How we score tax software for one practitioner
Short answer
Every product gets a raw score from 0 to 10 on seven criteria built around one question: can one person run this and earn more with it? Each raw score is multiplied by a published weight and the results sum to a score out of 100. List order always follows that score.
By the BestTaxSoftware.com editorial team. Updated . Prices checked on vendor sites that day.
What are the criteria and default weights?
| Criterion | What it measures | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first case | How fast can one person go from signing up to a first billable job (a filed return or an opened IRS case) without a setup consultant? | 15% |
| Learning curve | How much of the product can a solo user operate confidently in the first month, using only the vendor’s own help material? | 15% |
| Cost at one user | What one practitioner actually pays in a year at the vendor’s published price, including minimums, and whether that price is published at all. | 20% |
| Revenue per case enabled | Does the software let one person take on billable work they would otherwise turn away or refer out, and how much fee does each of those jobs typically support? | 20% |
| Automation depth | How much of the repeat work (data pulls, form population, reminders, status tracking) runs without the practitioner touching it? | 10% |
| IRS record handling | Can it retrieve IRS transcripts under the client’s authorization and turn transaction codes, balances, and statute dates into something usable? | 10% |
| Client experience | What the taxpayer sees: portal, uploads, signatures, payments, and status updates, without calling the practitioner to ask. | 10% |
What is the formula?
Score = Σ (raw score ÷ 10 × weight). A product with 10 on every criterion scores 100. Ranking pages for a role change the weights and publish the new set; ties are broken by the higher cost-at-one-user score, then by name.
What evidence do scores use?
- Vendor pricing pages and product documentation, checked on November 14, 2026
- IRS publications and IRS.gov pages for anything about representation, forms, and programs
- When a vendor does not publish a fact, the feature is marked not confirmed and scored conservatively
What do we not claim?
- No hands-on testing with client data
- No user reviews, star ratings, or survey statistics
- No income figures; revenue examples show every assumption
- No named author bios; pages are written by the editorial team
What are the current default-weight scores?
| Product | Start | Learn | Cost | Revenue | Automate | IRS data | Clients | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevitax Pro | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 91.5 |
| IRS Solutions | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 80.0 |
| Canopy | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 72.0 |
| PitBullTax | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 70.5 |
| TaxAct Professional | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 66.0 |
| TaxDome | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 62.0 |
| Drake Tax | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 61.0 |
| TaxSlayer Pro | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 59.5 |
| TaxStatus | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 58.5 |