- This year, ezTaxReturn updated their navigation
and their user interface,
but it wasn't impressive enough
to get a recommendation from us.
In this video, I'm covering a complete review
and video walkthrough of the ezTaxReturn tax software,
and why you might want to consider something else.
(looming music)
Hey guys, it's Justine with the College Investor,
Investing and Personal Finance for Millennials.
So today we're going through ezTaxReturn.
And the first thing that you might want to know is
whether or not ezTaxReturn is free.
And not really.
So even though they advertise
that there is a free simple return that you can do,
users still have to pay for a state return.
So what's new with ezTaxReturn in 2021?
Well, they updated their navigation and user experience,
so it's nice to see a tax software
that's committed to updating their software year over year,
but as I was going through it,
there really wasn't much to it,
and for its price point, it makes it forgettable.
Speaking of pricing, let's go over their pricing plans.
All right, so you're going to see this simple return,
which covers those tax filing situations that I mentioned.
And then it says free with a little star,
you have to go down here and you can see that
even those simple filers have to pay 19.95
for a state return.
Now, all other tax filing situations,
which I feel like most people are going to fall in
is going to be right here,
your federal and state tax return for $40.
Another thing that I don't really like about this
is this little paragraph here.
We're obsessed with giving you honest, upfront
and transparent pricing.
No gimmicks, no tricks, no upsell, no surprises.
But then they made this little minimal text
down here at the bottom
that says you have to pay 20 bucks for a state return.
So I don't know.
I feel like they should have reworked this page
to make it way more clear on what you're going to pay.
All right, now that you know the pricing,
let's walk through this software
and I'll show you how it works.
All right, here's ezTaxReturn.
And we are going to create an account.
And you're going to click this let's get started button,
choose your username and password.
And then I will meet you
on the other side inside of the dashboard.
All right, so here's what this looks like on the inside.
You're going to start with your personal information
and then go through each of these major sections
of your tax return.
The one thing that I was noticing about ezTaxReturn is that
after you've filled out one major section
and you want to go and skip ahead to a different section,
you really can't do that.
So I did find that a little bit annoying
as I was going through this,
but the interface is really simple.
There's really not a lot that you can get confused on
in terms of walking through each of the sections.
So let me show you what I mean.
So when you enter into a different section,
starting with your income summary,
you are going to see
all of the different types of income
that might be reported on your tax return.
So obviously, the W2 is going to be listed
and you're going to fill out most likely,
and then you're going to have
some of these other standard forms of income listed as well.
So I do like that everything is clearly listed
in one screen,
and then you can go through and see, okay,
actually I do have a 1099R
and I need to go in and add that.
And so you can click this edit orange button,
and then you are going to be prompted
through a series of questions.
So if anything is hyperlinked,
a little pop-up bubble
with some more information is going to be supplied here
to give you more of a description.
So you can understand.
One thing that I didn't see though,
is that if you had more questions about a specific form,
there were no links really directly to the IRS.
And another thing when it comes to questions
is that I needed help or support on a particular form,
I did not know where to go,
because I don't see a help button,
I don't see a support button.
The only one that I see is contact
and the contact us page actually has an FAQ section.
And then you can also do email support here.
So I feel like the help and knowledge base
is just a little bit lacking,
because this is the knowledge base.
This is all that it is.
I didn't like how this was set up.
And if I was looking for something specific,
I feel like just a scrollable list of FAQs is not helpful.
All right, so let's say that you had a 1099-DIV form,
you can go in and add that,
and then you'll be prompted through
just a step-by-step list of questions here.
All right, so you can see that I quickly and easily was able
to input the information from a particular form.
And then you're going to see a summary
if you have multiple 1099-DIV forms,
then you can add another entry,
or if you think you've made a mistake,
you can go back in and edit it.
And then what I like about this too,
is that the form is just in one scrollable screen.
And that way I can just see everything in one screenshot
versus having to click excessively.
Once you've filled out one of your forms,
it's going to take you back.
This is like the section Homebase is the summary page
it's going to take you back here.
And you're going to see everything listed out in one page
so you can go through and double check
that everything is filled out
or that you're not missing any forms.
Okay, then you are going to go into the expense summary.
Now, if you had any of these forms,
it's important to note that with ezTaxReturn,
there is no import option.
You are going to have to manually enter all of your forms.
So if you have a lot of different forms
that you need to input,
this could get a little time consuming.
However they do have everything listed,
and one thing that I've been paying attention to,
especially because I think a lot of you
are going to have that student loan interest form
that they also list the form number,
not all tax software does that.
And I really like having the title of the form,
the actual form number, so you can be clear exactly
which form you need to look at to input that information.
And also I like how they break this out into layman's terms.
So it says, if you're paying back your student loans,
uncle Sam gives you a small break,
you can deduct up to 2,500 of interest
on qualified student loans
to pay for qualified higher education expenses.
So I thought that was kind of nice.
You know, I don't feel like they are talking down to me.
They are explaining it in a way
that is easy for the average person to understand.
Also then you can see what amounts are deductible,
depending on what information you put in,
and then there's a little orange why button.
And then this is going to take you to the worksheet
and show you the math of how they got that.
I don't know how helpful this is.
They could maybe do some work over this next year
to kind of simplify this,
and maybe explain this worksheet a little bit better,
but I do appreciate
that they are trying to help people understand
why that those amounts are deductible.
Then you're going to go through
the itemized deductions section.
Again, you're going to see the different types of deductions
and then scroll through, click on the edit orange button
to add in any of those forms.
So, ezTaxReturn really is self guided.
You are going to pick and choose.
And so I think if you've filed your taxes before
and you know what to do,
then I think you're going to have a better time
understanding the software and how it works.
Also when it comes to picking
whether or not you are going to take
the itemized or the standard deduction,
I liked that they had this third button
that said choose the best option for me,
depending on what you've entered.
So you can see this other taxes and credit summary,
it's going to take us to the next section.
And then at the end, it's going to show you
what deduction they're going to put you in.
Also, if you are wondering about the recovery rebate credit,
if you didn't get your stimulus check,
you're going to see it listed here under other taxes
and credits summary.
And you can go ahead and input
whether or not you received those check amounts.
If you received the full check amounts,
then you're going to put them in here
And then click continue
and you're obviously not going to get the credit
if you've already received your checks.
You can do this for a variety of different credits
underneath this section as well.
All right, so here's our bottom line.
This is the review in a nutshell.
And you're going to see
that they put us under the standard deduction,
and then you're going to see a list of your income expenses,
your deductions, your different credits if those applied
and then your anticipated refund.
If at any time you think that something doesn't look right,
you can always go into the orange button,
go back to the summary section,
and then see if you're missing anything.
And then, I think a lot of us are going to fall
within their paid offering, which is the $40 tax return
that you're going to have to pay
instead of that free version,
which was just W2 or unemployment income,
and then really just no other credits or deductions.
And you're earning less than 100k.
So I will have to go and bump up into that $40 paid version,
but honestly, for what you get inside of this thing,
I feel like there could be a better alternatives
to tax software
if you're really going to go through and pay for it.
After your federal return is complete,
then you're going to go into your state return
and prepare that together.
All right, so a lot of times the state returns
are not available until February.
So if you are trying to file early,
you can go ahead and input your information
into the tax software,
and then once the state return becomes available,
you can go back in and complete your return.
And then go ahead and e-file.
Okay, so as you can see ezTaxReturn was actually pretty easy
for me to get around in.
I liked how they had the summary sections
with the hyperlinks that went back to those sections
or those particular forms,
which made it easy for me to jump around.
For $40, I think you could do better
with some other tax software.
In fact, for $10 extra,
you can upgrade to a premium experience through TaxSlayer,
you're going to get a much better
user experience over there.
Now, if you want a cheap or free alternative,
you might consider it TaxHawk or Credit Karma Tax,
or skip all of that and just go Primo Primo
and consider H&R Block.
Now there's obviously a lot of choices for tax software,
this year to file your 2020 tax return.
So if you're still on the fence about what to do,
be sure to check out all of our
complete tax software reviews and video walk-throughs
at the collegeinvestor.com.