2023 was a quiet year for the people who make tax software. As always, though, they had to incorporate changes made to the US tax code, which could affect your refund. For example, the IRS made its annual inflation adjustments for provisions like the standard deduction and tax rates. But otherwise, the changes were fairly minimal.

The limits for retirement accounts—401(k)s and IRAs—rose a bit. And 2023 is another transition year for the reporting threshold for form 1099-K. Third-party payment processors are not required to issue the form unless a businessperson received more than $20,000 and had more than 200 transactions during tax year 2023. When you use an online tax service to prepare and file your taxes, the app knows and takes into account all these changes so you don't have to even think about them.

Despite those changes, the best tax prep and filing services still try to get you the biggest refund possible. We test the self-employment versions of tax software to find out which ones are the best since so many people have taken on side gigs or are otherwise running their own businesses.

Keep reading after our top picks to find more information about key tax questions, like how to know whether you can file your taxes for free and what you need to know about paying taxes on cryptocurrency activity.

How Can I File My Taxes for Free?

Saving money on tax preparation means you get to keep more of your refund. If you want to file your taxes for free, you have a few options. First, you can go to the IRS Free File page and see if you qualify to file a free tax return there. This year, there are eight options in the IRS Free File Online program offered through a variety of partners. Each one has different criteria you must meet to qualify. To file for free, you must start your return at the IRS site, not at the partner’s site. You can record—or import, in some cases—your W-2 and some 1099 data in some of them.

For the first time, the IRS has a pilot program for people to file for free online directly without using a third-party app. To qualify, you had to have lived in one of the 12 states chosen for the program and meet a few other requirements. The states are Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

Another way to prepare and file your taxes for free is to use Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma Tax). It is free to file both your federal returns and one state return. This app supports most IRS forms, but a few tax situations are not included, such as estate and trust income, foreign earned income, low-income housing credit, and qualified electric vehicle credit, among others.

You can also use FreeTaxUSA, which charges nothing for federal returns but does charge $14.99 for a state return. You can buy enhanced support for an additional $7.99 and the ability to connect with tax pros for $39.99. 

(Credit: FreeTaxUSA/PCMag)

Other sites have free options, too, but they're limited in the forms and schedules they support. H&R Block, for example, is very generous in its free offerings among the normally paid services. It supports W-2 income, the Child Tax Credit (CTC), unemployment income, student expenses, and more for free. TaxAct allows retirement income, unemployment, and support for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), in addition to the W-2 and the CTC, but you must pay $39.99 per state filed. TurboTax lets you report W-2 income, the EITC, the CTC, student loan interest, and limited interest and dividend income. Using TaxSlayer, you can enter your education expenses in addition to the W-2 and other topics. 

What's the Best Tax App for Self-Employment or Someone With Side Gigs?

Whether they were forced to or chose to, people began starting small businesses and taking on side gigs—think DoorDash, Lyft, or Uber—in great numbers starting in 2020. That trend has continued. According to data from the US Census Bureau, summarized by the Economic Innovation Group, 5.5 million new business applications were filed in 2023, up from the year before.

That means a lot of taxpayers will face something they’ve never encountered before on their taxes: Schedule C. Where do you turn for help if you are, say, a TikToker who needs to file as an influencer for the first time? Because professional tax preparation can be pricey, online DIY personal tax solutions are often a good option, especially if you don’t have a whole lot of income and expenses to report and you’re hoping for a refund.

(Credit: H&R Block/PCMag)

If you’ve never tried using online tax services, there are three reasons this year is a good time to start. First, many changes to US tax laws haven’t made headlines because of more pressing news, which means you may not know about them. Online tax prep services are modified each year to account for changes to the tax law, so you don’t have to keep track of them all.

Second, preparing and filing online might reduce your tax obligation since these sites are trained to dig deep for deductions, hopefully boosting your refund. Online tax services are thorough and guarantee accuracy, helping you avoid being audited by the IRS. Finally, tax website developers continue to offer more ways to connect to tax professionals virtually so they can help you complete and file your return—or even take on the entire task for you.

For more on how your employment situation can affect your taxes, you can also read Independent Contractor or Employee? How the Difference Affects Your Taxes.

(Credit: Intuit TurboTax/PCMag)

What's the Best Tax Software for Cryptocurrency Transactions?

How do you figure out if you need to report activity related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? The short answer is that if you've used, sold, exchanged, received as payment, or mined cryptocurrency in the past tax year, all those activities need to be reported, whether or not you receive a Form 1099.

TurboTax provides the best support for reporting cryptocurrency transactions, though all sites we tested allow it. TurboTax even has a guide to cryptocurrency and your taxes.

How Does Tax Software Work?

When you prepare your income taxes using paper forms, you spend a lot of time shuttling back and forth between them. You come to a line on form 1040 that requires a supporting form or schedule, so you go there and complete it, and then transfer the number back to the 1040. Sometimes, you need to fill out a worksheet, chase down a document you got in the mail, or double-check your calculations because things just don't look right. You may have to do this many times if your return is complicated.

Online tax services work much differently. Once you create an account and fulfill the site's security requirements, you can stop worrying about which forms you need and whether your calculations are correct. You also don't need to worry about how any tax code changes are going to affect your return—and maybe your refund. That's all taken care of in the background.

When you use a digital tax preparation solution, you're really just filling out a lengthy questionnaire. These sites ask questions, and you provide answers by entering information in blank fields, selecting the correct option from a list, or clicking a button. You never have to see an actual IRS form or schedule (though in some cases, you can if you want to).

(Credit: TaxAct/PCMag)

If you're familiar with tax forms, you'll probably recognize the path the tax site follows. It's patterned after the order of IRS Form 1040. Personal information comes first, and then you move on to income, deductions, credits, health insurance status, and taxes paid. After you've exhausted all the topics that apply to you, the site reviews your return and highlights potential errors or omissions that might affect your refund.

Once you've addressed any concerns, the software transfers your tax data to any state returns you must file. Then, you answer some final questions, check your entire return, and pay the service's fees (if there are any). Finally, you file your return electronically and print or otherwise save a copy for yourself.

Is There More Than One Way to Work Through the 1040?

The step-by-step data entry path tax services provide generally works quite well, as long as you work your way through your whole return without a lot of backing up or lurching forward (which some sites don't even allow). Jackson Hewitt, for example, asks whether you'd like to complete your 1040 by using its comprehensive interview. This option takes you through the entire process in one long Q&A session. It asks you about every tax topic that might apply to you.

The other option, and one every online service offers, involves selecting only the tax topics that apply to you. You choose them from a list with options such as income, deductions, credits, and taxes. When you select one, the sites walk you through a mini-interview to get the information they need. Then, they return you to the main list to choose another topic, and you repeat the process until you're finished.

(Credit: TaxSlayer/PCMag)

The point is, no matter how you choose to proceed, all you have to do is read what's on the screen and follow the instructions. You spend most of your time responding to questions and clicking links to advance to the next screen or using the site-wide navigation tool. These sites are good guides, most of the time.

Do You Need to Read IRS Tax Forms or Instructions?

If you've ever filed a tax return, you know that understanding the IRS's forms and schedules can be challenging, and the official written instructions don't always help. The instructions are so comprehensive it's often hard to find the answer to your exact question. When you do find it, once again, the language can be difficult to decipher.

From their earliest days, personal tax software developers have sought to interpret IRS-speak and make it more understandable to the non-accountant. Some of them have written and revised their content over many years to make it as clear as possible. Services like TaxAct do more. For example, they provide hyperlinks to small help windows that further explain a term or phrase. They anticipate questions you might ask and post Q&As on especially thorny topics. They try to ensure you understand the question being asked so you give the correct answer and possibly up your refund total.

Which Tax Apps Have the Best Help Tools?

Sometimes, a friendly and understandable user experience isn't enough, so tax websites offer online assistance. Some, including H&R Block, provide context-sensitive explanations in panes attached to the main working area.

In some cases, guidance isn't available until you click a Help link. And sometimes a help link brings you to a giant database of questions and answers. You may be directed to IRS instructions and publications on a few sites, but often, the technical content has been rewritten to make it understandable.

Which Tax Apps Have the Best Professional Help?

What do you do if you can't find answers to your questions on the site? All sites offer at least one of three ways to contact the company's technical support representatives: email, phone, or chat. TaxSlayer offers all three. H&R Block and TurboTax have online communities where you can see if your problem has already been addressed. Pay attention, though, to who is posting responses. Answers from company representatives should be safe, but be sure to verify anything from a non-professional community member.

Technical support representatives cannot advise you on points of tax law, but other professionals can. Some tax prep sites offer to connect you to a tax professional via chat, phone, or screen-sharing. Everyone charges extra for this, with two exceptions. H&R Block offers unlimited professional support for free this year, and TaxSlayer Self-Employed allows you to ask a question of a tax pro by email, but it can take at least one business day to hear back. 

Though it costs more in fees, you get the most innovative and comprehensive guidance if you use TurboTax Live. This service connects you with a tax professional who can work with you via video chat so he or she can often prepare your taxes in one session. They’re available for questions not only during tax season but also year-round. Professional help may increase your chances of a refund. 

Can I Use a DIY Tax App If My Taxes Are Complicated?

The personal tax preparation services we review here can complete very complex tax returns. The more forms and schedules you need to complete your return, the more you typically pay. We reviewed the most expensive versions this year—those that provide tax prep tools for the self-employed and advanced topics like depreciation, rental income, and capital gains.

If you're not comfortable completing a complicated tax return but still want to give it a shot, go with H&R Block or TurboTax. H&R Block offers DIY preparation and filing, but if you get partway through and realize you're not sure of some tax issues, you can have an H&R Block tax professional review your return, complete it, share the results with you, and sign and e-file it. Or there's a version of the service where you simply upload your tax documents and let a professional take over. TurboTax has a similar service this year.

Can I Do My Taxes From My Phone?

Many of us are now used to the idea of filing our taxes on our PCs, but that’s not the only option. All the tax services we reviewed this year also let you do your taxes on your phone.

It used to be the case that you could basically only file a 1040EZ from a mobile device, but that’s no longer true. The best services now let you handle surprisingly robust returns without ever needing a full-sized computer.

How do tax services handle the transition to smaller devices? These services have dedicated Android and iPhone apps: TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxSlayer, and Cash App Taxes. These services offer mobile versions of their websites: FreeTaxUSA, Jackson Hewitt, TaxAct, and Liberty Tax.

How Can I Keep My Tax Data Secure?

Whenever you send sensitive information over a network you don't control, you should be concerned. Since taxes are nothing but sensitive data, you ought to be doubly concerned if you're filing from a coffee shop, say, or the airport. In fact, you should be concerned enough to not do it. 

Fortunately, protecting your traffic is as simple as using a VPN. The best VPNs create a secure tunnel that encrypts your data, ensuring that anyone who intercepts it sees only gibberish.

Is Tax Software Safe?

Each of the tax websites we reviewed follows its own strict security protocols, as you’ll see when you read the reviews. They’re at least as safe as the sites where you do online banking. Each offers a combination of different security methods. They do things like:

• Monitor the site 24/7 and perform internal checks and external tests 
• Use multi-factor authentication 
• Employ Touch ID on their smartphone apps 
• Notify you of any unusual activity on your account, such as a password change, payment method update, or login from a new device
• Apply industry-standard web-browsing encryption technology
• Ask you to answer security questions

Filing Your Taxes Online Is Easier Than Ever

Online tax preparation and filing services can save you a lot of time and frustration compared with filing your taxes on paper. They might even help you save money by finding deductions you hadn’t considered, increasing your refund.

Tax apps and websites just keep getting better. If you’ve felt lost using a web-based tax solution in the past, consider giving it another try this year. Read our in-depth reviews and find the right service for your financial needs. You might be surprised at how easy it is to get through your taxes.