If you're a freelancer trying to pick tax software, the real question isn't which brand has the friendliest interview screens — it's how many states you owe money to, and whether your city wants a cut too. The best default for most solo freelancers with at least one state return is FreeTaxUSA: federal Schedule C filing is free, additional state returns run $15.99 each as of mid-2026, and it supports multiple state filings, which makes it the strongest per-state value for a business of one. Jackson Hewitt Online is worth testing if you want a flat price — $25 for federal and state combined — provided your forms fit what it supports. H&R Block Self-Employed earns its higher price, $130 federal plus $49 per state, by bundling in unlimited AI Tax Assist and live tax pro support, which matters if you want a human backstop, not just software. Skip all of the above and go straight to a CPA or enrolled agent if you're dealing with Philadelphia's BIRT or NPT, a local earned-income tax, an S-corp return, or genuinely ambiguous multi-state sourcing — that's not a DIY-software problem.
What tax-year rules actually matter for freelancers filing in 2026?
Every return filed in 2026 covers tax year 2025 — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's individual deductions, signed into law in July 2025, generally apply starting with 2025 returns rather than some future year, per IRS guidance. That matters because provisions people assume are still coming may already be live on the return you're about to file. One example: the SALT deduction. IRS guidance describes a combined cap of $40,000 (or $20,000 if married filing separately), with a scheduled bump toward roughly $40,400 for 2026 and small annual increases through 2029. If you itemize and pay meaningful state and local tax, that ceiling — not your software's sticker price — may be the bigger number on your return. None of this is advice about which entity or deduction to choose; it's the backdrop your software needs to compute correctly, and a CPA is the right call if any of it looks unfamiliar.
Two housekeeping numbers worth knowing before you compare tools: the IRS says you generally must file if net self-employment earnings hit $400 or more, regardless of whether a client sent you a 1099, and most freelancers avoid an estimated-tax penalty by paying in at least 90% of the current year's tax or 100% of last year's, whichever is smaller. Software can help you hit those numbers; it can't decide your quarterly payment strategy for you.
How should a freelancer actually choose between these tools?
Forget “best overall.” Answer these four questions in order, and the right tool falls out the other end.
1. Do you owe a city or local business return? Philadelphia's BIRT, Pennsylvania local earned-income tax, and New York City's unincorporated business tax are not the same as a state income tax return, and no consumer software on this list files them automatically. Philadelphia has also warned that, starting with 2025 activity, it can no longer offer its old $100,000 gross-receipts exemption on BIRT — meaning more solo Philly businesses owe a city return for the first time this cycle. If this applies to you, pick your federal/state software for that layer only, then handle the local filing through the city's own portal or a local preparer.
2. How many states do you actually owe? This is where the products separate hardest — see the table below. One state is cheap almost everywhere. Two or three states is where FreeTaxUSA's flat $15.99-per-state pricing starts to look dramatically better than the percentage-style products.
3. Do you want a human in the loop? If you're comfortable self-preparing, the free and near-free tools are enough. If you want AI assist or a live reviewer on standby, that support is the thing you're actually paying H&R Block's or TaxAct's add-on fee for — the underlying Schedule C interview isn't meaningfully different underneath.
4. Are you still a sole proprietor, or did you elect S-corp? Every tool in the main comparison files a personal return — Form 1040 plus Schedule C. If you've elected S-corp status or operate as a partnership, you need a business return — Form 1120-S or 1065 — which is a different product tier entirely, priced accordingly. More on that below.
What does an extra state return actually cost, product by product?
State fees are where “cheap” tax software quietly becomes expensive. Here's the same self-employed return priced across one, two, and three state filings, using each vendor's published per-state rate as of mid-2026.
| Software | 1 state | 2 states | 3 states |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreeTaxUSA | $15.99 | $31.98 | $47.97 |
| TaxSlayer Self-Employed | $122.98 | $170.97 | $218.96 |
| H&R Block Self-Employed | $179 | $228 | $277 |
| TaxAct Self-Employed | $174.98 | $239.97 | $304.96 |
Three products don't fit neatly into that table because they price differently. Jackson Hewitt Online advertises a flat $25 for federal and state combined regardless of state count, as long as your forms are supported. Cash App Taxes is $0 federal and state but, per current third-party reviews, appears not to support multi-state returns at all. Keeper bundles up to two state returns into its $199-per-year plan alongside expense tracking and an expert review, which changes the comparison from “per state” to “per year of service.” And 1040.com advertises a $34.99 flat fee it says covers state filing and self-employment income without extra charges — worth checking against your specific state before you commit.
FreeTaxUSA — the default for most solo filers with at least one state return
Federal filing, including Schedule C, Schedule SE, the QBI deduction, home office, depreciation, and self-employed retirement contributions, is free. State returns are $15.99 each, and the platform explicitly supports filing multiple states, which is the whole reason it wins the value comparison above. Optional add-ons — Deluxe Support at $7.99, Pro Support at $64.99, Audit Defense at $19.99 — let you buy exactly the help you want instead of paying for it by default. The tradeoff: there's no bundled human reviewer, so if you want someone checking your work before you hit submit, that's an extra purchase, not a given. It also won't touch a city or local business-tax filing — treat it strictly as your federal-plus-state layer.
For: cost-sensitive Schedule C freelancers, especially anyone filing two or more states. Skip it if: you want integrated expert prep built into the base price, or you need a business-entity return.
Cash App Taxes — free, but only if your return is simple
Cash App Taxes is genuinely $0 for federal and state, and its own page says that holds even with 1099, gig, or small-business income. The catch, based on current independent reviews rather than the vendor's own marketing copy, is that it does not appear to support multi-state or state-only filing. If you worked in — or moved to — more than one state this year, this is likely not your tool.
For: a one-state freelancer with a straightforward Schedule C and no local business-tax exposure. Skip it if: you have any multi-state complexity at all.
Jackson Hewitt Online — a flat-fee alternative worth testing
$25 for federal and state combined, with the vendor's own page listing gig/1099 income and multi-state filers as supported situations. If your forms genuinely fit, this can beat FreeTaxUSA once you're at two or more states. The honest caveat: “no matter how complex” is a marketing line, not a guarantee — confirm your specific forms are covered before you rely on the flat price, and don't expect it to reach into local or city tax filings.
For: price-sensitive multi-state filers willing to verify form support first. Skip it if: your situation includes local business taxes or unusual forms.
H&R Block Self-Employed — pay for the safety net, not the software
$130 federal plus $49 per state buys you Schedule C support plus unlimited AI Tax Assist and access to a live tax pro — the closest thing on this list to guided hand-holding without a full-service appointment. That's real value if you're filing solo for the first time and want a second set of eyes. It's also the most expensive route on a per-state basis once you're past one state, and it still won't file a city or local business return.
For: solos who want built-in help and are willing to pay for it. Skip it if: lowest total cost is the priority, or you're confident self-preparing.
TaxAct Self-Employed — the middle tier with an optional expert layer
$109.99 federal plus $64.99 per state, with a $60 Xpert Assist add-on for live review. That combination lands around $234.98 for a one-state return with expert help, which sits between FreeTaxUSA's bare-bones price and H&R Block's bundled-support price. TaxAct also has a real path into business returns if you later form an S-corp or partnership, which some competitors lack. The state fee, though, is the highest of the mainstream products, so it's a poor fit once you're filing three or more states.
For: freelancers who want optional expert review without H&R Block's price, and who may later need a business-return product from the same vendor. Skip it if: multi-state cost efficiency matters more than optional expert access.
TurboTax — the polished option, priced case by case
TurboTax's own comparison page lists DIY online products from $0 to $139 and Expert Assist tiers from $89 to $209, with state filing listed as additional and prices explicitly subject to change based on when and how you file. That's honest phrasing, but it also means there's no clean flat number to quote here — verify your exact state fee at checkout rather than trusting a number you saw elsewhere, including this article. What is settled: TurboTax's online business products don't cover C-corps, trusts, estates, nonprofits, or returns needing more than five state filings, so a growing solo business will eventually outgrow the online tier.
For: freelancers already inside the Intuit ecosystem, or first-time filers who value a guided, polished interview. Skip it if: transparent, predictable multi-state pricing is what you're optimizing for.
Keeper — deduction tracking plus filing, priced as a subscription
Keeper's Filing + Deductions plan is $199 a year and includes federal filing plus up to two state returns with an expert review before submission. Premium, at $399 a year, adds quarterly estimated-tax support, amendments, prior-year returns, and quarterly calls with a tax pro — genuinely useful if you want ongoing support rather than a once-a-year tool. A dedicated Business Plan at $1,199 extends into S-corp and partnership filings. The catch is straightforward: if your books are already clean and you don't need year-round deduction hunting, you're paying for a service layer a $15.99 state return doesn't need.
For: freelancers who want their deduction-tracking and filing in one subscription, with a human checking the return. Skip it if: you already keep clean books in something like QuickBooks or FreshBooks and just need the cheapest possible e-file.
Three freelancer scenarios, priced out
The $45,000 side-hustler, one state, no local return. Cash App Taxes at $0 is worth trying first if the return is genuinely simple. If it doesn't fit — say there's a home-office deduction or a retirement contribution to model — FreeTaxUSA at $15.99 is the fallback, and adding Deluxe Support brings the total to $23.98. Either way, this filer spends under $25 for a compliant return.
The $90,000 consultant who moved states mid-year. Two states changes the math fast. FreeTaxUSA comes in at $31.98 total. Jackson Hewitt's flat $25 is worth testing if the forms line up. H&R Block Self-Employed, by comparison, runs $228 for the same two states — roughly seven times FreeTaxUSA's price for a comparable Schedule C filing, with the difference buying bundled support rather than a materially different tax outcome. Cash App is off the table here given its apparent multi-state limitation.
| Two-state consultant | Total cost |
|---|---|
| FreeTaxUSA | $31.98 |
| Jackson Hewitt Online (if forms fit) | $25 |
| H&R Block Self-Employed | $228 |
The $180,000 agency-of-one with Philadelphia exposure, possibly S-corp. At this income and complexity level, software choice stops being the main decision. If BIRT or another city business tax applies, or an S-corp election is on the table, use consumer software — H&R Block, TaxAct, or Keeper — for the personal federal-and-state layer only, and route the local filing and any entity return to a CPA or enrolled agent. This is exactly the reasonable-salary, multi-jurisdiction territory where a DIY tool can compute a wrong number cleanly and confidently.
When should you skip DIY tax software entirely?
Consumer tax software is built for personal returns with a Schedule C attached — not for every situation a growing solo business runs into. Route to a CPA or enrolled agent instead of software if any of these apply: you're filing or considering an S-corp or partnership return; you owe a city gross-receipts or business-income tax like Philadelphia's BIRT; you have genuinely ambiguous remote-work state sourcing; you're catching up on a prior unfiled year; or you've received an IRS or state notice. None of these are “the software did it wrong” problems — they're judgment calls a professional is trained to make, and the cost of getting them wrong is usually higher than a year of tax-prep software.
Where does tax software sit in your financial OS?
Tax-prep software lives in the Foundation layer of a solo operator's financial stack — it's the compliance layer underneath everything else, not a growth tool. It works best paired with clean bookkeeping upstream: if your income and expenses are already organized in something like QuickBooks or FreshBooks, the Schedule C interview in any of these products takes minutes instead of hours. If you're still figuring out estimated payments, self-employment tax mechanics, or how 1099-K reporting affects your return, start with the self-employment tax guide and the breakdown of 1099-K rules for freelancers before you open any filing software — knowing what number you're trying to hit makes every one of these tools easier to use well. For the full picture of how tax prep fits alongside banking, bookkeeping, and retirement accounts, the Solo Financial Operating System guide maps the whole stack.
The bottom line
For most solo freelancers, start with FreeTaxUSA and let your state count confirm it: at $15.99 per additional state, it's hard to beat on pure cost once you're past one state. Jackson Hewitt's flat $25 is worth a real test if your forms fit. Cash App Taxes is the right call only for the simplest one-state returns. Everything else on this list — H&R Block, TaxAct, TurboTax, Keeper — is really selling a layer of human support or ongoing service, which can be worth paying for, but shouldn't be confused with a better tax outcome. And the moment a city business tax, an S-corp election, or a genuinely tangled multi-state year enters the picture, the right next step isn't a different piece of software — it's a phone call to a CPA.