Best Tax Software for Small Business in 2026

TurboTax Business is Intuit's do-it-yourself desktop product for entity returns. It handles S corporations, C corporations, partnerships, multi-member LLCs, trusts and estates, which in IRS terms means Forms 1120-S, 1120, 1065 and 1041. Alongside the main return it prepares W-2 and 1099 forms through Quick Employer Forms, distributes Schedule K-1s electronically, calculates asset depreciation and lets one licence prepare returns for several businesses.

For tax year 2026 the product is listed at US$194, with US$204 shown as the anticipated late-season price; the offer runs to 30 April 2027. The price includes federal preparation, printing and up to five federal e-files; state software is sold separately and state e-filing may carry additional fees.

The product is Windows-only and requires Windows 11 (64-bit) with administrator rights, which excludes Mac-only offices. Unlike Intuit's online expert service, the desktop program covers C corporations and trusts, so it remains the main Intuit route for a small C corporation filing without an accountant. There is no built-in review by a tax professional, and owners who are unsure about basis, depreciation elections or multi-state apportionment may need outside advice.

Intuit also sells online business tax filing in two service levels. Expert Assist Business lets the owner prepare the return with on-demand help from a tax expert; Expert Full Service Business hands preparation to an expert entirely. Both cover sole proprietors filing Schedule C, S corporations filing Form 1120-S with K-1s and partnerships filing Form 1065 with K-1s.

Published prices are US$229 for a sole proprietor on Expert Assist (filed by 31 March to receive that price) and US$639 for an S corporation or partnership; Full Service for an S corporation or partnership is listed at US$1,549 if filed by 30 April. Full Service prices are estimates based on uploaded and expected forms, with the final price set at filing.

The online expert products have explicit exclusions: they do not support C corporations or entities electing C corporation treatment, trusts and estates, tax-exempt organisations, or returns needing more than five state filings. Owners in those situations need the desktop product or an accountant. The main attraction is access to a credentialed preparer without engaging a firm, but the price for pass-through entities approaches what some small accounting practices charge.

TaxAct is a consumer and professional tax software brand owned by Taxwell, a tax technology group whose portfolio also includes Drake Software and 1040.com. Taxwell describes TaxAct as its consumer filing brand, including an AI-assisted tool called TaxAct Intelligence, and sells TaxAct Professional as workflow software for tax firms. Across its brands the group reports more than 3 million DIY filers, more than 100,000 tax professionals, more than 24 million filings a year and 7 million small businesses and solopreneurs served.

TaxAct's own pricing pages blocked automated access during research for this list, so its current prices and form coverage could not be verified and are not reported here.

Buyers comparing TaxAct with TurboTax should check the current price of the business edition, which states are supported for entity e-filing and whether expert help is included, directly on TaxAct's site. Its main structural advantage is that firms using TaxAct Professional or Drake can work within the same corporate family's tools.

Keeper Tax, Inc., based in San Francisco, sells an app that tracks expenses and deductions throughout the year and then files the owner's return, with each return reviewed and signed by a tax professional. It targets freelancers and contractors, solo business owners, and S corporations and partnerships.

Bookkeeping features common to all plans include automatic expense tracking, AI categorisation of deductions, unlimited bank and card connections, income tracking and mileage tracking. The Standard plan, at US$199 a year, adds a federal return and up to two state returns. Premium, at US$399 a year, adds audit protection, three or more state returns, rentals, K-1s and investments, quarterly tax payments, meetings with a tax professional, amendments and late filing up to five years back. Business, at US$1,199 a year, adds a year-end book review and close plus S corporation (Form 1120-S) and partnership (Form 1065) filing. A Bookkeeping Only plan is US$20 a month, and every plan has a 14-day free trial.

Keeper's model combines bookkeeping and filing in a subscription, which is good value for a sole proprietor who would otherwise buy both. It does not prepare C corporation returns, and owners with employees still need payroll software.

Drake Software, LLC, based in Franklin, North Carolina, makes professional tax preparation software and is described on its site as a Taxwell company, a sister brand of TaxAct and 1040.com. It is aimed at accountants and enrolled agents rather than business owners, but it is relevant to small businesses because many outsource their entity returns to small practices that use it.

For tax year 2026, Drake Tax Pro allows unlimited individual and business returns (or 250 returns on a lower tier) and lists a multi-user price of US$3,145 against a retail US$3,295. Drake Tax 1040 covers individual returns, with business returns at US$74.99 each. A desktop Pay-Per-Return package costs US$379.99 for ten individual returns, and the cloud product Drake Tax Online starts at US$299.99 including the first user, with additional users at US$99, individual returns at US$49.99 and business returns at US$74.99. Every edition includes e-filing, multi-state filing, diagnostics and free US-based support by phone, email or chat.

Licences are annual, per physical site and EFIN, and practice-management tools such as client portals, workflow and e-signature are a separate bundle starting at US$599.

QuickBooks Online is Intuit's cloud accounting product, included here because, for most small businesses, the quality of the books determines the cost and accuracy of the tax return. Its US price list runs from a Free plan for one user through Simple Start at US$38, Essentials at US$85, Plus at US$140 and Advanced at US$340 per month, with introductory discounts for the first three months.

Several tax-specific features are tied to tier. Simple Start and above advertise deduction maximisation through categorisation; Essentials and above include Business Tax AI to estimate quarterly payments; Plus and Advanced include Sales Tax AI to catch discrepancies before filing; and Advanced includes free 1099 e-filing bundled with Bill Pay Elite approval workflows. Accountant access is included, with two accountant seats on most paid tiers and three on Advanced.

QuickBooks does not itself file income tax returns. Its value is in producing a clean trial balance that flows into TurboTax Business, an accountant's professional software or a filing service. Sales tax features are less complete than dedicated engines such as Avalara or TaxJar for multi-state e-commerce sellers.

Avalara is a specialist in indirect tax automation. It reports more than 41,000 customers in more than 75 countries and more than 4,700 employees across 15 offices; its AvaTax product page also cites over 200,000 direct and indirect customers and more than 54 billion transactions or API calls a year.

AvaTax calculates sales and use tax line by line, with an average response under 10 milliseconds, using geospatial address matching rather than ZIP codes across more than 12,000 US jurisdictions and more than 900,000 tax rules. It tracks economic nexus, supports product taxability codes with AI item classification, handles use tax accrual on purchases and offers more than 1,400 partner integrations including Shopify, NetSuite, QuickBooks, SAP and Salesforce. Avalara is a Streamlined Sales Tax Certified Service Provider, through which qualifying sellers may receive state-funded calculation and filing in participating states.

AvaTax pricing is usage-based on annual transactions, with plans starting at US$699 per state per year; Avalara Select sales tax and returns plans start at US$69 a month. For a single-state seller, a lighter tool such as TaxJar or Stripe Tax may be cheaper.

TaxJar was founded in 2013 to automate US sales tax compliance for e-commerce companies, and was acquired by Stripe in 2021. It says more than 20,000 businesses use it.

The product imports orders from marketplaces and stores, calculates sales tax, tracks nexus and files returns through its AutoFile service. Both plans include a product tax code catalogue, exemption customer support, exemption certificate storage and an address validation API, with up to ten team users.

Pricing is tiered by monthly order volume. At the 200-order tier, Starter costs US$39 a month with up to three data-import integrations and two free AutoFile credits a year (further credits US$50); Professional costs US$99 a month with up to ten integrations, phone support, a customer success manager, four AutoFile credits (further credits US$55) and API access. Annual billing saves at least 10%, and flex fees let a seller move temporarily to a higher tier in peak months. Starter has a 30-day free trial; Professional is sold through sales. TaxJar itself notes that Stripe Tax may suit sellers whose billing already runs on Stripe.

Stripe Tax is the tax module of the payments company Stripe. It monitors where a business has obligations, calculates tax across more than 700 product and service types and collects it in more than 100 countries.

Two plans are offered. Tax Basic has no recurring fee: it costs 0.5% per transaction where the seller is registered when used through Stripe Billing, Checkout, Invoicing or Payment Links, or 50 cents per transaction with ten calculation calls included when used through the API. Tax Complete adds registrations, automated filings and filing-ready data on a one-year contract, from US$90 a month for two registrations, 200 transactions and four filings a year, up to US$1,500 a month for ten registrations, 5,000 transactions a month and 32 filings a year.

Stripe handles registration and filing directly in the US, Canada (federal simplified) and the EU non-Union OSS scheme, and uses partners elsewhere, with partner pricing. The product is most efficient for companies whose revenue already flows through Stripe; businesses selling through multiple payment processors or marketplaces may find a standalone engine more practical.

Numeral, operated by Numeral Two, Inc., provides managed US sales tax compliance and announced a US$100 million Series C round led by Insight Partners and Salesforce Ventures. It guarantees on-time filing and states that it pays resulting penalties and interest if it misses one.

The free Monitoring plan connects to a seller's stores or billing platforms, runs a nexus study, monitors physical and economic nexus, alerts on new jurisdictions and audits historical exposure. The Professional plan adds registrations, filings and remittance in all US states, autofiling, a virtual mailbox, AI product classification, exemption certificate management and integrations with Shopify, Stripe, Amazon and QuickBooks; the first 50 exemption certificates are free. Enterprise adds coverage in more than 90 countries, a tax engine and API, and consultations with tax lawyers.

Pricing is per event rather than per month: US$75 per filing and US$150 per registration on Professional, with no setup fee and no contract required on standard month-to-month accounts. This suits sellers registered in a handful of states; at high filing frequencies across many states, per-filing costs can exceed flat-fee alternatives.

Quaderno is a tax calculation and invoicing service that is part of the Visma group. It calculates sales tax, VAT and GST worldwide, issues automatic and customisable invoices, supports e-invoicing compliance, monitors nexus and thresholds, and produces multichannel tax reports; return filing and registration are offered as a done-for-you service.

Plans are priced monthly by transaction volume: Hobby at 24 a month for 25 transactions and one jurisdiction; Startup at 41 for 250 transactions; Business at 83 for 1,000 transactions; and Growth at 124 for 2,500 transactions, the last three with unlimited users, jurisdictions and integrations. Enterprise is custom. API calls are capped at ten times the included transactions, and a business exceeding its limit is moved automatically to the next tier. A seven-day free trial needs no credit card. (The pricing page shows amounts without a currency label in the text extracted for this review.)

Quaderno is most useful to software and digital-goods sellers with customers in many countries who need compliant invoices as well as calculation. It is lighter than Avalara on US product taxability rules.

Tax1099 is an online filing service for information returns operated by Zenwork, Inc., with offices in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Westlake, Texas. It describes itself as an IRS-authorised e-filing platform able to file with the IRS, the Social Security Administration and the Combined Federal/State Filing programme.

The relevance for small businesses is the federal e-file requirement: since tax year 2023, any business with ten or more information returns, counting W-2s, must file them electronically. Tax1099 creates, validates and schedules 1099, W-2 and related forms, generates 1096 and W-3 summaries, resubmits IRS-rejected forms, runs real-time and bulk TIN matching and USPS address validation, collects W-9 and W-8 forms and delivers recipient copies electronically or by print and mail. Data can be uploaded in bulk or imported through more than 12 integrations including QuickBooks, Xero and BILL.

Prices start from US$0.72 per form, with payroll forms from US$1.99 per form for tax year 2026; a full schedule is available through a quote or calculator. The IRS also runs a free portal, IRIS, which handles small volumes without software.