Run the per-return math at your own volume, because the two pricing models cross over faster than people expect. Drake Tax Pro is $3,295 for a multi-user license with unlimited individual and business returns and all states included. ProConnect's published rate at the 200-plus tier is $32.21 per 1040, roughly $9,700 at 300 individual returns before the $210 user access license, though 400 and up is negotiated. Drake's own pay-per-return starts at $379.99 for ten returns and $49.99 after that, which stops making sense against the $2,445 unlimited 1040 package at around 50 returns.
Accounting Tools · Tax Preparation
Tax Preparation software for accounting firms
Software that prepares and electronically files federal and state income tax returns for a firm's clients, from the 1040 through the entity, trust and exempt-organization returns a practice signs.
18 tools compared
3 rated Top Pick
1 with a SOC 2 report
13 publish a price
The landscape
Who buys tax preparation and e-filing software, and when
The owner or tax partner buys it, and in firms under about 15 staff that is the same person who signs the returns. Most firms do not shop at all until a renewal quote jumps, until they are about to blow through a package cap, or until they take on entity work their 1040-only license does not cover.
At 18 products this is the 5th largest of 12 categories, 9.3% of the directory.
Across the 18: 3 Top Pick, 8 Strong Option, 3 One to Watch, 4 Dated.
Buyer's guide
What actually separates tax preparation and e-filing tools
Check whether states and e-filing sit inside the package price or get billed on the side, because this is where quotes diverge most. Drake and CrossLink include unlimited state returns, and CrossLink 1040 is $1,795 for unlimited 1040-series and unlimited state returns. UltraTax CS is quoted on users, returns and jurisdictions, so a firm filing in twelve states pays for twelve states. UltraTax covers more than 371 state and local e-file returns, which matters if you have clients with local filings in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Kentucky.
Find out whether the vendor's own scan-and-populate works with your program or whether you buy it on top. SurePrep 1040SCAN and SPbinder write into UltraTax, Lacerte, GoSystem and CCH Axcess. On Drake, ATX, TaxWise and the low-cost packages you are usually looking at GruntWorx or manual entry, and that is a per-return cost of its own that never appears in the license comparison.
Price a mid-season conversion honestly. Conversion utilities move client demographics and most carryforwards, and they routinely do not move depreciation detail cleanly, preparer notes, diagnostics or e-file history. Anyone already on extension has to be finished in the old program, so a February switch means two licenses and two systems running until October.
Test the entity returns rather than the 1040s. S corporation shareholder basis, partner capital reporting on the 1065, multi-state apportionment and consolidated returns are where the cheaper packages get thin, and they are the returns you bill the most for.
Settle the hosting question before the license question. Lacerte adds hosting starting around $813 on top of the license, Drake Tax Online is $299.99 for the first user plus $99 per additional user, and CCH Axcess runs in the browser with no published rate card at all. If your staff work from home, a desktop program on a server in your office is a recurring cost you are already paying in IT time.
Our picks
Where we would start
Drake Tax
Firms of 2 to 30 filing a mix of 1040s and entity returns that want a predictable, all-in annual license
from $379.99/year
Intuit ProConnect Tax
Firms of 2 to 20 with uneven or growing return volume that want no Windows server and no hosting bill
from $82.46/per individual return
UltraTax CS
Firms of 5 to 50 with entity, fiduciary and multistate returns that want one vendor for the whole workflow
price on request
Side by side
Tax Preparation compared
| Tool | Rating | From | SOC 2 | MFA | Ledgers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drake Tax | Top Pick | $379.99/year | — | — | — |
| Intuit ProConnect Tax | Top Pick | $82.46/per individual return | — | — | QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop |
| UltraTax CS | Top Pick | On request | — | Yes | — |
| ATX | Strong Option | $939/year | — | — | — |
| CCH Axcess Tax | Strong Option | On request | — | — | — |
| CrossLink | Strong Option | $1,795/year | — | — | — |
| Lacerte | Strong Option | $599/year | — | — | QuickBooks Desktop |
| Intuit ProSeries Tax | Strong Option | $539/year | — | — | QuickBooks Desktop |
| CCH ProSystem fx Tax | Strong Option | On request | — | — | — |
| TaxAct Professional | Strong Option | $169.99/year | — | — | — |
| UltimateTax | Strong Option | $388/year | — | — | — |
| Aiwyn Tax | One to Watch | On request | — | — | — |
| Drake Tax Online | One to Watch | $299.99/year | — | — | — |
| Instead | One to Watch | $30/credit | Type 2 | Yes | — |
| GoSystem Tax RS | Dated | On request | — | — | — |
| OLT PRO | Dated | $499/tax season | — | — | — |
| TaxSlayer Pro | Dated | $1,395/year | — | Yes | — |
| TaxWise | Dated | $429/year | — | — | — |
A dash means we could not confirm it from public sources, not that the answer is no. Captured September 8, 2026.
The full list
All 18 tax preparation tools
Grouped by how we would shortlist them for a US accounting or bookkeeping firm. How these ratings are decided.
Top Pick (3)
What we would shortlist first in this category: proven with real firms, actively developed, and priced and integrated in a way that suits a US accounting or bookkeeping practice.
Drake Tax
Windows tax compliance software with all states and e-filing included in one annual price
Drake Software
Intuit ProConnect Tax
Intuit's browser-based professional tax product, priced per return with a published ladder
Intuit
UltraTax CS
Thomson Reuters' full-entity tax engine at the centre of the CS Professional Suite
Thomson Reuters
Strong Option (8)
A credible choice that wins on a specific fit rather than across the board — a price point, a niche, a workflow, or an integration the top picks do not cover as well.
ATX
Forms-based tax compliance software for small firms, sold in fixed annual editions
Wolters Kluwer
CCH Axcess Tax
Wolters Kluwer's cloud-native tax compliance engine and the successor to ProSystem fx
Wolters Kluwer
CrossLink
High-volume 1040 software built around refund transfers, with desktop and browser versions
CrossLink Professional Tax Solutions
Lacerte
Intuit's high-end desktop tax package for complex returns and multiple preparers
Intuit
Intuit ProSeries Tax
Intuit's forms-based Windows tax package with unlimited 1040 pricing at $2,605
Intuit
CCH ProSystem fx Tax
Wolters Kluwer's on-premise tax engine and the suite of audit and workflow tools around it
Wolters Kluwer
TaxAct Professional
Unlimited individual and entity returns with all states for $2,095 a year
TaxAct
UltimateTax
A rebranded TaxWise sold at roughly a third of Wolters Kluwer's own package price
UltimateTax
One to Watch (3)
Early or unproven at firm scale. Often genuinely interesting technology without the track record, support depth, or install base to bet a busy season on yet.
Aiwyn Tax
Venture-backed cloud tax system aimed at firms replacing CCH Axcess or GoSystem
Aiwyn
Drake Tax Online
Browser-delivered Drake sold per user and per return, with no unlimited tier
Drake Software
Instead
AI tax platform combining planning, preparation and e-filing, billed by credits consumed
Instead · also tax planning & advisory
Dated (4)
Still sold and still working, but no longer keeping pace — thin investment, an aging interface, or a roadmap that has visibly stalled. Fine to stay on, hard to recommend adopting.
GoSystem Tax RS
Thomson Reuters' browser-delivered compliance engine for the largest firms and corporate tax departments
Thomson Reuters
OLT PRO
Low-cost unlimited-return tax software with wide entity coverage, sold desktop or web
On-Line Taxes
TaxSlayer Pro
Flat-rate tax software for high-volume 1040 offices that run refund transfer products
TaxSlayer
TaxWise
Wolters Kluwer's return-capped tax package for 1040 preparers and EROs
Wolters Kluwer
Reading this list
What the category does and does not tell you
Categories here follow how firms buy, not how vendors market themselves, and the boundaries are genuinely soft: practice management overlaps close automation, tax workflow overlaps document automation, and several products are sold into two of these at once. Where that happens the tool keeps one page and appears on both category pages. Treat the grouping as a way to navigate, not as a market segmentation.
Prices, certifications, and integrations are researched from vendor sources and dated on each profile. The ratings and the comparisons built on them are Node8's.
FAQ
Tax Preparation questions, answered
Can I switch tax software in the middle of tax season?
Technically yes, and firms do it after a bad February. Practically you end up running both programs, because anything in progress or on extension has to be finished where it was started and the prior-year conversion has to be re-run for the clients you have not touched. The lower-risk version is to buy the new program in the spring, convert over the summer, and prepare extension returns in it as a live test before the following January.
What does professional tax software actually cost?
Published unlimited packages run from about $1,795 for CrossLink 1040 and $2,445 for Drake Tax 1040 up to $3,295 for Drake Tax Pro and $3,641 for ProSeries Essentials at 200 to 400 returns. Pay-per-return entry points are lower, from $379.99 for Drake to $539 for ProSeries to $599 for Lacerte, but the per-return charge stacks on top of that. Wolters Kluwer does not publish a public rate card for CCH Axcess Tax, ProSystem fx, ATX or TaxWise, and Thomson Reuters quotes UltraTax CS and GoSystem Tax RS individually, so those require a sales conversation to price at all.
Is pay-per-return cheaper than an unlimited package?
Only at low volume, and the crossover is lower than most people guess. Drake's pay-per-return is $379.99 for ten returns plus $49.99 each after, which passes the $2,445 unlimited 1040 package at roughly 50 returns. ProConnect is entirely pay-per-return, at $82.46 for a single 1040 falling to $32.21 each once you commit to 200. If you file more than about 100 returns and expect to keep growing, a flat package is usually both cheaper and easier to price your own fees against.
Does professional tax software include all 50 states?
It depends on the vendor, and it is the most common surprise on a renewal invoice. Drake and CrossLink include unlimited state returns in the package price. UltraTax CS is explicitly quoted on the jurisdictions you file in, and Intuit's and Wolters Kluwer's products have historically priced state modules and state returns separately or folded them into a negotiated bundle. If you have multi-state clients, get the specific states written into the quote instead of assuming they are covered.
Keep browsing
Other categories
Practice Management (49)General Ledger & Bookkeeping (26)Tax Workflow & Document Automation (26)Payroll & PEO (19)Tax Planning & Advisory (13)Tax Research (13)Month-End Close Automation (11)Proposals & Engagement Letters (9)Spreadsheet Reporting & Ledger Sync (6)Tax Resolution & IRS Representation (6)AI Meeting Assistants (5)
The tools are only half of it
Buying the software is the easy part. Node8 builds the automation and AI layer between the systems a firm already pays for, so intake, document work, and review stop eating the busy season.