the sooner you can get your tax refund.

The IRS actually recommends that American tax payers

file their taxes online and they also say

you should request your refunds via direct deposit.

So we decided to take a closer look at the

two most popular online tax filing systems

to see which one is better.

So I'm here with Anya who beat us all to the punch

when it comes to doing your taxes.

She is a true early bird and has already filled out

her tax return on not just one online filing service,

but two and we're here to find out which one

she liked better.

So what type of taxpayer would you say you are?

I'm filing one income this year.

Last year, I was filing two for my business insider

internship and from my freelancing gig.

So that was a little more complicated.

This year, I'd say I'm a much more streamlined taxpayer

because I only have one income to worry about

as opposed to two.

- [Interviewer] Why did you use Turbo Tax last year and

are there certain taxpayers you think

that it might be better for?

- So last year I started off using H&R Block.

It was going very well at first,

then when it came time to file my freelancer income,

I found it much more complicated.

It was quite unclear how to move forward,

so I ended up going to Turbo Tax.

It was a breeze.

I just filed, you know, my regular business insider income

and my freelancer income and it was not an issue at all.

If you are somebody who has side projects,

side hustles, you're a freelancer,

Turbo Tax is probably better.

It really allows you to skip back and forth

between different stages of the process.

Seems a bit more acclimated to people who

have multiple sources of income.

- [Interviewer] Which service was easier

to go through the process?

- So they were both very similar in that they both had

very intuitive interfaces that kind of

keep the process flowing and also answer questions

along the way as you're going through it.

I found H&R Block more streamlined,

a little bit more intuitive than Turbo Tax

but they're both pretty similar in terms of

how you use them.

- [Interviewer] Which one had something that

really stood out as a pain point?

Something that was kind of annoying.

- Turbo Tax because they're very pushy about

trying to get you to upgrade to their paid services.

They keep taking you back to the screen

where you're able to select different options

and just basically asking are you sure

you want to do this for free and it's kind of like,

yes, I am sure, and they basically

show you all your information saying,

we did your taxes last year.

You're 50% complete if you upgrade to plus now.

And when I declined and went to the free service instead,

it kind of makes a point of showing you

losing all your information and I felt that was

a bit passive aggressive.

And it's a stark contrast to H&R Block

which was very much easier to use in the sense

it doesn't make you set up an account right away.

You can kind of go through it.

It does ask you if you want to upgrade,

but it just feels less insistent,

less, you know, making you

second guess yourself essentially.

- [Interviewer] What was one of the major differences

you noticed between the two different services?

- So, H&R Block's service is incredibly linear

which I liked personally because it just

takes you from beginning to end

and it's a very straight forward march to the end.

In terms of Turbo Tax, it really allows you

to jump around more, I felt, in terms of its interface.

You could start one thing, leave it, go to something else.

That might appeal to different personalities

based on how you like to work.

- [Interviewer] Given your experience,

which service would you ultimately recommend?

- I'd say, if you're like me, and you are

filing for one income, both are good.

H&R Block, for me, was better just in terms

of its interface and the way I was able to

kind of breeze through it essentially.

So if you don't have to worry about other

free lancing or side gig income,

I would say H&R Block is probably best.

- Okay cool, so H&R Block is your pick?

- Actually, this year I'll be using Turbo Tax

to file my taxes.

- That seems like it goes against what you just said though.

- Well, I already have an account on there.

I'm all set up.

They have all my information even though they

made a point of stripping it all away

when I didn't upgrade.

I'm used to it and they're both so similar that

you now, I just feel like might as well start an

ongoing relationship with one of them

as opposed to switching back and forth.

- That makes sense.

I mean it is nice when you have all of your tax returns

in one place, but if you do want to switch back and forth

every year, you can just download the PDF

and keep your own digital copy.

Thanks so much for doing your taxes early

so the rest of us could heed your advice.

- Thanks for having me. (laughing)