Our methodology for rating tax preparation platforms

How we rate tax preparation platforms

We spent dozens of hours reviewing eight traditional tax preparation companies and eight crypto tax software services. The best platforms are easy to use, offer plenty of tips and human support features, have free options and don’t charge an arm and a leg for paid services. 

To determine the best platform in each category, we created different formulas: The details we evaluated for the overall best tax software aren’t the same as those for crypto tax services. 

The resulting perfect scores translate to a five-star rating; a score of 80 equals four stars and so on.

Methodologies

• Best tax software and best tax apps methodology.
• Best crypto tax software methodology.

Best tax software and best tax apps methodology

How we choose the products we ranked

To be considered for our ranking, tax software platforms had to offer individuals nationwide the ability to file federal and state taxes for any state. 

Tax software ranking factors

• Ease of use: 30%.
• Customer service options: 25%.
• Free filing options: 25%.
• Price: 20%.

In forging our formula, we decided that general ease of use was vital. Taxes are complicated enough: The tax software itself shouldn’t add to your stress. Since there could be a snarl in filing — or if you appreciate extra guidance — the availability of automated and human support would be the next most important aspect. Getting verified help without switching off the platform goes beyond convenience — though you may have to pay for it. 

We broke down costs in two ways. Paying for the joy of coughing up money to the government is counterintuitive, so we rewarded the platforms that offered the most inclusive free filing options and those that featured lower prices. 

Ease of use (30%)

• General ease of navigation (7%). You shouldn’t need a doctorate to be able to figure out how to use a tax platform. We judged how intuitive the software was by interacting with it.
• Free start (7%). It's vital to be able to test drive the platform. You don’t want to pay for a service only to discover you hate it or it doesn’t suit your needs and you need to buy another one. 
• Connect with a CPA (6%). Should problems arise, it can be useful to talk with a real human, even if you need to pay extra for the service.
• Presence of an FAQ section (5%). If you can avoid paying more or waiting in a (virtual) line to talk with an expert, wouldn’t that be better? 
• Ratings on the Google Play Store (2%), Apple App Store (2%) and Trustpilot (1%). We included user ratings to account for other people’s platform experiences. 

Customer service options (25%)

• The presence of phone support (5%), live chat (5%) and email help (5%). Not everyone likes to receive help in the same way all the time. Sometimes it’s easiest to shoot off an email; in others, immediate help by phone is best. If a tax platform offers phone, live chat and email support, it gets full marks. 
• Integrated tooltips (5%). Going off the page to look up a term or consider a concept and dealing with multiple tabs can rev up frustration, so we reward platforms with integrated tooltips.
• Tooltip quality (5%). Having tooltips isn’t enough — they should be easy to spot and understand. The company earns more points if the tooltips are obvious on the page and don’t use jargon. 

Free filing options (25%)

• Federal free file option (12%). Whether there is a federal free filing option counts for a large portion of this category. Free filing options are standard on many platforms.
• The presence of an income limitation (5%). “Free” usually comes with an asterisk. There are often situational qualifications (whether there’s a limit of one W-2, for instance) and status limitations (such as single or married filing jointly) (1%). The fewer qualifying limitations, the better.
• Free state filing option (2%). Likewise, we rewarded those services that offered a free state filing option for at least some of its customers.

Price (20%)

To best compare apples to apples, we looked at the cost to file a typical federal return (10%) and a state return (10%). 

See the results of our analysis in our article on the best tax software and the best tax apps

Best crypto tax software methodology

How we choose the products we ranked

In our research, we determined the most popular crypto tax software based on SEO search results. Then we narrowed options to include only the nationally available crypto apps that allowed individuals to gather the necessary data for federal tax reporting from multiple trading platforms. 

Crypto tax software ranking factors

• Capabilities: 50%.
• Interface: 20%.
• Customer service options: 10%.
• Free filing options: 10%.
• Price: 10%.

In the best crypto tax platform ranking, we gave the most significant weight to the ability to integrate with various cryptocurrencies, digital wallets and trading sites. Manually downloading and consolidating forms from every cryptocurrency type owned during the tax year would be a bear — and even if you only invested in one kind, there are hundreds of them.

Figuring out how to report crypto is only part of your taxes — it should be as quick and painless as possible. To that end, we judged whether the interface topped the chart in intuitive navigation and how many forms of customer support were available. 

For the last part of our formula (but not the least), we looked at pricing — any qualifications limiting the free file option and how deeply a service would dig into your wallet if you didn’t meet those qualifications. 

Capabilities (50%)

• Amount of currencies supported (10%). It’s ideal to have one platform that can handle all your crypto tax-reporting needs across all your currencies. 
• Automatic calculations (10%). We award points if the software does transactional calculations for you, such as those for capital gains or losses, or income from mining or staking.
• Tax optimization tips (10%). Tax optimization strategies can save you big bucks. If the platform suggests such moves so you don’t have to be aware of them yourself, that’s a win.
• Automatic imports (5%). While you could download, save, find and upload files manually, being able to import data directly from your crypto platform to your tax platform is preferred. 
• National coverage (5%). Every state has its own tax rules. Whether tax reporting was available for multiple jurisdictions counted toward a company’s score. 
• Cybersecurity and privacy measures (10%). Filing taxes involves personal data you don’t want pirates to get their digital hands on. We look for encryption, multi-factor identification and biometric sign-in options.

Interface (20%)

• Ease of navigation (4%). Figuring out crypto taxes is hard enough. You don’t need the crypto tax platform to be a puzzle itself. We awarded points to platforms that were more intuitive to use. 
• Presence of an FAQ section (4%). Getting quick answers from the software itself can prevent you from needing to reach out to an expert or use less reputable sources.
• The ability to connect with a CPA (4%). Talking with a certified expert via the platform offers a pressure release valve should unforeseen problems occur. 
• Quality of tooltips (4%). We judged whether any built-in tooltips were easy to find and whether they offered clear information and advice. 
• Test drive offer (4%). Starting a return before cracking open your wallet can prevent you from buying a crypto tax preparation program, only to discover that it doesn’t have what you’re looking for. 

Customer service options (10%)

• Phone (2.5%), live chat (2.5%) and email support (2.5%). Having all three channels available lets you pick and choose which to use based on your needs and comfort. Some people dread making phone calls while talking through a problem is the best option for others. Platforms earn points for each type of customer support they offer. 
• Integrated tooltips (2.5%). Having answers on-page could prevent you from needing to reach out to customer service in the first place. 

Free options (10%)

• Federal free filing (4%). Most (if not all) Americans need to file federal taxes. Having the option to do so gratis is attractive.
• Free filing for states (3%). We rewarded platforms that offered a free state filing option. 
• Free file qualifications (3%). Many platforms limit your ability to file for free by slapping on qualifications, such as limiting the number of crypto transactions you complete during the year. We rewarded platforms that had fewer qualifications and more generous limits. 

Price (10%)

• Cost to file federally (5%) and with a state (5%). To judge whether pricing was competitive, we looked at the lowest cost to file a typical (not a simple) federal and state return on each site and those with lower prices earned a higher score. 

See the results in our article on the best crypto tax software

How we collect data

After naming the institutions and research categories, multiple team members spend hours interacting with the website, software and/or platform. All data about the product comes directly from the product’s website or an official representative/spokesperson. 

The exception occurs when we cite product ratings from a third party (such as mobile app store ratings). In this case, we specifically state the source.

Any information directly related to taxes (rather than a tax platform) is sourced only from IRS websites — not accountancy blogs or any other source. Every data point written in an article is viewed and confirmed by at least four people across three teams at USA TODAY Blueprint. 

How often we refresh the data varies. We typically refresh tax data once a year; the most recent update is timestamped in the introduction of every article.

USA TODAY Blueprint’s editorial standards

We maintain editorial integrity, which means that institutions cannot purchase inclusion in our articles or influence their ranking in our “best of” lists in any way. Tax preparation companies cannot pay us to review them. Outside of clearly marked advertisements, they are not included or recommended on our pages.