Compare TurboTax® 2024-2025 Online Software Products, TurboTax Online Comparison

The Live Assisted option also gets you a final review with a tax pro before you file. We offer free one-on-one audit guidance year-round from our experienced and knowledgeable tax staff. TurboTax improves available assistance for 2022 taxes, starting with a smoother experience for Live Full Assisted and Live Full Service.

Intuit TurboTax Deluxe 2022 is a perennial mainstay for the best tax software crown, and this year is no different. If you’re trading in investments and cryptocurrency, this tier continues to provide one of the best integrated intake processes of any of the competitors. For those seeking additional help, TurboTax Live connects users with tax experts for real-time assistance. This service is ideal for complex returns but comes at an added cost, which may not be worthwhile for simpler filings. One of TurboTax’s most notable tax help options is TurboTax Live Assisted.

Bottom Line: Which is Better – TurboTax Free Edition Online or TurboTax Deluxe?

Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger’s advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. There are several discounts and free filing options available for those who qualify. USAA members can access exclusive savings when purchasing TurboTax through the USAA website. Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more – straight to your e-mail. It appears your situation would qualify for the Free Edition, but the only way to be sure is to start for free and see if an upgrade is requested along the way.

Pros

You can speak to your tax expert on the phone, through a live one-way video call on your screen (you can see your tax expert, but they can’t see you), with an independent TurboTax Verified Pro where available. Your tax expert will ask you questions and provide advice as they prepare your return and get ready to file on your behalf. You can also communicate with your tax expert via the messaging center as needed. If you’ve already received a letter from the IRS for a return you filed with TurboTax, please review our Audit Support Guarantee for instructions on how to receive FREE step–by–step audit guidance and the option to connect with an expert. If the IRS audits a return prepared in TurboTax, you can get free audit support, meaning a TurboTax expert will review correspondence from the IRS and let you know what to expect and how to prepare. However, you’ll need to upgrade to TurboTax MAX to have a TurboTax pro represent you for the audit.

One standout feature I really like is the ability to import W-2s, 1099s and investment income reports directly from financial institutions. Onboarding continued even before I logged in, asking how I filed taxes last year; the answer will customize your experience once you log in. Prior users of TurboTax or other Intuit online products (QuickBooks, Mint) log into the service with their Intuit credentials; new customers have to create an account.

• TurboTax also shows an update of your federal and state refunds in the top nav, but you can hide this info.
• If you are expecting a refund, you can track the status of your refund at Intuit’s Credit Karma.
• Working with the same expert year-round is dependent on the expert’s availability.
• TurboTax also offers desktop software, where your return doesn’t reside in the cloud, but it’s not part of our review.

The company is also turbotax deluxe online investing heavily in AI to help automate filing and catch potential mistakes in real-time. Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice – straight to your e-mail. You may notice that, unlike other providers, TurboTax doesn’t have a standalone Self-Employed DIY package. That’s because, in recent years, the company consolidated its Premier package (for investors) and Self-Employed package (for freelancers) into that “Premium” package. Everything you need to know about taxes that you didn’t learn in school.

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I encountered the legacy help pop-ups less frequently than before, but they’re still there — even though most help screens activate a dedicated slide-out panel on the right side of the screen. This year, the chat head for accessing live assistance is a permanent fixture on-screen. Small businesses get a boost with the new TurboTax Live Full Service Business Tax, which handles LLCs, S-corps and partnerships. If you purchased TurboTax from 2016 to 2018, but because of your income, were eligible to use its free offering, you may be entitled to a refund, due to a settlement between Intuit and the states’ Attorneys General offices.

Intuit TurboTax Deluxe 2022 review: Ease of use

I found this forum post and from what I read I believe it says I could file with the free edition. The site said I would need to completely clear/start over from the beginning. I wanted to verify I was correct before beginning the process again. I called and spoke with a rep and they stated I would need to pay because the free version ONLY includes W2. With its intuitive design and variety of human support options, TurboTax is, in many ways, the standard for the do-it-yourself tax-prep industry. However, its products come at a price, and confident filers might find that similar offerings from competitors provide a better value.

Ditch the paperwork. Tax docs and data imported for you.

• State tax filing costs $59 per state on all standard do-it-yourself TurboTax online products, also up $10 from last year (a free state return comes with TurboTax Free online).
• The online version offers the flexibility of accessing your tax information from any internet-connected device, with data securely stored in the cloud.
• Before filing your return, a tax pro will schedule a time to review it with you.
• It runs an extra $39.99 and includes features such as identity theft monitoring, loss insurance and restoration help.

If you don’t have your forms on hand, you can auto-import your info from your W–2s or 1099s directly from more than a million participating employers and financial institutions. We’ll review more than 350 tax deductions and credits to get you the biggest tax refund—guaranteed. TaxSlayer’s Premium or Self Employed versions offer tax assistance, but it’s limited to guidance. Although TurboTax offers an easy-to-use process with helpful interview-style questions and many ways to obtain help when needed, it’s a bit pricier than its competitors. TurboTax, a product of the financial, accounting, and tax-preparation software provider Intuit, has been around for nearly 40 years. Carla Ayers joined Kiplinger in 2024 as the E-Commerce & Personal Finance Editor.

Intuit TurboTax Deluxe 2022 review: Features

She earned a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Eastern Michigan University. Her professional background spans both commercial and residential real estate, enriching her writing with firsthand industry insights. She is passionate about making complex real estate and financial topics accessible for all readers. Dedicated to transparency and clarity, her ultimate goal is to help her audience make informed and confident decisions in their financial pursuits.

The onboarding questions can get repetitive, even though they serve different purposes in the process. If you miss something the first time, you have to find where it is again on your own. For example, I had to click the income button to expand on other income received, and found a highly detailed reference list that jogged my memory of what else to add. And TurboTax covers more scenarios — and it does so more clearly — than some of the competing services.

For Live Assisted, the support call starts by phone, and then you can initiate one-way live video or screen sharing. TurboTax Live Assisted is available year-round to ask tax pros questions. If you upgrade to Live Full Service, you get matched with a tax pro based on the complexity of your return, and you can continue with that same pro if you’d like once your return is done. I had gone through the process of filing my return and was complete/ready to file. In the last year or 2 I had been paying for the deluxe edition. I was attempting to confirm if I needed to pay or if I am eligible to file with the free edition.

Once you have Live Assisted, you can add Live Full Service; or you can opt for Live Full Service when you sign-up. Intuit’s nifty but imperfect integration of donations tracking app Its Deductible into TurboTax simplifies estimating and adding the value of goods donated to your return. Previously, you could only import data from your account on this Intuit-owned app. Access to tax pro support requires upgrading to TurboTax’s Live Assisted packages, which range from $79 to $209, plus state fees of $59 to $69. This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research.

Finally, the service prompts you to agree to share tax info with Intuit to get personalized strategies. That ends the onboarding process and you can finally begin working on the return itself. It mines questions from other users, which might help you figure out your own situation without asking an expert. TurboTax’s Deluxe product covers charitable donations and Schedule A (real-estate taxes and mortgage) deductions, and searches for more than 350 possible tax deductions.

Or  you can select the product to start with directly from their product page, and upgrade along the way if you prefer. New in 2023, TurboTax Live Full Service adds a “personal welcome call” to get you started, and can get your taxes done fully in one session with an expert. Also, the Live Full Service adds bi-lingual services for Spanish speakers, from start to finish. This is in addition to the full Spanish language service for the do-it-yourself and Live Assisted products as well. A simple click in the left nav bar switches the interface from English to Spanish. Tax jargon is kept to a minimum, and all users — regardless of package type — can take advantage of the Intuit Assist function, which can field a wide variety of technical and tax questions or point you to resources for more help.

While these features offer peace of mind, it’s important to note that audit support is limited to guidance rather than full representation. The online version offers the flexibility of accessing your tax information from any internet-connected device, with data securely stored in the cloud. You can switch back and forth between TurboTax online and the app seamlessly. Throughout the process of answering questions to complete your return, TurboTax uses clear language to walk you through adding your data. If you don’t want to see what looks like a representation of a tax form, you don’t have to.

Will it ONLY charge by card & just let me go back to the tax forms AFTER I have all relevant info ready? Trying to prevent accidental sending of undone tax forms immediately after I make the credit card payment on the APP. Can u confirm my taxes wont be sent immediately AFTER I pay TurboTax online version? We’ll use your location and information about your tax situation to match you with the right tax expert to handle your taxes.