If you are choosing between H&R Block Self-Employed Online and TaxAct Self-Employed for the 2026 filing season, here is the short version: the headline prices are almost identical, and the right pick depends on whether you want live help included or a slightly lower sticker price. For one state filed online, H&R Block Self-Employed runs $130 federal plus $49 per state — $179 total — while TaxAct Self-Employed runs $109.99 federal plus $64.99 per state — $174.98 total, both checked in July 2026. That is a $4.02 gap. It is not the decision.
The real decision has three parts: whether you want expert help built into the price, whether you are filing a simple Schedule C return or eyeing an S-corp election down the road, and whether you plan to pay your prep fee out of your refund. Get those three answers right and the “cheaper” software often stops being cheaper at all.
Who actually needs this comparison?
This is for freelancers, consultants, and creators who already have 1099 or Schedule C income and need software that supports business expenses — not the free tier of either product. Both H&R Block Free Online and TaxAct Free explicitly exclude self-employment income, freelance income, and business expenses, so if you have any 1099 income at all, you are shopping in the paid tiers whether you like it or not.
If your only income is a W-2 and you have no freelance or gig income, this comparison is not for you — either provider’s free tier will likely handle your return, and you can stop reading here.
The 2026 numbers that make Schedule C software worth paying for
A few IRS figures explain why free tiers do not work for freelancers and why the software you pick needs to handle these calculations correctly. Self-employment tax runs 15.3% — 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare — and applies once your net self-employment earnings hit $400 or more in a year, per IRS Publication 334. For 2026, the maximum net self-employment earnings subject to the Social Security portion is $184,500; earnings above that threshold still owe the Medicare portion. If you drive for work, the 2026 standard business mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile.
Layered on top of that is the OBBBA (One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act) update the IRS issued for tax year 2026, which generally applies to returns filed in 2027 — not the return you are filing this season for tax year 2025. The 2026 standard deduction figures are $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for head of household. Separately, OBBBA’s “no tax on tips” provision runs for tax years 2025 through 2028 and lets eligible employees and self-employed workers deduct qualified tips up to $25,000, capped by net business income and phased out above $150,000 MAGI for single filers ($300,000 joint) — it is a capped deduction with eligibility rules, not a blanket exemption from self-employment tax. The qualified business income deduction — up to 20% of qualified business income for eligible pass-through entities — was made permanent under OBBBA, though S-corp owner wages are explicitly excluded from QBI. None of these numbers are simple enough to eyeball; they are exactly why Schedule C filers pay for software built to calculate them, and exactly why a CPA is worth the conversation if your situation touches OBBBA’s newer provisions.
The $4 decision tree that actually matters
Base price is the least useful number in this comparison, because it is where the two products are closest together and where your actual filing behavior changes the math the most. Here is how the decision really branches.
Do you have Schedule C income with expenses and want DIY software? Compare the one-state totals: H&R Block Self-Employed at $179 versus TaxAct Self-Employed at $174.98, both as of July 2026.
Will you actually use live expert help while filing? If yes, lean H&R Block — unlimited expert help, including AI Tax Assist and live support, is included with Deluxe, Premium, and Self-Employed Online at no extra charge. TaxAct’s equivalent, Xpert Assist, is a $60 add-on, which pushes a one-state Self-Employed return with help to $234.98 — nearly $56 more than H&R Block’s all-in price.
Do you need S-corp, partnership, or other entity filing? TaxAct has the more complete online path here — more on that below. H&R Block’s comparable option is Block Advisors assisted service, not the Self-Employed Online product you would use as a Schedule C filer.
Will you pay your prep fee out of your refund? H&R Block charges a flat $42 Refund Transfer fee, which is clearly published. TaxAct bundles Refund Transfer into its $179.99 All-Inclusive Bundle (federal, one state, Refund Transfer, Audit Defense, and E-file Concierge), but the standalone Refund Transfer fee outside that bundle was not published at the time of research — confirm the exact fee at checkout before you commit to paying from your refund.
| Scenario | H&R Block Self-Employed (1 state) | TaxAct Self-Employed (1 state) |
|---|---|---|
| Base DIY price | $179 | $174.98 |
| With live expert help | $179 (included) | $234.98 (plus $60 Xpert Assist) |
| Paying from refund | $221 (plus $42 Refund Transfer) | Bundle option at $179.99, or verify fee at checkout |
Three solo scenarios, three different winners
Scenario 1: the $45,000 side-hustler
Picture a single filer with a W-2 job and 1099 side income, one state, and straightforward Schedule C expenses — a laptop, some software subscriptions, maybe a home office. Both products land within $5 of each other: $179 at H&R Block, $174.98 at TaxAct. If you are confident you will not have a single “wait, can I deduct this?” moment, TaxAct’s slightly lower price is a fine reason to pick it. If you suspect you will want to ask that question at least once, TaxAct’s help add-on ($60) erases the savings and then some — at that point H&R Block’s included help is the better deal, not just the friendlier one.
Scenario 2: the $90,000 full-time consultant
At six-figure-adjacent income, the stakes shift from “is this deductible” to “am I missing something that costs real money” — mileage, home office percentage, retainer versus project income, and estimated tax accuracy. The software price gap is still trivial ($179 versus $174.98), but the cost of a missed deduction or an underpaid estimate dwarfs $4. If you already work with a CPA who reviews your quarterly numbers and just need software to e-file cleanly, TaxAct’s slightly lower price is reasonable. If you are filing solo with no CPA in the loop, H&R Block’s included expert help is the more defensible choice at this income level.
Scenario 3: the $180,000 agency-of-one weighing S-corp
This is where the comparison stops being about Schedule C software at all. An S-corp files its own return — Form 1120-S — separate from your personal 1040, and the IRS is clear that reasonable shareholder compensation is treated as wages, not as qualified business income. TaxAct has the more complete online path for this: its business-return menu lists Form 1120-S at $169.99 plus state, with an Xpert Assist version at $258.99 plus state. H&R Block’s Self-Employed Online product is not built for entity returns; your comparable option there is Block Advisors assisted filing, which starts at $250 plus $75 per state, or H&R Block’s desktop Premium & Business software.
None of this means an S-corp election is the right move at $180,000 — reasonable salary requirements, payroll tax compliance, added bookkeeping, and state-level rules all change the underlying math, and the “savings” only materialize if the whole stack is set up correctly. Run the actual numbers with a CPA before electing anything.
H&R Block Self-Employed Online: the full picture
H&R Block’s Self-Employed Online tier is priced at $130 federal plus $49 per state as of July 2026, and it is built specifically for independent contractors and sole proprietors filing Schedule C. The standout feature is what is included rather than added on: unlimited expert help, AI Tax Assist, and live support come bundled into the Deluxe, Premium, and Self-Employed tiers at no extra charge.
The honest limitation: this product is not an entity-return tool. If you are filing as an S-corp or partnership, you will be routed toward Block Advisors assisted service (starting at $250 plus $75 per state) or desktop software, not the online Self-Employed flow described here. H&R Block’s Tax Pro Review — a paid human review of your DIY return — also does not have a single published price; the official page says cost varies by product and complexity, so treat any specific number you see elsewhere as unverified until checkout confirms it. And if you plan to pay your prep fee from your refund, budget for the $42 Refund Transfer fee, which can quietly narrow the price gap with TaxAct.
Best for: Schedule C freelancers, consultants, and single-member LLC owners who want DIY software with expert help included, and who value a clear path to escalate to a human preparer if their return gets complicated.
Skip it if: you are confident filing solo, want the lowest possible sticker price, or need an online S-corp entity return — H&R Block’s Self-Employed Online tier is not built for that last one.
TaxAct Self-Employed: the full picture
TaxAct’s Self-Employed tier is priced at $109.99 federal plus $64.99 per state as of July 2026, putting the one-state total at $174.98 — a few dollars below H&R Block. It explicitly covers freelance and side-gig income for sole proprietors and single-member LLCs, and it backs individual returns with a $100,000 Accuracy Guarantee, subject to terms.
The honest limitation: that lower base price does not include live help. Xpert Assist, TaxAct’s equivalent to H&R Block’s included support, costs $60 extra, which means “help included” TaxAct is actually more expensive than H&R Block’s equivalent, not less. TaxAct’s Refund Transfer option also does not have a clearly published standalone dollar fee at the time of writing — the $179.99 All-Inclusive Bundle wraps Refund Transfer, Audit Defense, and E-file Concierge together, but if you want Refund Transfer on its own, confirm the fee at checkout before assuming it is cheap.
Where TaxAct pulls ahead decisively is entity filing. Its online business-return menu explicitly supports S-corp (Form 1120-S at $169.99 plus state), partnership (Form 1065 at $159.99 plus state), and C-corp returns, with an Xpert Assist tier for each. If you already know you are filing — or about to file — as an entity rather than a sole proprietor, TaxAct’s online completeness matters more than the $4 gap on the Schedule C side.
Best for: confident DIY filers who do not expect to need live help, and solo operators who want an online path that scales into S-corp or partnership filing without switching providers.
Skip it if: you expect to lean on expert help throughout filing — at that point the “cheaper” product costs more — or you want a refund-transfer fee you can see in writing before you start.
Skip both of these if…
Neither product is the right tool if your only income is W-2 wages with no freelance or business income — both providers’ free tiers exist for that filer, and paying for Self-Employed-tier software would be wasted money. Neither is the right tool if you are actively deciding whether to elect S-corp status this year; that decision involves reasonable-salary analysis, payroll setup, and state rules that software alone cannot resolve — that conversation belongs with a CPA or enrolled agent, not a product comparison. And neither is the right tool once your business has grown past a single owner-operator with employees, multi-state nexus, or investor structure — at that point you need a dedicated small-business accountant, not consumer tax software.
Where this fits in your financial stack
Tax filing software sits in the Foundation layer of a solo operator’s financial OS — it is the once-a-year compliance step that closes the loop on everything your bookkeeping and expense-tracking tools fed it during the year. If your books were messy, no software choice fixes that in April; that is a job for the accounting layer, covered in our QuickBooks review for solo operators. If you are still deciding how 1099-K reporting affects your gig income, our 1099-K rules explainer is the companion piece to read before you file. And if you want the year-round self-employment tax mechanics — quarterly estimates, the 15.3% self-employment tax rate, and the current Social Security wage base — that lives in our self-employment tax hub. For the bigger picture of how tax software, bookkeeping, and banking should work together as one system, start with our Solo Financial Operating System guide, and if you are building your very first stack, our freelancer journey guides walk through the order to set things up in.
Bottom line
H&R Block Self-Employed Online and TaxAct Self-Employed are close enough in base price that the $4.02 difference should not decide anything on its own. Pick H&R Block if you want live expert help included in the sticker price and you are filing a straightforward Schedule C return. Pick TaxAct if you are a confident solo filer who wants the lowest DIY price and, especially, if you already know you need an online S-corp or partnership return this year. Whichever you choose, recheck the exact prices at checkout — tax software pricing shifts by season and promotion — and remember that neither product replaces a CPA when the decision involves an entity election, multi-state income, or a five-figure “what if” on your return.