Tax season isn’t quite here yet, but we feel it’s our duty to tell you about the best tax apps for iPhone and iPad.
We know what you’re thinking: Can you really do your taxes on your phone? The short answer is “Yes, or we wouldn’t be here,” but we know that it’s actually much more complicated than that.
If you have to file a detailed and complicated tax return, then you’ll likely find that it’s incredibly difficult to do your taxes on a mobile device. In such a situation, you’re probably already hiring a professional to do your taxes, and you’re not thinking about tax apps.
However, for the average tax filers, the best tax apps should prove to be more than enough. They allow you to enter all your relevant information with few worries about getting it right or making sure that it’s all done.
So this tax season, consider filing your return with help from the best tax apps of 2020.
H&R Block
H&R Block is one of the most trusted names in tax prep, and this app certainly shows why that’s the case.
The appeal of this app is largely based on how easy it makes nearly every step of the tax filing process. Along with such great features as easy document uploading via photo, it also smartly takes advantage of the mobile format. With features like touch inputs and Face/Touch ID recognition, it’s truly possible to file a full tax return via just this app.
If you’re comfortable completing a tax return yourself without using a desktop, you’ll find that this is one of the easiest and most complete mobile tax apps out there.
Intuit TurboTax
TurboTax was one of the first online tax services to make a name for itself largely due to its online offerings. In other words, it was one of the first such services to say “filing your taxes online doesn’t have to be a compromise.”
This mobile version of that service does a lot to further the TurboTax legacy. Nearly every part of this app is designed to make every step of the filing process as simple as possible. Remarkably, that doesn’t mean that this app suffers from a lack of features. You might actually find that things like built-in document scanning make this app more versatile than its desktop counterparts.
There’s a lot to love about this tax app, and we highly recommend it as one of the most accessible and total tax apps on the market.
TaxAct Express
There’s something to be said about simplicity when it comes to tax apps. You don’t want to get your taxes done quickly, reliably, and with as few hardships as possible. Simplicity helps you do that.
If TaxAct Express isn’t the simplest of the tax apps out there, then it’s pretty close. This app is seemingly designed to ensure that anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable using a mobile device to do their taxes does eventually become comfortable. Everything is clearly explained, cleanly laid out, and designed to be operated by just about anyone.
This is a great tax app for anyone who is nervous about taxes or just trying to complete a relatively simple return as quickly as possible.
TaSlayer
If you’re looking to shop around for another “budget” tax app that still offers just about everything that you’d ever need, then you should certainly take a look at TaxSlayer.
Like comparable apps, TaxSlayer’s biggest initial draw is its price. With free filing options for State and Federal, this is certainly one of the most generous pricing options that you’ll find on the app store. If you’re planning on itemizing expenses or performing more complicated actions, you will need to pay for one of the premium options. Even then, you’ll find that the pricing is more than fair.
Anyone out there who doesn’t have to file a complicated tax return will love how this app expedites the process for a great price.
TaxCaster
TaxCaster isn’t a fully-fledged filing app. You can link it up to other tax services for that purpose, but that’s not really what it’s there for. Instead, TaxCaster helps you estimate what your taxes are going to look like and what your potential return is going to be.
For anyone who has a complicated tax return, such estimates can help you stay on top of where you stand. For those who just want to know how much money they’re going to get back, this app offers a reliable way to see that. What’s really cool, though, is the way that it lets you enter various bits of information in order to see what a theoretical return will look like.
Overally, this is a useful tool that’s certainly worth looking at if you’ve got any tax questions or concerns.
IRS2Go
We’d be lying if we told you this was the most exciting tax app on the planet. Actually, this official IRS app may just be one of the dullest apps in the world. It’s certainly one of the dullest that we’d recommend.
That doesn’t mean this app isn’t valuable, though. As you might imagine, it allows you to complete a variety of official IRS actions via your mobile device. That means checking up on your returns, making quarterly payments, and everything else you’d have to use the IRS website for.
Not only is the IRS the best place for certain information regarding your return, but it’s the only place you can confidently complete certain actions. For those reasons, it’s useful to have this app readily available by the time that tax season rolls around.
Expensify
Expensify is another one of the tax apps we recommend that doesn’t actually allow you to file your taxes. There are a few apps that allow you to do that well, and we’ve talked about them already.
However, Expensify excels when it comes to getting ready to file your taxes. Essentially, it allows you to easily keep track of all of the receipts, items, and everything else you expense during the year. As anyone who has to itemize their taxes can tell you, that’s a process that tends to require a lot of paperwork. Expensify allows you to relatively simply digitize that entire process.
Not everyone will need such an app for their taxes but those who do simply need to download Expensify.
Ask a CPA
In a perfect world, we would all have someone else do our taxes. In this world, not everyone has the time and resources to just have someone do their taxes for them. Still, it’s incredibly useful to have someone on standby in case you have a complicated tax question to ask.
Ask a CPA basically offers you that very feature. Just as the name implies, it lets you ask a professional CPA just about any tax question you might have. Along with allowing you to ask direct questions, this app also grants you access to a variety of FAQs and a database that explains certain tax ideas and phrases.
We wouldn’t recommend trying to complete your taxes just by asking questions via this app, but it’s great to have around as a companion for the trickier tax situations out there.
Shoeboxed Receipt Tracker
Here’s another expense tracking report that can help you get things in order just in time for tax season.
In its simplest form, this app does what you’d think it would do by allowing you to keep up with your expenses. That means adding receipts, keeping logs of official charges, and just about everything else that comes with that process. However, this app goes a few steps further by allowing you to access some welcome advanced features. For instance, you can track how many miles you’ve driven and generate expense reports for tax purposes.
If you need an expense tracker for more complicated tax purposes, then this is certainly one of the better options you’ll find for iPhone and iPad.
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