H&R Block Premium does just about everything that TurboTax does at slightly less cost. It’s chatty and friendly, too, asking questions and deciphering your answers as you prepare your tax return. But H&R Block isn’t always as efficient at deciphering your answers. You can either dig for informational answers in the Help window or solicit unlimited live professional tax advice through the website.
You can pay extra to have an expert review your finished return for an added measure of confidence before you file, or just back up your file and head off to one of the thousands of H&R Block offices in the U.S. if you really run into problems. You can then sit down with a professional for free if you’ve purchased the software. When it comes to this sort of handholding, H&R Block is said to be the best. It even offers a “tax prep checklist” to track down the documents you’ll need to prepare your return.
The Deluxe version costs $29.99 as of 2020, but this doesn’t include state returns. Keep in mind that most of these providers ratchet up their prices a little when filing season gets underway