CompleteTax Conclusion

CompleteTax offers competitive tax software products at prices lower than those offered by TurboTax and H&R Block.  CompleteTax’s Basic product is now available for free this year, which is a great value if you’re filing a straightforward tax return and want help with Life Changes (i.e. getting married, buying a house or car, having children, etc.) and importing 1099 and W-2 forms.  CompleteTax offers excellent Tax Support.  For a low price of $19.95, they will have a CPA review your tax return for errors and they will represent you in the event that you are audited by the IRS.  The only major drawback of this service is their poor tech support, which we did not find to be economical, helpful or responsive.

>> Try CompleteTax for Free

CompleteTax’s tax products offer somewhat difficult navigation and minimal on-screen guidance.  Their tax products do not include section summaries, but they do double-check your W-2 for withholdings amounts if they are greater than 50% of your income. We consider this to be a standard error checking system.  CompleteTax also does not incorporate helper text bubbles into their online interface that would help explain jargon and guide you through your tax return. CompleteTax warns you to save your progress before changes are lost, lets you mark the pages you are completely finished with and prompts you to review incomplete pages after you go through the entire return. CompleteTax shows you a refund meter that calculates your refund as you fill out your tax information. The service allows you to access your tax return from last year for $9.95 with the Free version, and for free with the Deluxe and Premium versions.

CompleteTax has poor tech support because they only offer free email support (live chat support is $4.95 per session), and it took longer than two business days to get a response when we tested their email support.  They do not offer phone technical support. During tax season, wait times may vary with increased demand.

CompleteTax offers some of the cheapest tax products we have reviewed. The cost of filing your federal tax return ranges from free to $33.96, depending on which product fits your needs. If you need to purchase a state add-on, you can get it for $25.46 or for free with the Premium product. This is slightly cheaper than the competing products TurboTax and H&R Block. You pay the total price only after you file your return.