How to file doordash taxes on h&r block

To be specific, newly self-employed individuals face an unfamiliar accounting challenge: tracking business income and expenses and filing income taxes that include at least one Schedule C. A handful of companies already established as providers of personal tax preparation websites—Intuit TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer among others—have created specialized versions for the gig economy crowd. We recently reviewed their midrange versions, which look and work similarly. We'll detail some of the differences in their self-employed versions in this piece.

How Does Working at Uber or Lyft Affect Your Taxes?

Unsurprisingly, personal tax preparation services focus on personal tax issues. They help you record more traditional income that comes from sources like employers (W-2s), financial institutions (like interest and dividends), and government/private industry (retirement income like Social Security and pensions). They also help you track down every expense that could be tax-deductible, including mortgage interest, charitable contributions, medical expenses, and childcare costs. This is about all most people who work for someone else need to file their taxes.

Self-employed people need quite a bit more. Yes, they too have to report pretty much everything employees do, but they also have to file a Schedule C and pay the dreaded self-employment tax. Because these issues can be complex, some need extra guidance when they record their business income and expenses. The aforementioned companies provide all of that in the versions they’ve tailored to meet the needs of the self-employed. These are the most expensive editions offered by each—it costs from $47-120 to prepare and file federal returns, with an additional charge for state.

Note: All prices mentioned in this article are suggested retail prices. As of this this writing, almost every company has special promotional prices in place that will go up to the list prices as we get closer to the tax filing deadline, so it’s a good idea to file as early as you can. The IRS started accepting e-filed returns on February 12, 2021, so it's well past time to get started, if you haven't. Last-minute filers nearly always pay more for their tax software!

An Exceptionally Good Deal for the Self-Employed

There’s another tax website that helps you prepare and file your federal and state taxes at absolutely no charge. It includes support for the Schedule C. In fact, you can prepare and file any of the IRS’s most commonly used forms and schedules on the site. Credit Karma Tax, an offshoot of the popular credit report monitoring site, Credit Karma, has been in operation for several years now. (Square recently announced its intent to acquire Credit Karma Tax.)

What’s the catch? The site doesn’t offer nearly as much guidance as its paid competitors, and its navigation system isn’t overly helpful – two big drawbacks for a personal tax preparation solution. If you can live with those things, though, it’s worth checking out. FreeTax USA charges $12.95 for state returns, but you can prepare and file your federal return for free. The site supports all major IRS forms and schedules, so you can use it to prepare a Schedule C. And overall, it offers more guidance and tax preparation tools than Credit Karma Tax does. 

How Tax Software for the Self-Employed Works

Tax preparation websites work like giant, multi-step wizards. They ask you tax-related questions and you answer them, advancing through the site until you’ve covered everything relevant to your situation. Along the way, they offer help in a variety of ways. When you’re done, they review your return for errors and help you file. You don’t have to pay until that point, so you can always try before you buy.

At some point in this virtual interview, you’ll be asked if you have income and expenses from self-employment. This is where the site will ask a lengthy series of questions whose answers will eventually appear on your Schedule C. You don’t see the actual IRS document while you’re working, since all calculations and placement of numbers and other data takes place in the background. You only see clearly worded questions or statements that you respond to by filling in blank fields, selecting from lists of options, and clicking on buttons.

Our Top Tax Preparation Services

I write about money. I’ve been reviewing tax software and services as a freelancer for PCMag since 1993. Along the way, I took on reviews of other types of business and personal finance technology. Prior to that, I had spent a few years writing about productivity and entertainment applications for 8-bit personal computers (my first one was a Commodore VIC-20) as a member of the editorial staff at Compute! 

After working at Lawson Associates, now Lawson Software, I switched my focus to accounting but learned that personal computer applications were more progressive and interesting to cover than mainframe solutions. So I served as editor of a monthly newsletter that provided support for accountants who were just starting to use PCs. I still ghostwrite monthly how-to columns for accounting professionals. From there, I went on to write articles and reviews for numerous business and financial publications, including Barron’s and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine.