TaxAct Review 2026: Self-Employed Pricing and Pros and Cons

TaxAct sits in the middle of the market on features and near the top on state returns, and that second fact decides whether it is worth buying. Its federal prices undercut TurboTax at every tier, but the per-state fee is higher than any rival on this page, so a filer with two states pays TaxAct more than a TurboTax user with one. Judge it on the full bill, not the headline tier price.

Methodology: we read TaxAct's online product pages for Free, Deluxe, Premier and Self-Employed, its guarantees page and the Xpert Assist add-on on October 17, 2026, then the pricing pages of TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA, TaxSlayer and Cash App Taxes the same day. Prices are USD list prices for the 2025 tax year; tax vendors raise prices as the April deadline nears, so re-check before you pay.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, compares TaxAct against 41 other tax software tools as of October 2026, and 15 of those 42 tools offer a free plan. TaxAct is one of them, but its free plan is one of the narrowest, which is why the paid tiers carry this review.

TaxAct is online tax preparation software for individual 1040 returns, sold in four tiers on its online products page: Free, Deluxe, Premier and Self-Employed, each priced federal plus a per-state fee. Deluxe targets homeowners and families with childcare costs, Premier adds investments, rental property, home sales and foreign bank accounts, and Self-Employed adds Schedule C income, freelance and rideshare work, and partnership filing. The company also sells two layers of human help: Xpert Assist, an add-on with unlimited chat and calls with a tax expert, and Xpert Full Service, where a professional prepares the return.

Three guarantees come with the online products, per TaxAct's guarantees page. The accuracy guarantee refunds the software fee and covers the refund difference, penalties, interest and documented legal and audit costs up to $100,000 per customer if a software error costs you money. The Maximum Refund Guarantee refunds the purchase price if another product produces a larger refund from the same data, and the Satisfaction Guarantee lets you stop before paying.

Audit defense beyond the guarantee is a separate service through Tax Protection Plus, which TaxAct's pages reference without printing a price. Toolradar profiles the rivals compared here: TurboTax, H&R Block and FreeTaxUSA.

Start by placing yourself on the tier ladder, because TaxAct's tiers are drawn by income type. A W-2 employee with the standard deduction fits Free, a homeowner with a mortgage or a dependent-care credit moves to Deluxe, a stock or crypto sale or a rental moves to Premier, and any Schedule C moves to Self-Employed. The free edition page says about 44% of TaxAct filers qualified last year, which means more than half pay.

Then add the state. Every paid tier charges the same per-state fee, and the free edition is only slightly cheaper, which is the number that moves TaxAct from mid-priced to expensive. A freelancer who worked in two states pays $239.97 on Self-Employed before any add-on, where Cash App Taxes cannot file two states at all and FreeTaxUSA charges a small fee for each.

Then decide on help. Xpert Assist adds unlimited chat and phone access to a credentialed tax expert and a review before filing to any tier, the cheapest live-expert add-on among the six filers here, and Xpert Full Service hands the return to a dedicated professional for a higher fee. A freelancer who tracks income and expenses through the year in QuickBooks Solopreneur or Found arrives with the Schedule C totals ready, which is where TaxAct's interview is fastest.

Finally, read the guarantee terms before relying on them. That cap is cumulative per customer and applies to software errors, not to mistakes in what you entered, and the audit defense product sits outside it. For the free routes before any of this, our how to file taxes for free guide covers IRS Free File and Direct File.

TaxAct's online tiers, read on its product pages on October 17, 2026, run Free at $0 federal, Deluxe at $59.99, Premier at $99.99 and Self-Employed at $109.99, each plus the state fee in the table below. Xpert Assist adds $45 and Xpert Full Service starts at $99. Third-party reviews often quote a lower state fee from an earlier season; the vendor's pages print the figure in the table, and that is the number to budget.

Three scenarios show the full bill. A W-2 employee in one state pays the state fee only on Free, where TurboTax Free Edition, H&R Block Free Online, TaxSlayer Simply Free and Cash App Taxes all cost nothing for that return. A freelancer with a Schedule C in one state pays $174.98 on Self-Employed, against nothing at Cash App Taxes, the state fee at FreeTaxUSA and $122.98 at TaxSlayer Self-Employed with its state return. The same freelancer who wants an expert on call pays $219.98 at TaxAct with Xpert Assist, which is close to FreeTaxUSA's $80.98 with Pro Support only if you value TaxAct's guided interview and guarantee at the difference.

The rivals price the same job differently. TurboTax lists do-it-yourself filing from free to $139 federal with state extra, Expert Assist at $59 to $209 and Full Service from $129, and says roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify for its free edition. H&R Block prices Free Online at $0 federal and state for a Form 1040 with limited schedules, about 52% of filers by its count; check the current price on H&R Block's site for Deluxe, Premium and Self-Employed. FreeTaxUSA files every federal form free and charges $15.99 per state, with Pro Support and Audit Defense as add-ons priced in the table. TaxSlayer lists Classic at $44.99 and Self-Employed at $74.99 plus $47.99 per state. Cash App Taxes files federal and one state free with no paid tier. Our is TurboTax free explainer and Keeper Tax review cover the two ends of that range.

TaxAct fits a self-employed filer or landlord who wants a guided interview, a tax expert on call for a flat add-on and a guarantee with a published cap, and who files in one state. Against TurboTax it saves money at every federal tier while keeping live expert help, and its Premier and Self-Employed editions cover rentals, crypto, FBAR and partnerships that cheaper tools handle with less hand-holding. A freelancer who bills through tools from our freelance invoicing ranking and wants the deduction prompts will get the most from it.

Skip it if price is the only criterion, where Cash App Taxes and FreeTaxUSA file the same Schedule C for nothing or for the state fee; if you file in two or more states, where the per-state fee stacks fastest here; or if your return is simple enough for a free edition, where TaxAct still charges for the state. A crypto trader with hundreds of transactions should reconcile them first with a tool from our crypto tax software ranking, and an accountant filing for clients needs the professional products in best tax software for accountants.