`- This year TaxSlayer has made some great improvements
to its tax software, making it very comparable
to big players like H&R Block and TurboTax.
So, if you're looking for a premium
tax filing experience, don't overlook TaxSlayer.
In this video, I'm covering a complete review
and video walkthrough of TaxSlayer's tax software
to help you file your 2020 tax return.
(tranquil music)
Hey, guys, this is Justine with The College Investor,
Investing and Personal Finance for Millennials.
So, the first thing that you probably want to know
about TaxSlayer is, is it actually free?
Now, they do offer one free tier
and that's available to those who have a W2 income.
You can also claim the recovery rebate credit
if you did not receive your stimulus check
and you can also claim education credits
and student loan interest.
Any other tax forms that you may have
outside of those things, will bump you up
into their paid tier.
So, what's new in 2021 with TaxSlayer?
One of the biggest things that we saw with this software
is that they really improved and simplified their navigation
and they significantly cut down on tax jargon.
When I was going through the tax software,
it just seemed really easy to find
more information about specific forms,
if I had questions on it and just actually going through
the overall tax software and the user experience
was just really easy.
So, I liked how the dashboard was set up,
very comparable to what I saw with H&R Block and TurboTax.
All right, so, let's talk about TaxSlayer's pricing plans
because I have a feeling a lot of you are going to fall
within their classic tier.
First off, if you are a Rakuten user
and you have the Rakuten Plugin installed on Google Chrome,
you can activate the 12.5% cashback feature
which is going to save you even more money
on your tax software with TaxSlayer.
Okay, on top of your Rakuten cashback,
you're going to see four different options,
the simply free that I mentioned was very specific.
Most of us are going to fall in the classic tier.
So, this really applies to pretty much all tax situations
and it's only $17 plus the additional state fee
which for your state return is $32.
So, all in you're paying $49,
50 bucks ish for your classic tier.
And then if you want more pro-support,
you're going to pay 20 bucks extra for that.
And then I really feel like the big bargain
and the best deal here is with self-employed people.
So, it's best for contractors, 1099s, side hustlers,
self-employed, that's gonna be 47 plus that 32
for the state filing fee.
All right, so those are the pricing plans.
Now, let's hop into the tax software
and I'll show you how this works.
All right, guys, welcome to TaxSlayer.
We are going to start for free
and then you will create an account and get logged in here.
And then I'll meet you on the other side
inside of the dashboard.
Inside of the dashboard
you have your left hand navigation menu
and then you're going to start with your basic information
and start inputting all of that stuff right in here.
Now, if you've already filled it out
you can go back in and always click the edit button
and then you can edit each of these different things
individually.
Another thing that was different
about TaxSlayer that I noticed is that they
covered the recovery rebate credit up front.
A lot of this stuff when I was going through
other tax software reviews, the recovery rebate credit
was actually included in the federal section,
but for some reason it was included
in the basic information.
So, if you are worried about them
including the stimulus check information,
they have got you covered, it's up here front and center,
and you will see where you can input
your first stimulus check amount
and the second one if you've already received
your second stimulus check.
And if you do have any questions about this,
they have a blue hyperlink,
on a lot of different sections actually,
that say "learn more".
And then you're gonna see this little pop-up screen
that is going to kind of go over what exactly this is,
if you were unsure.
And that's true for all of the sections
as we go through TaxSlayer.
So, what I like about TaxSlayer this year
is that you have the option to be guided
through their software with prompted questions
by the software or if you've done this a time or two
and you know how to file your taxes online,
you can select your own forms from a list
and enter the information for yourself.
So, I like this feature because
you can actually go through each of the sections
and see which ones pertain to you
and which ones you can just skip out on,
and then you can see this little green begin button.
Also, as you update information in add in forms,
you're gonna see this refund summary window here.
And that number is going to change depending on what
forms you have and what's been entered.
Okay, so, as I completed my W2 information,
you're going to see that federal refund amount update.
If we owed money, then you would see that summary
right there in the right hand menu.
And now you can see once I've completed that,
we have this gray edit button.
So, I know that I've been in that section
and I can go back in and edit things if I need to.
What I like about TaxSlayer as well is that
once I get into one of these forms
everything is in one scrollable screen.
I've seen other tax software where you're kind of
just clicking through one by one each of the line items,
which is thorough, but it's very meticulous.
I would much rather have this scrollable form feature,
that makes it a little bit easier on the eyes
and easier to get through.
Now, in TaxSlayer I did go ahead and click
the classic version because I think that's going to
encompass a lot of tax filing situations
for the majority of folks who wanna file their taxes online.
So, you're going to see the option to add
in these different forms.
And if you were to do the simply free version,
then they would go ahead and bump you up
into that paid tier.
And if you didn't know what any of these forms were,
again, just a quick and simple explanation right here.
And then you can go ahead and click "begin"
if you actually have a 1099 DIV form.
And I love these little blue "learn more" buttons,
they're very helpful and I don't feel like
this is a whole lot of information to read through,
and it's easy to understand.
Right, so, as I added in the interest form,
you saw that the refund summary
and the federal refund went down.
So, it updates in real time as you are updating
each of these sections.
Now, because I'm doing my own self guided navigation
through the tax software, I'm going right back
to the summary page and kind of looking at
what I need to fill in.
So, it's helpful to have all of your tax forms ready to go
prior to coming into the tax software.
But if you'd like to get a jumpstart on things,
then you can go ahead and input those forms
as you receive them.
All right, then you're gonna get a little prompt
to upgrade here for the audit defense and the security ID,
$44 currently, I'm gonna click, no thanks,
and then you can go through your deductions.
If you don't have any of these credits to add
or itemized deductions to add,
then you can take the standard deduction.
All right, so, if you have any adjustments,
a lot of us are going to have either
that health savings account, maybe in an IRA deduction.
So, let's say you had student loan interest deductions,
you can go ahead and add in your total interest paid.
But the one thing that I am noticing
about the student loan interest deduction is that
I didn't see the form number next to
student loan interest deduction
even when I went to go enter that information.
So, if you didn't know which form you needed
it's not very clear right here.
So, I feel like this is an easy correction
for TaxSlayer to include, but I always like the title
of the form and then the actual form number
just to make sure I'm pulling the correct information.
Okay, then you're going to go through the other taxes,
other tax filing situations.
These aren't typical for most filers,
but if you do have a Schedule SE, for example,
then you'll wanna make sure that you add in that form.
And I like how easy everything is broken up,
there's space in between the text,
this doesn't feel overwhelming to me.
You're also going to see the updated tax law changes
for this year, including the reporting health insurance,
if you had it from the marketplace
then you would report it right here
if you have that form, if you don't, click "no",
and then you can move on to your state return.
So, remember, the state returns are additional,
it's $32 and then you're going to go through
each of these line items and start your state return.
Okay, this is specific for California,
but I have no idea if I qualify
for the renter's credit or not.
Let's say I was a renter here,
then I'd like to know exactly what this renter's credit is,
and there is no link to that.
So, that's another miss for TaxSlayer
if I was to be critical and picky about it.
All right, at the end of it all,
you get a nice little tax return summary
to see exactly what you put inside of the tax software,
including your total income.
And I do like that when you click on these dropdown menus
that you can see these different sections.
So, if you had ordinary dividends
and you needed to go back to that section,
you totally can easily from that summary section.
So, this makes it really easy to navigate in between
different sections here and to go back to
where you last left off using this left-hand menu,
makes it really easy to get around inside of TaxSlayer,
which I love.
So, while this isn't normally considered a primo product,
they've really upped their game this year,
and they've made it very simple
to file your 2020 taxes online.
TaxSlayer is a great contender this year
and I feel like it definitely competes with
H&R Block and TurboTax and for a really good price.
So, if you are wanting great price, great user experience
and a very improved tax software technology,
don't overlook TaxSlayer.
But if you're still on the fence
about which tax software to use and choose this year,
be sure to check out all of our complete reviews
and video walk-throughs at thecollegeinvestor.com.