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clogston

There many tax software companies. The vast majority of them do not actively lobby against tax filing simplification.

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Other than Intuit (TurboTax), H&R Block, and Jackson Hewitt, of course:

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/15/tax-preparers-...

Unfortunately, even TaxACT is a member of a lobbying group which fights against making filing taxes easier (ACTR).

Many? I was able to find 5 consumer tax software companies (including H&R Block). Any chance you could list a few others?

I find it hard to believe there are tons of them out there unless perhaps tax software is regional software and there's companies in some states that don't move beyond the state?

There are many. The top 14 are members of the Free File Alliance[0]. There are tens, if not hundreds more that do federal filing. Unfortunately many are cheap clones of TurboTax or re-skinned versions of Drake[1].

Disclosure - I'm the CEO of Common Form[2]. My co-founders and I are all ex-Intuit employees. We currently only cover the 1040EZ, but we're expanding as fast as we can.

[0] http://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp?ck

[1] https://www.1040.com/

[2] https://common-form.com

edit: formatting.

I'm surprised there are so many, I would have expected that keeping up with the changes in the tax law would be a pretty expensive barrier to entry, especially given the IRS sometimes isn't totally sure themselves. Although it seems like the vast majority focus only on the 1040EZ which I guess radically simplifies things.

Thanks for sharing I will give them a try next year. For some stupid reason it would never cross my mind to do my own research - I always thought it is doing it yourself, HR Block or Turbo Tax.

I just did TT and it cost me $37 for what TaxACT wants $12. Further if you want to pay from your refund, there is hefty $37 extra with TT. It looks like TaxACT doesn't have this fee...

Most likely the result of your return should be the same from both companies, as long as they understand tax law, and I would assume they do otherwise they would be gone long time ago.

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