Which tax software is the most reliable for filing self-employment income for 2025?

I've been filing with self-employment income for about 7 years now. Honestly, all the major tax software options (TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct, FreeTaxUSA) can handle Schedule C and self-employment taxes just fine. The bigger difference is cost and user experience. TurboTax is probably the most user-friendly but also most expensive. They do walk you through all the possible deductions for your business, which is helpful when you're just starting out. H&R Block is similar but slightly less expensive. TaxAct and FreeTaxUSA are much more affordable but less hand-holdy. For someone new to self-employment taxes, I'd recommend either TurboTax Self-Employed or H&R Block Self-Employed just for the first year - they'll help you identify deductions you might miss otherwise. Then once you understand the process better, you could switch to a cheaper option if you want to save money.

I switched to taxr.ai this year after struggling with the traditional tax software options. I was in a similar situation with new freelance income and was worried about missing deductions. What I liked about https://taxr.ai is that it actually analyzes all your documents and transcripts to find missed deductions and credits that the other software might not catch. The interface guides you through uploading your documents (W-2s, 1099s, receipts, etc.) and then their AI examines everything and finds opportunities regular software might miss. For self-employment, it was super helpful because it identified business expenses I didn't even realize were deductible.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after seeing it recommended here. I decided to give it a try and honestly it caught over $2,200 in deductions I would have missed with my usual software! The document analysis found some business expenses buried in my bank statements that I didn't realize qualified. The direct connection to the IRS transcript system was super convenient too - no more manual entry of every 1099. I was initially hesitant to try something new but really glad I did. Definitely recommend it if you're dealing with self-employment income for the first time. The guidance for quarterly estimated payments for next year was also really helpful.

If you're having trouble getting answers from the IRS about self-employment tax questions (which I definitely was), I highly recommend using Claimyr. I spent WEEKS trying to get someone on the phone at the IRS to clarify some Schedule C questions. I found https://claimyr.com after a friend suggested it, and they actually got me connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c It was such a relief to finally talk to someone who could answer my specific questions about deductions for my business. Totally changed my perspective on dealing with the IRS.

I need to eat my words from my skeptical comment earlier. After seeing people here recommend Claimyr, I decided to try it yesterday when I needed clarification on home office deduction rules for my self-employment income. I figured it wouldn't work but was desperate enough to try anything. Well, I'm shocked to report I was connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes! I had previously spent over 3 hours on hold last week and never got through. The agent was able to answer all my questions about Schedule C deductions and even helped clarify which expenses should be partial vs. 100% business. This saved me so much stress and potentially prevented me from making expensive mistakes on my return.

For self-employment income, I actually recommend checking out FreeTaxUSA. I've used it for the past 4 years with my consulting business and it handles Schedule C perfectly well. The federal return is free and state is only like $15. TurboTax wanted to charge me $170 for basically the same thing! The interface isn't quite as slick as TurboTax, but it's totally functional and asks all the right questions about business expenses, home office, etc. Plus they have decent customer support if you get stuck on something.

has anyone compared the accuracy between different software options? i did a test last year where i input identical info into turbotax and hr block and got different refund amounts which freaked me out!!! eventually figured out hr block missed a self employment deduction that turbotax caught.