, though gig workers might want to give it a try in light of updated guidance for self-employment. It’s not the best choice if you are dealing with complex topics like depreciation and investment sales, however.
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Cash App Taxes 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best for Jackson Hewitt Clients
Jackson Hewitt Online 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Low price
- Fast interface
- Comprehensive coverage of tax topics
- Proactive error checking and excellent final review
- Can’t import a prior year’s return from competitors
- Context-sensitive and searchable help is lacking in amount and quality
- User experience isn’t on par with competitors
- Many pages don’t save automatically
Jackson Hewitt has an online DIY tax prep service, though it’s best known for its physical offices. You can trust the company’s financial expertise and expansive coverage of tax topics in its online tax service, and the price is very reasonable at just $25 for both federal and state returns. The mobile website works just as well as the desktop version.
We recommend Jackson Hewitt for taxpayers who have used the product before and liked it or those who are more comfortable patronizing a company with a recognizable brand. It is also for anyone who wants a no-frills tax prep experience with the option of backup assistance. However, its online help tools aren’t strong enough to support you if you anticipate needing a lot of handholding along the way.
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Jackson Hewitt Online 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
Best for Liberty Tax Clients
Liberty Tax 2025 (Tax Year 2024)
- Supports all major IRS forms and schedules
- Covers self-employment topics
- Good error-checking
- Excellent mobile access
- Expensive
- Substandard user experience
- Weak support content and little context-sensitive help
- Can’t import 1099s or W-2s
Liberty Tax is a competent online tax preparation service from a well-known brick-and-mortar tax preparer. Pages load fast, and its UI is simple and clean. Liberty Tax doesn’t have a standalone mobile app, but you can complete and file a return via a mobile browser. The mobile site provides access to all the features and content from the desktop version, except for a real-time total of your tax refund or obligation.
Liberty Tax might appeal if you have used it before and don’t want to deal with learning a new website. It might also be a good choice for current in-person clients of Liberty Tax who want to save some money by trying to do their taxes by themselves. It’s more expensive than Jackson Hewitt, though, and it lacks a state-of-the-art interface. The service also doesn’t provide the guidance you need to maximize your refunds with a lot of income, credits, and deductions.
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Liberty Tax 2025 (Tax Year 2024) Review
The Best Mobile Tax Apps for 2025
Compare Specs
Buying Guide: The Best Mobile Tax Apps for 2025
What Should You Expect From a Mobile Tax App?
For the 2024 tax year, we reviewed eight personal tax preparation services, including their mobile versions. Some offer standalone apps for Android and iOS, while others optimize their websites for mobile browser access.
There are a few downsides to preparing and filing your income taxes on your smartphone. Obviously, you might not want to work on a smaller screen, and you need to take steps to make sure your return and any forms you may scan or photograph are secure. That means not working on it over public Wi-Fi, for one thing (more on this later). But if you live on your phone and you’re happy working on it, give it a try.
Of the tax services we tested, the following have dedicated mobile apps:
Cash App Taxes mobile apps (Credit: Cash App Taxes/PCMag)
The services with mobile versions of their websites are:
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FreeTaxUSA
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Jackson Hewitt
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Liberty Tax
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TaxAct
TaxAct’s mobile site (Credit: TaxAct/PCMag)
How Much Does It Cost to Use a Tax App?
The best tax prep solutions cost more than $100 for their self-employed editions, but you usually pay much less. There are a few free options, too, which we cover in the next section.
Most of the companies behind these applications offer multiple editions of their services. The price typically goes up with the more forms and schedules you need to file—or the more services you require, in the case of TaxSlayer. The best tax apps guide you to the right option by asking you questions about your tax situation before you even start filing. Prices also go up if you need extra professional help services.
The prices are the same whether you use the tax prep service on your desktop browser or a dedicated mobile app, and you can switch between them at any time. You don’t pay until you’re ready to file, so you can check out different sites without making a financial commitment.
What’s the Best Free Tax App?
You can likely prepare and file your taxes for free if you know where to look.
The IRS has a program (for now) called Direct File that allows you to file for free online directly without using a third-party app. It supported 12 states for the pilot program (the 2023 tax year): Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. It adds 13 more for the 2024 tax year: Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. To qualify, you have to have lived in one of those 25 states and meet a few other requirements.
Direct File helps you prepare and file only federal returns. But after you’re done, it guides you to a free state-supported preparation tool if you need to file a state return.
For the pilot year, Direct File supported very few tax situations: the Child Tax Credit, Credit for Other Dependents, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. It adds more in 2025, including the Child and Dependent Care Credit, Credit for the Elderly and the Disabled, Premium Tax Credit, and Retirement Savings Contribution Credits.
It also supports deductions for educator expenses, Health Savings Accounts, and student loan interest for the 2024 tax year. You can, of course, report W-2 income and a few other types like unemployment and interest income, but you can’t itemize. You must take the standard deduction. You can see the whole list of supported income, deductions, and credits here.
Are There Alternatives to IRS DirectFile?
You might qualify to use paid commercial software like TaxAct or TaxSlayer for free through the IRS Free File Program if, for example, your adjusted gross income is below $79,000 or you’re in the military. H&R Block and TurboTax no longer participate in the Free File Program, but there are several other choices.
Cash App Taxes is the only commercial app that’s free for both federal and state returns, no matter how complex your financial situation. There are some tax situations that Cash App Taxes doesn’t support, though they aren’t common. FreeTaxUSA is free for federal filing, while state tax returns cost a still-reasonable $14.99 each. Both Cash App Taxes and FreeTaxUSA let you report capital gains, rental income, and self-employment income.
If your financial situation is simple enough that you need to file no more than a 1040 and a few other forms and schedules, several tax apps, such as H&R Block, TaxSlayer, and TurboTax, offer free editions.
As always, you can file for free if you fill out IRS and state forms forms on paper and mail them.
Are Mobile Tax Apps Similar to the Desktop Versions?
Whether you’re viewing them on a spacious monitor or a petite phone screen, personal tax preparation services work similarly. You don’t see the official IRS forms and schedules, though some apps give you a sneak peek of them. Instead, the apps ask you questions about your tax-related information. As you answer them, the services take what they need and fill in the IRS forms in the background. Since this process keeps you from having to enter data on any IRS forms, it reduces the amount you need to know about the ins and outs of the tax code and how it has changed over the past year.
If you’ve ever used a tax prep service on a desktop computer, you might wonder if it’s possible to get the same experience on your phone. The short answer is yes. We’ve been pleasantly surprised to see what the apps’ designers can do. The apps compress content and don’t have as much room for decorative graphics and big icons, but the pages look remarkably similar to their desktop counterparts in many cases.
You have to scroll more to read help articles and simply to get through pages with a lot of questions, but you can indeed complete a return that includes Form 1040, Schedules A through F, and a myriad of others.
We don’t necessarily recommend you take on a big job using a smartphone. If you have to file Schedule C for self-employment or Schedule D for investment transactions, it’s unquestionably easier to complete your tax return on a big screen with a full-size keyboard. But no matter where you start your tax preparation, you can continue it on any device by signing in with your username and password. So, you could work remotely on your phone and finish up on your laptop, or vice versa.
Which Tax Apps Have the Best Help?
Even if they didn’t have extensive help resources (which they do), tax websites and apps would still make tax prep easier than if you were filing using paper IRS forms and schedules. Their guidance can mean the difference between completing your return yourself and taking it to a professional—which might still be necessary if your financial situation is complex. Do-it-yourself tax prep is not for everyone, after all.
Recommended by Our Editors
Some tax apps are the products of well-known in-person tax prep companies (H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, and Liberty Tax). If your tax prep gets to be too much for you, these companies are happy to have their tax professionals finish what you started—for a fee. H&R Block and TurboTax offer more expensive versions that connect you to tax professionals via chat, phone, or screen share. You get unlimited access to this service year-round, which can be handy if you file an extension or do tax planning in the offseason.
Tax apps have other kinds of help, too. For example, they put links next to some questions that open windows with an expanded explanation of the question. These explanations avoid the complicated language you see on IRS forms for the most part and don’t cover topics in excruciating detail. Instead, they strive to make tax concepts as simple and understandable as possible.
Tax apps also have searchable help databases. Type in a word or phrase, and they provide links to articles on the topic. They may also tell you how to get to the page in the app where that information should appear. Most apps also have chat, email, and phone help, while some host online communities.
Should You Use IRS2Go?
You might want to check out another mobile tax app from the IRS itself. The official IRS2Go app includes a handful of tools that can help with tax preparation and filing. You can check the status of your refund by entering your Social Security number, filing status, and refund amount. If you file electronically, you should be able to get your status within 24 hours of the IRS receiving the transmission. The status of paper returns is usually available within four weeks.
Individual taxpayers can submit payments directly from their bank accounts using IRS Direct Pay, a free, secure method. Credit card payments are an option, too, for a fee, either online or by phone. The app accepts three approved payment processors.
IRS2Go points you to three other kinds of tax help. One is IRS Free File, described earlier. Another is a search tool that helps you find free tax help in your area if you are elderly, have a disability, speak limited English, or make less than $67,000 annually. Last, the AARP Tax-Aide Site Locator lets you search for nearby free tax preparation services or those with remote options. AARP volunteers focus especially on taxpayers who are 50 and older or who have low to moderate income.
Are Tax Apps Secure?
One note on filing your taxes with a mobile device: You need to think about security. The information in your taxes is, by definition, sensitive. All the services we recommend take security seriously, but it’s important to do your part as well.
You might not think about the security of your Wi-Fi traffic. But if you’re at all likely to use a Wi-Fi network you don’t control (for example, at an airport, coffee shop, or library) at any point in the filing process, you should use a VPN. If you’ve never used one, read up on why you need a VPN. If the VPN conflicts with your tax app, wait until you can connect to a network you control before doing anything else with your taxes.
Most mobile tax apps and websites support multi-factor authentication, which you should set up and use because it adds another layer of security to your online account.
Another important security fact is that the IRS will never call, email, or text you out of the blue to ask for private information. The agency prefers to communicate through written letters via the US Postal Service.
