TurboTax: File Your Tax Return

Review by eFreeware

TurboTax's mobile app is built around a simple promise: your tax return, start to finish, from the phone in your hand. Intuit has been shipping this Android version since December 2014, and it has passed 10 million installs with a 3.9 average across roughly 322,000 ratings. That combination of age and scale tells you this is not an experiment, it is the mainstream option for people who would rather not sit at a desk with a shoebox of receipts.

The app suits filers who want the whole job done on a phone, whether that means typing in a few numbers themselves or handing everything to a professional. It is also a reasonable fit for anyone who missed the extension deadline, since the developer's pitch is that you can pick up where you left off and finish on any device. What it is not is a general-purpose money app: this is tax filing, and every feature in it points at that one job.

What filing with TurboTax actually involves

The core of the app is a guided return. You gather your documents, work through the questions, and the app assembles a federal return and a state return that you then e-file. The developer says the process runs about 30 percent faster on the app, which makes sense given that the app is designed to be used in short bursts rather than in one long sitting.

Data entry is where the app tries to save you the most effort. You can snap a photo of a form, upload a document, or pull your tax forms directly from an employer or a financial institution, and the app fills in the fields from what it reads. For anyone whose income arrives as a stack of W-2s and 1099s, that is the difference between an evening of typing and a much shorter session.

The app also toggles between English and Spanish, so you can work through your return in whichever language you prefer. That carries over to the expert side as well, where bilingual help is available both for filing alongside you and for preparing the return on your behalf.

Handing the return to a matched expert

The most distinctive thing about the app is that it can put a tax professional between you and the IRS. With Expert Assist, you get on-demand access to a large pool of tax experts, and the developer says that access is included with the Expert Assist and Expert Full Service products. The idea is that you keep control of the return but have someone to ask when a question comes up.

Expert Full Service goes further. The app matches you with an expert based on your particular tax situation, and that person prepares the return from beginning to end. The developer's framing is that your expert signs and files only once they are confident the return is correct and that you are getting the best available outcome. For anyone with rental income, a side business, or a life event that makes the standard questions feel inadequate, that handoff is the reason to consider this app rather than a bare-bones form filler.

Both routes share the same starting point: you still need your documents in order. The expert works from what you provide, so the quality of the result depends on the quality of the paperwork you feed in, whether that arrives by photo, upload, or import.

The $0 Free Edition and who qualifies

TurboTax Free Edition is the no-cost path through the app: $0 for a federal return and $0 for a state return, so nothing to pay at the end. That is a genuinely useful option for a straightforward tax life, and the developer estimates that roughly 37 percent of taxpayers qualify.

The catch is the definition of simple. The free tier handles simple 1040 filings only, and it leaves out most forms and schedules. The exceptions the developer lists are the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, student loan interest, and Schedule 1-A. If your return needs anything beyond that set, Free Edition is not the product you will end up using.

That boundary is the single most important thing to understand before you start. A freelancer with a Schedule C, an investor with capital gains, or anyone with itemized deductions is outside the free tier by definition. The offer can change or end at any time, so the terms shown at that moment are the ones that apply.

Getting your refund sooner, for a fee

Once the return is filed, the app offers a way to get the money faster. With Up to 5 Days Early Refund, a federal refund can reach your own bank account up to five days ahead of the IRS schedule. This is a paid extra rather than a standard part of filing, and the money movement is handled by Intuit Payments Inc., which is licensed by the New York Department of Financial Services.

Five days is not a transformation of your finances, but for someone waiting on a refund to cover a specific bill, it can matter. The reasonable way to think about it is as a convenience purchase: you are paying for timing, not for a larger refund. The developer's terms apply.

What you need before you start

You need your tax documents, and the more of them you can import or photograph, the less manual entry the app asks of you.

The trade-offs are mostly about scope rather than shortcomings. Free Edition covers a narrow slice of returns, so a large share of filers will be on a paid product from the moment their situation stops being simple. And the early refund service costs extra on top of whatever you pay to file.

One point worth stating plainly, because it comes up in reviews of tax software: Intuit has no ties to any government body, and this app is not a government service. It is a commercial filing tool.

Who gets the most from this app

The clearest fit is a filer with a simple return who wants to file for nothing and never open a laptop. Free Edition exists precisely for that person, and the photo and import features mean the work is mostly confirming what the app has already filled in.

The second fit is someone whose taxes have outgrown their confidence. If you have income sources, credits, or deductions that make you uneasy about doing it yourself, the matched-expert route puts a professional on the return without requiring you to find one, vet one, or drive to an office. The Spanish-language option widens that to filers who would rather discuss their return in Spanish, including with a bilingual expert.

The app is also a sensible choice for late filers. The developer's recent message is aimed squarely at people who missed the extension deadline and still need to finish, and the ability to resume a return across devices supports that. For phone-first filing it covers a wide range.

A practical pick for phone-first filers

TurboTax covers both ends of the market in one app: a $0 route for simple returns and a full-service route for everything else. The document import and photo capture reduce the tedium that makes people put off filing, and the expert matching addresses the part most people actually fear, which is getting something wrong. The 3.9 average across a very large number of ratings suggests a product that works well for many users, which is about what you would expect from tax software at this scale.

My recommendation is straightforward. If your return is a plain Form 1040 with limited credits, start with Free Edition and see whether it holds. If your return has any complexity at all, go in expecting to pay for either Expert Assist or Expert Full Service, and treat the early refund option as a separate convenience. For anyone who wants their taxes finished on a phone, this is one of the most complete ways to do it.

What's new in version 12.19.0

Missed the extension deadline? You can still file your taxes.