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H&R Block Vs. TurboTax — Which Is Better For Filing Taxes? - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
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- Tax day is April 17th,
but the sooner you file,
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the sooner you can get your tax refund.
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The IRS actually recommends
that American tax payers
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file their taxes online and they also say
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you should request your
refunds via direct deposit.
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So we decided to take a closer look at the
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two most popular online tax filing systems
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to see which one is better.
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So I'm here with Anya who
beat us all to the punch
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when it comes to doing your taxes.
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She is a true early bird
and has already filled out
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her tax return on not just
one online filing service,
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but two and we're here
to find out which one
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she liked better.
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So what type of taxpayer
would you say you are?
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I'm filing one income this year.
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Last year, I was filing
two for my business insider
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internship and from my freelancing gig.
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So that was a little more complicated.
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This year, I'd say I'm a much
more streamlined taxpayer
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because I only have one
income to worry about
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as opposed to two.
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- [Interviewer] Why did you
use Turbo Tax last year and
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are there certain taxpayers you think
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that it might be better for?
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- So last year I started
off using H&R Block.
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It was going very well at first,
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then when it came time to
file my freelancer income,
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I found it much more complicated.
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It was quite unclear how to move forward,
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so I ended up going to Turbo Tax.
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It was a breeze.
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I just filed, you know, my
regular business insider income
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and my freelancer income and
it was not an issue at all.
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If you are somebody who has side projects,
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side hustles, you're a freelancer,
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Turbo Tax is probably better.
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It really allows you
to skip back and forth
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between different stages of the process.
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Seems a bit more acclimated to people who
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have multiple sources of income.
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- [Interviewer] Which service was easier
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to go through the process?
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- So they were both very
similar in that they both had
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very intuitive interfaces that kind of
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keep the process flowing
and also answer questions
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along the way as you're going through it.
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I found H&R Block more streamlined,
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a little bit more intuitive than Turbo Tax
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but they're both pretty
similar in terms of
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how you use them.
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- [Interviewer] Which
one had something that
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really stood out as a pain point?
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Something that was kind of annoying.
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- Turbo Tax because
they're very pushy about
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trying to get you to upgrade
to their paid services.
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They keep taking you back to the screen
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where you're able to
select different options
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and just basically asking are you sure
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you want to do this for
free and it's kind of like,
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yes, I am sure, and they basically
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show you all your information saying,
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we did your taxes last year.
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You're 50% complete if
you upgrade to plus now.
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And when I declined and went
to the free service instead,
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it kind of makes a point of showing you
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losing all your information
and I felt that was
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a bit passive aggressive.
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And it's a stark contrast to H&R Block
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which was very much
easier to use in the sense
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it doesn't make you set
up an account right away.
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You can kind of go through it.
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It does ask you if you want to upgrade,
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but it just feels less insistent,
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less, you know, making you
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second guess yourself essentially.
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- [Interviewer] What was
one of the major differences
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you noticed between the
two different services?
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- So, H&R Block's service
is incredibly linear
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which I liked personally because it just
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takes you from beginning to end
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and it's a very straight
forward march to the end.
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In terms of Turbo Tax,
it really allows you
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to jump around more, I felt,
in terms of its interface.
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You could start one thing,
leave it, go to something else.
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That might appeal to
different personalities
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based on how you like to work.
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- [Interviewer] Given your experience,
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which service would you
ultimately recommend?
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- I'd say, if you're like me, and you are
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filing for one income, both are good.
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H&R Block, for me, was
better just in terms
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of its interface and the way I was able to
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kind of breeze through it essentially.
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So if you don't have to worry about other
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free lancing or side gig income,
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I would say H&R Block is probably best.
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- Okay cool, so H&R Block is your pick?
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- Actually, this year
I'll be using Turbo Tax
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to file my taxes.
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- That seems like it goes against
what you just said though.
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- Well, I already have
an account on there.
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I'm all set up.
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They have all my
information even though they
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made a point of stripping it all away
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when I didn't upgrade.
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I'm used to it and they're
both so similar that
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you now, I just feel like
might as well start an
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ongoing relationship with one of them
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as opposed to switching back and forth.
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- That makes sense.
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I mean it is nice when you
have all of your tax returns
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in one place, but if you do
want to switch back and forth
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every year, you can just download the PDF
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and keep your own digital copy.
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Thanks so much for doing your taxes early
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so the rest of us could heed your advice.
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- Thanks for having me. (laughing)
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